Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Matthew 28:19-20
CONTENTS 1. A Foreward from Pastor Rick... 2-3 2. Mission Objective... 4-5 3. Mission Vision... 6-7 4. Mission Edge... 8-9 5. Mission Staging... 10-11 6. Mission Process... 12-13 7. Mission Control... 14-15 8. Conclusion... 16
DEAR CHRIST FELLOWSHIP FAMILY, A FOREWARD FROM PASTOR RICK BLACKWOOD Our city, Miami, is one of the most spiritually lost 1 cities in America. According to the North American Mission Board (NAMB), 95% of the people in our city are either lost or unchurched. 2 This makes our mission to make disciples a challenge to say the least. At the same time, Miami may be the most strategic place in the world from which to reach the rest of the world for Christ. Some key stats: 1. Miami has the highest proportion of foreign-born residents (52%) of any major city in the world. 3 2. Among U.S. cities, Miami has the highest proportion of residents (75%) who speak a language other than English at home. 3. Church planting and church-based ministry in Miami will influence America, Latin America, and the Western Hemisphere for decades to come. 4. Christ Fellowship is comprised of people from over 70 different nationalities. We are not just a multi-cultural church, we are an international church. 1 Lost means a person who has no relationship with Christ. 2 North America Mission Board. (2017). Send South Florida (pamphlet). N.P. 3 (June 2017). Welcome to South Florida. Spotlight, American Way Magazine, 2-3. 2
The door of opportunity before Christ Fellowship is remarkable! We are in the midst of a huge harvest in Miami, and we are strategically poised to impact the Western Hemisphere and the rest of the world for Christ. Christ Fellowship, let s leverage this opportunity for all it s worth! You could not live anywhere else in the world where your life can have more of an everlasting impact. To leverage this opportunity to the max, everything about our mission must be crystal clear. 1. Our mission objective must be clear. 2. Our mission vision must be clear. 3. Our mission edge must be clear. 4. Our mission staging must be clear. 5. Our mission process must be clear. 6. Our mission control must be clear. The good news is this: Jesus teachings brought absolute clarity to all of these areas. My prayer is that this little booklet will make Jesus mission for Christ Fellowship crystal clear to all of us. Pastor Rick. Lead Pastor 3
OUR MISSION OBJECTIVE When we talk about mission objective, we are talking about WHAT we are tasked to do. For example, when President John F. Kennedy came into office, he gave a mission objective to NASA. That mission objective was to lead the world in space exploration. That was WHAT he wanted NASA to do. President Kennedy, Address to Congress on Urgent National Needs, May 25, 1961 4
Just like John F. Kennedy made the mission objective clear to NASA, Jesus made our mission objective crystal clear. That objective is recorded for us and for all churches in Matthew 28: 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. - Jesus. There is a lot going on in that statement Jesus commands us to go, baptize, and teach. In the original Greek text, however, there is only one command, and everything else modifies that command. Here s the command: Make disciples. The term disciples is translated from the Greek word mathateuo, which means to make followers. That is our one mission! I love that clarity! Jesus didn t give us ten missions, five missions or even two missions. He gave us only one mission objective, and we are to take all our passion, all our resources, and all our creativity and channel it at that one mission: Make followers of Jesus. Here is how we know if we are succeeding in the mission objective: Each year as we look back in the wake of our church, there should be more people following Jesus this year than there were last year. It s that simple. From this command given by Jesus, Christ Fellowship has crafted the following mission statement for our church: CHRIST FELLOWSHIP EXISTS TO MAKE FULLY DEVOTED FOLLOWERS OF JESUS CHRIST. 5
OUR MISSION VISION JFK S VISION FOR NASA: ALL THE WAY TO THE MOON When we talk about our mission objective, we re talking about WHAT we are supposed to do. When we talk about our mission vision, we are talking about HOW FAR we intend to take the mission. Let me illustrate: JFK s mission objective to NASA was Lead the world in space exploration. That answers WHAT he wanted NASA to do. A few months after giving the mission objective, he then articulated the mission vision, i.e. how far he wanted NASA to take the mission. And Kennedy left no ambiguity about how far he wanted them to go. President Kennedy said, I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man ON THE MOON and returning him safely to the earth. 1. Kennedy s Mission Objective: Lead the world in space exploration. 2. Kennedy s Mission Vision: [How far do we want to take the mission?] All the way to the moon. 6
