Last week, President Obama gave his final State of the Union address. Regardless of what you think of his time in office (or the speech itself), the State of the Union is a time-honored and wise practice. Every organization must periodically stop, take stock of its current position, and dream together about the future.
Inevitably, the start of a new year prompts me to think about what a “state of the union” might look like for our church. It begins, of course, with a glance backward. 2015 was filled with powerful reminders of God’s grace to us—our $55 million in Multiply commitments, a brand new campus in Alamance County, four new church plants, and hundreds of baptisms.
And as I look forward to 2016, I am praying through a handful of legitimately God-sized goals for our church. Some are more emphases than measurable goals (for now). Some are more audacious than others. Most are works in progress. But this represents our answer to God’s promise: “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession” (Psalm 2:8).
1. Increase the evangelistic fervor of our members by providing them with better tools, opportunities, and resources.
2. Firm up “family ministry plan” with actionable steps.
3. Finalize plans on Apex and Western Wake campus venues, and begin construction on both.
4. Meet—or exceed—our Multiply faith commitments.
5. Increase our people’s personal engagement in the Word and prayer. (Still in search of a number goal here, for those engaged with the reading plan, involved on prayer teams, etc.)
6. Increase engagement in mission. The number of goals here is sprawling: dozens of new evangelistic small groups, 15 new foster families, double the number of people on short-term mission trips, 3,000+ new Compassion sponsors…
7. Grow the diversity of our church and our staff to over 20% non-white.
8. Baptize 1,000 people.
9. Increase our number of small groups from 380 to 450.
10. Launch a campus inside Wake Correctional Center. (We’re close!)
11. Increase our process of developing lay leaders. (Looking for quantifiable goals here, too.)
12. Create new ministry connection points for those in our church aged 40-60.
13. Maintain at least an 8% growth rate, even with no new campuses on the docket.
Summit, I never want us to stop dreaming big. We serve a God who does more than we can ask or imagine. So I want it to be said of our church that we prayed and worked and risked in ways that show we believe God’s audacious promises.
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