Heritage in First: Our Vision is to be a God-centered, Great Commission congregation.

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1 Heritage in 2017 First: Our Vision is to be a God-centered, Great Commission congregation. The first question is: Does this please/honor God? Will this please people? If we are faithful to God we will be faithful to people. We are unfaithful to people if we put people first. Psalm 23:3 - He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. God is committed to me because He is first committed to himself. ILL Child-rearing. You provide a life your children need, not what they want. Your children are safe because of the person you are. It is possible to put people first and leave God out ILL - Aaron and the golden calf It is impossible to put God first and leave people out ILL - Moses and the Exodus Heritage is a God-centered, Great Commission congregation = GC 2 Second: Our Mission is to Connect People to God, Grow Together in Christ and Impact the World a) Connect people to God Corporate Gathering In the OT and NT, everything God did, he did in a large group and small group context b) Grow Together in Christ Community Groups CGs are based on the Sunday morning sermon to provide you with one thing to memorize, meditate on and practice. It also creates a church-wide conversation between couples, inside families and encourages cross-pollenization; engendering gospel-centered relationships between every person, couple and family c) Impact the World Impact projects Church-wide Missions - $104k plus 25k Heritage-on-Mission Garden 1100 lbs. (majority to One Acre Café); Manna House Charity for Veterans Family Promise Host homeless families Spring and Fall Adopt-A-Cop Valentine s Weekend - Feb 4 th & 10 th Ministry Each Wednesday at Lakebridge VBS Monday, June 5 th -Friday, 9th Food Pantry Minster every other week to needy families

2 July 4 th - Samaritan s Purse - 5,208 Shoe Boxes - Starts Oct 31 Fall Festival Head Start We ministered to 38 children in 16 Community Groups Every CG is encouraged to have an Impact project Individual This gives our congregation: Balance Connect = Upward Grow = Inward Impact = Outward. It also gives us direction. The 3 necessary steps to live a balanced, practical, intentional life. We create church-wide and CG impact projects to create a safe environment in which to minister and to model ministry. It does not replace your individual/personal ministry. What does your church do in the community? How do you define church? The church is not a gathering but a body. We would have to tally everything everyone does. Everything we do is intended to teach/model how to live the Christian life. We can t make a person grow but we can create environments that foster biblical/authentic Christianity The bottom line = whole life transformation for us and others. Everything goes from corporate to small group to individual CGs are based on the Sunday morning sermon to provide you with one thing to memorize, meditate on and practice. It also creates a church-wide conversation between couples, inside families and encourages cross-pollenization; engendering gospel-centered relationships between every person, couple and family Third: Our Strategy is to Create Gospel-Centered Relationships Christianity becomes meaningful in relationships. Relationships are messy. A relationship cost Jesus his life. a) Discipleship is Evangelism Jesus discipled the disciples before they were Christians. It was his discipleship that led to their Christianity.

3 b) Out of the large group and small group should come personal relationships 2 Timothy 2:1-10 The Command Be strong 1 The Application Create relationships 2 *Me Paul someone stronger than Timothy *You Timothy *Many witnesses those equal to Timothy *Faithful men those weaker than Timothy There are a minimum of 3 generations of Christians in that single verse; perhaps as many as five generations Every Christian life needs 3 relationships: Stronger, equal and weaker Stronger people encourage you Equal people rest you Weaker people challenge you You need a balance: Only or too many stronger people can discourage you Only or too many equal people can placate you Only or too many weaker people can drain you The Result 3-6 *Soldiers are strong & single-minded 3-4 *Athletes are disciplined 5 *Farmers are patient 6 The Model 8 Jesus Christ The Point 10 Salvation These gospel-centered relationships make us fully orbed Christians. Conclusion: We are a God-Centered, Great-Commission congregation who connects people to God, grows them in Christ and impacts the world through gospel-centered relationships

4 For CGs: 1 What is our church s vision: To be a God-centered, Great-Commission congregation 2 Why is it important to put God first, even before people? 3 What could happen if we put people first? 4 What is our church s mission: Connect to God, Grow in Christ, Impact the World We connect to God in the corporate gathering We grow together CGs We impact the world by impact projects 6 How does this provide balance to our Christian living? It s an upward look, an inward look and an outward look 7 How does this provide direction to our Christian living? We can regularly ask ourselves: *Am I participating in the corporate gathering? *Encouraging others in fellowship *Singing praises to God which remind me who God is and what he has done *Giving my tithes and offerings; putting God first, the world second and myself last (giving is a discipline intended to help me live like that) *Listening to, meditating on, memorizing and practicing the Word *Encouraging others to attend with me *Am I taking advantage of my CG opportunity? *How am I impacting the world with Heritage, my CG and myself? CGI creates a Christ-generated image; Jesus connected to the Father, grew in obedience as he grew the disciples and impacted the world 8 Think about the 3 essential relationships necessary to live a strong Christian life Who are the stronger people in your life? Who are the equal people in your life? Who are the weaker people in your life? IMPORTANT: Consider asking your CG to make a private list and work to ensure all three kinds of people are in their lives and that they have a balance of those people 9 What steps can you take to create this life of relationships?

5 10 What s our vision? To be a God-centered, Great-commission congregation 11 What s our mission? CGI - To connect people to God, to grow together in Christ and to impact the world 12 What s our strategy? Create gospel-centered relationships