JESUS VISION FOR CF: ALL THE WAY TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH Now let me bring that over to Jesus: The mission objective Jesus gave to His church is simple Make disciples. That is WHAT we re supposed to do. But just like JFK, Jesus followed the mission objective with a mission vision. In Acts 1, just before Jesus ascended back to heaven, He gave the mission vision to His church. Acts 1:8 says, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. 1. Jesus Mission Objective: Make followers of Jesus. 2. Jesus Mission Vision: [How far are we to take the mission?] All the way to the ends of the earth. From this bold vision that Jesus gave to His church, we at Christ Fellowship have aimed our mission objective to the ends of the earth. We intend to make followers of Jesus both locally and globally. Our Mission Vision is to launch Christ Fellowship campuses all across Miami-Dade County, online, throughout Latin America, the Caribbean, and to those places in the world where there is no Gospel witness. By launching Christ Fellowship campuses as opposed to merely outsourcing our missions to different mission organizations, there are two powerful effects: 1. The Relational Effect: Each CF campus we launch in places like Cuba, Jamaica, Colombia, El Salvador, etc., will be directly connected to the CF family. The relationship will cease to be an us and them relationship and it will become an all of us relationship. 2. The DNA Effect: Each CF campus, whether local, global, or online, will have the same DNA in terms of mission, vision, process, and control. By having this sameness, it enables us to align all our energy at the same goals in the same ways. 7
OUR MISSION EDGE At Christ Fellowship, we have an edge over most churches because of our massive diversity. We are comprised of thousands of people from over 70 different nationalities. We are from all over the world, especially from Latin America and the Caribbean. This gives us an edge to reach Latin America and the Caribbean like few other churches can, and here is why: Since many of us come from countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, we intuitively care about those countries. Again, Christ Fellowship is comprised of thousands of people who come from countries like Cuba, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Jamaica, Haiti, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic, and dozens more. And this is the effect: We all have a deep concern for the people in the places from where we come. Let me give you an example of this from Scripture: In the book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah is an Israeli man who is living in Persia. His home is in Persia, his family is in Persia, his job is in Persia, and he cares about the people of Persia. 8
But in his heart, he also cares deeply about the people of his native country, namely Israel. This innate concern in his heart drove him to build a wall to protect his native country. Just like Nehemiah, so many of you at Christ Fellowship live in Miami, work in Miami, have family in Miami, and you love the people of Miami. But you also have a love for the people of your native country. Consequently, when we cast vision to reach out to those countries, we are naturally drawn to that vision. For example, when we first talked about launching a Christ Fellowship campus in Havana, Cuba, hundreds of our Cuban members got so excited! Why? Because they have an intuitive love for the people of their native country. They couldn t wait to be involved in seeing that campus in place. Our vision is to launch Christ Fellowship campuses across Latin America and the Caribbean. Through our Online campus, Christ Fellowship can help you have a reach to your native country. Millions who live there need a church like Christ Fellowship. We ve made it easy for them to connect to God through worship, prayer and teaching through our online community. In addition, we aim to launch campuses in places like Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and more, because we also have people from these countries as well. 9
OUR MISSION STAGING After JFK cast the vision to NASA to aim for the moon, NASA s first step was not to shoot a rocket at the moon with a man in it. That would have been a disaster! Instead, NASA staged the mission. Each stage took the astronauts to a different level. Stage 1 took them 42 miles above the earth. Stage 2 into Earth s orbit, stage 3 to the moon, and stage 4 to the moon s surface. APOLLO ROCKET STAGING STAGE 4 This stage held the Lunar Lander, which enabled astronauts to land on the moon. STAGE 3 This rocket stage carried astronauts into lunar orbit. STAGE 2 This rocket stage carried astronauts into earth orbit. STAGE 1 This rocket stage carried astronauts to an altitude of 42 miles above the earth. 10
