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Vision is vital. The Bible says that
"where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained." No
focus. No unity. No discipline. Everyone clamors for his or her own way.
Determined to avoid that pitfall, we at River
of Life Church want to move forward with unity and purpose.
In continuation of our Revision Process we
have discerned the following Strategic Initiatives which flow out of our Philosophy
of Ministry, Foundational Values and our Statement of Vision. The big question,
then, becomes, "Where do we go from here?"
The Holy Spirit led us, through our leaders,
to a place of unity and consensus regarding the Strategic Initiatives that He
would have us undertake in the years to come. Our five Strategic Initiatives
are as follows:
- Build a creative, dynamic, and
vision-driven Children's Ministry that will both form Christ in our
believing children (Galatians 4:19) and entice the children of our
community to a relationship with Jesus.
- Develop a church-wide community
outreach paradigm including:
- Training in personal evangelism.
- Opportunities for community service.
- Strategic outreach events.
- Develop an intentional plan for discipleship
(spiritual formation). The strategy will include:
- Using our small groups as the primary setting for development
of spiritual formation.
- Mentoring groups of two or three.
- Classes on: spiritual disciplines, spiritual formation, membership, and on
identifying spiritual gifts.
- Expand our present facility
so that we will be able to provide:
- Tailored space for our creative Children's and Youth Ministries.
- Added space for Sunday worship experiences (featuring suitable lighting,
sound, and video capabilities).
- Room for adult classes and hospitality.
We believe that these Strategic
Initiatives address areas in which we sensed the need for God to grow us,
stretch us, and strengthen us. Does that mean that other areas of our life
together in Jesus are less important? Definitely not!
Our congregational worship services, the
declaration of God's truth and wisdom from the pulpit, prayer as one of our
primary spiritual disciplines, experiencing Spirit-led community in our wide
variety of small groups, our youth ministry, and our support of local and
overseas outreach ministries are all, we believe, vital in living out the
Values and Vision crystallized through our Elder led Revision process.
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