Envisioning Vancouver: June 2009

Monday, June 29, 2009

Mission Responses Continue!

More responses from the Mission/Vision stuff. Make sure and see how the responses and comments are playing out on the website too. Totally uninformed opinions are helping us shape it, and we're keeping in their forefront. It's a discussion process. Keep on reading below....

On Jun 25, 2009, at 11:41 AM, Carolyn Karlstrom wrote:

Hi, Roger –
Generally, I really, really like the direction of the mission statement. Though I'm not on the committee I did read the message Neil Allen sent out last week with a variation of this. And was especially captured by his proposed last phrase "liberate the captives." That really resonated with me, as it's so apt. I can understand why it might need to be tempered a bit, though. Anyway, I would like to see the phrase "worship the Creator" come first in any line-up of descriptors, still don't like the word "seekers" for some reason, and would suggest something like this:

To passionately worship the Creator, preach the gospel, and disciple others.

And now you have my two cents' worth :-) ! ! !
Blessings to you . . .
Carolyn

Begin forwarded message:

From: David Allen
Date: June 29, 2009 3:54:51 PM PDT

This is a good definition of discipiiing:

Definition: from Barbara File who taught the discipling class at Multnomah School of the Bible in Portland. Don't know if it was original with her.

DISCIPLING IS COMING ALONGSIDE SOMEONE
TO TEACH ABOUT THE LORD
WITH WORD, AND ACTION, AND LIFE
TO THE POINT
THAT THEY CAN GO ALONGSIDE SOMEONE ELSE
TO TEACH ABOUT THE LORD
WITH WORD, AND ACTION, AND LIFE.

One other thought on Sid's idea ( "WE PASSIONATELY SEEK THOSE WHO WOULD JOIN US IN BECOMING PASSIONATE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST.") - just to keep in mind for all of our ideas -

while it is true that we passionately seek those who would join us in becoming passionate disciples - that may become too limiting. In other words, do we only seek you if you play the game our way. Maybe our real objective is that we seek you in spite of what your decision is or what you do with the message. Otherwise we become our own club. Although I love the idea of what SId is saying we must seek in spite of response just as Jesus seeks us whether or not we respond. "We passionately seek out others so they can become passionate disciples of Christ." Needs some ! help

On Jun 23, 2009, at 12:26 PM, Roger Walter wrote:

Hey all, Great meeting the last two weeks. We've accomplished a lot. Now, as we ponder the newly designed mission statement (in it's rough draft form) over the next couple of weeks - please stay tuned to the comments section of the website Mission/Vision blog "Envisioning Vancouver" AND notice the new poll that is up there in the top right of our home page.

Both of these are designed to "get the word out" but they will help show us how much work it will take to bring this to clarity and to bring it into focus for the whole church.

The Mission/Vision Blog is here (Click here) and then scroll down to the bottom of the post and click on the comments link.

The poll is here (Click Here)

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Mission Accomplished?

The Mission/Vision Team met again tonight to talk about the issue of our Mission statement. We began by narrowing in the last few times we met. We all were in agreement that a mission statement needed to reflect the Great Commission in Matthew 28. And that commission needed to have parts that included evangelism and discipleship.

The previous times we met we kept getting mixed up in regards to whether we were talking about mission, vision, or core values. Once we clarified that, it prompted quite a bit of discussion. Two statements came in via email this last week that kind of pulled us into a strong working of what we were talking about. They were these:

WE PASSIONATELY SEEK THOSE WHO WOULD JOIN US IN BECOMING PASSIONATE DISCIPLES OF CHRIST

and

PREACH THE GOSPEL, WORSHIP THE CREATOR, AND LIBERATE THE CAPTIVES

As we discussed it further, the reasons we liked these two aspects of it, the reason we didn't like certain ones, we came to a pretty strong consensus. We're not in 100% agreement yet, and we're also not completely done with the wordsmithing of this statement, but what we landed on tonight is this:

To Passionately Preach the Gospel, Worship the Creator, Disciple the Seekers

There was strong agreement amongst our diverse group as we have pulled together into a team of people that this likely represents much of what we're seeking to say. Now we're going to let it sit for a few weeks and germinate as we work on the vision and core values and then we'll come back to it after it sits for awhile.

I'd like to heard your comments on it. I'd be curious to hear your thinking. Please feel free to add a comment below - either anonymously or with your name. Please let us hear what you have to say.

Monday, June 8, 2009

You need to read this link....

It is good....

Sunday, June 7, 2009

As We Look at the Vision

As we look at the vision for the church - we need to define how this looks and what we can and will do. This simple diagram, taken from this site: http://bit.ly/HRK4D

You can probably see a much clearer version on the website. It says much in regards to the choices we make and how we will make them in regards to the vision of the church. No, we're not going to "monetize" anything, but we are going to seek to work at what we're good at and what we enjoy and are passionate about. And we're going to get better about it!

Hungry? Feed Yourself! Break the Famine (Amos 8:11)

roger walter

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Senior Pastor Seventh-day Adventist Community Church of Vancouver

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Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Anything? Really?

If you could do anything for the Lord, what would it be? If the answer was YES, what would you do for Jesus? Shouldn't that be the answer?

You see everyone has a voice to give and everyone needs to be heard. That's the goal of the Mission/Vision team, to listen to everyone, decipher it down into a meaningful, memorable, and Biblical way of looking at things. Then to start say YES to everyone that asks.

Our next Mission/Vision Team meeting will be to start putting together some of the pieces we've been working on. That means we'll actually start formulating the mission statement - we'll look at the previous mission statement, look again at some others, and filter them down to two or three various mission statements that we can put together to help set the direction for what we do next - define how and what we'll do over the next few years.

My goal is that everyone discover their Avocation. What's an avocation, you ask? Good question. Your vocation is what you do to earn a living - where you spend your 9-5 workweek at. Your AVOCATION is where you spend your time because you are passionate about it. I believe that we are all called (1 Peter 1:9-12) to serve in our jobs to pay the bills, but we are also called to serve God in a way that pleases Him and accomplishes a Kingdom Difference.

So, what do you want to do for God - the answer is YES!