JESUS STAGES THE CHURCH MISSION In a similar way, when Jesus cast the vision to His church in Jerusalem to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth, His first step for them was not to shoot for the ends of the earth. Instead, Jesus staged the mission in Acts 1:8, But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. 1. Stage 1 is to reach Jerusalem. For Christ Fellowship, our Jerusalem is our Palmetto Bay Campus. Palmetto Bay has served as the hub from which we have launched the other stages of Christ s mission. 2. Stage 2 is to reach all Judea. All Judea for Christ Fellowship is Miami-Dade County. These are our local campuses in places like West Kendall, Downtown, Redland, Coral Gables, Miami Springs, and North Miami. Our goal is to have campuses in all Miami-Dade County. Our local campuses are Christ Fellowship s sending core. 3. Stage 3 is to reach Samaria. Samaria was a country in close proximity to Jerusalem. For Christ Fellowship, our Samaria is those countries in close proximity to Miami from where many of our members come. This includes Latin American countries, Caribbean countries, as well as the entire Western Hemisphere. We ve already launched Christ Fellowship campuses in many of these countries, and are expanding our Online Campus into different languages. Our vision is to launch Christ Fellowship campuses all over the Western Hemisphere. 4. Stage 4 is to the ends of the earth. For Christ Fellowship, the ends of the earth will be those places that are spiritually dark and that are in dire need of the Gospel. Our vision is to launch Christ Fellowship campuses all over the world. Four initiatives seam all of our Christ Fellowship campuses together: 1. We pray together. 2. We plan together. 3. We process together. 4. We preach together. 11
OUR MISSION PROCESS EACH OTHER SERVING OTHERS CONNECT GOD TELLING OTHERS 12
When we talk about our mission process, we are talking about a process to make fully devoted followers of Jesus. Many churches have a Mission Statement and even a Mission Vision. The breakdown, however, often occurs at the level of process. Process answers the HOW question. HOW do we intend to make fully devoted followers of Jesus? Our mission process comes from the teachings of Jesus, and His process is clear and easy to follow. There are four pieces to our process and it s all about connecting people. 1. Our first step is to connect to God. 2. Our second step is to connect to each other. 3. Our third step is to connect to serving others. 4. Our fourth step is to connect to telling others. We use a baseball diamond to illustrate this process, because it shows the movement we follow: In order to become a fully devoted follower of Jesus, we must be connected to all four bases. At Christ Fellowship, we make this happen in four ways. 1. Connect to God happens in our weekend services. 2. Connect to each other happens in our Small Group Bible studies. 3. Connect to serving others happens in our ministries. 4. Connect to telling others happens as we tell others about Christ and the gift of eternal life through Him. 13
OUR MISSION CONTROL The Apollo Mission Control Center. Source: nasa.gov Once NASA resolved to go to the moon, a place called Mission Control was established. Mission Control is a large room where NASA leaders work to keep the mission on target and moving forward. Mission Control has leaders who work as flight controllers, flight engineers, flight guidance specialists, and other mission professionals. As NASA aimed for the moon in the 1960s, the task of Mission Control was to keep the mission on target, i.e. reaching the moon and continuing to advance the mission of space exploration. 14
MISSION GUIDANCE At CF, our leaders do the same but for a much greater mission. All CF staff and volunteers comprise Christ Fellowship Mission Control. Our task is to keep the mission Christ has given us on target and moving forward. In order to accomplish this, these four C s guide Christ Fellowship leaders: Clarity, Clutter-free, Channel, and Conduit. CLARITY: All leaders must ensure the mission of CF is clear to everyone at CF. We accomplish this by repeating the mission verbally and visually through every possible media. When there is no clarity, it leads to confusion. CLUTTER-FREE: All leaders must make sure the mission stays free of unnecessary clutter. Clutter creates confusion and frustration. We keep the mission clutter-free by saying no to missions other than making fully devoted followers of Christ. CHANNEL: All leaders must channel all CF s energy and resources at the mission of making fully devoted followers of Christ. We accomplish this by aligning all our programs at the mission. This creates synergy. CONDUIT: All leaders must strive to create a leadership conduit, i.e. a leadership pipeline, of future leaders. Strong leadership is key to the present and future of our mission. Therefore, current leaders must be raising the next generation of leaders. 15
CONCLUSION Our mission at Christ Fellowship is to make fully devoted followers of Christ (Mission Objective) in Palmetto Bay, Miami-Dade County, Online, the Western Hemisphere, and the ends of the earth (Mission Vision + Mission Staging) by connecting people to God, each other, serving others, and telling others (Mission Process). As a multicultural and international church (Mission Edge), our leaders seek to keep the mission of Christ on target by committing to clarity, staying clutter free, channeling resources and energy at the mission, and creating a leadership conduit (Mission Control). When there is clarity and unity on our mission, we can all work together to push back the gates of hell and share the salvation we have found in the Gospel of Christ with others. Now that the mission is crystal clear, I beseech you to worship God, love each other, give with joy, serve the Lord with gladness, and take the love of God to the ends of the earth. I love you all. PASTOR RICK 16
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