More Floor Fixing!

Ministry Objectives/ Corporate Goals/ Congregational Goals

The MO’s function like an architectural model of a proposed building. With some information and the desires of the client, the architect designs the building and constructs a foam model, based on the design. You can look at the model and get a real sense of what the outcome will be. The model inspires and motivates those who have a stake in the new building. But all of the details, the wiring, the plumbing, the color of the carpet, etc…remain to be seen and are not part of the model. They are underneath the surface. The model is there for all to see and for all to be inspired by and for a clear vision of what the future will look like. MO’s are the model. As Les Stroh puts it, they are the broad-brush strokes that point the congregation in a particular direction and describe what the congregation will look like. The MO’s describe a preferred future vision.

Having said that, the struggle is that we all want to see the details now. But we must fight against the urge to put all of the “how-to’s” into the MO’s. The How comes at a different level and is functionally part of the individual action plans of the staff, not the MO’s.

• We use the gifts and talents God has given us in service to His Kingdom here and throughout the world. (Matthew 28:19-20)- Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
• We share the love of Jesus Christ within the Native communities of Alaska. (Acts 1:8)- But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
• Multiple generations influence one another in their faith journey. (1 Timothy 5:1-2)- ¹ Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, ²older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.
• Strong bridges exist for young people at major transition points in their faith and growth. (Luke 18:15-17)- ¹⁵ Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. ¹⁶But Jesus called them to him, saying, "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. ¹⁷ Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it."
• We are constantly driven toward Christian maturity as disciples of Jesus. (Ephesians 4:11-16)- ¹¹And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, ¹² to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, ¹³until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, ¹⁴so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. ¹⁵Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶ from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

The mission statement: Proclaim Christ’s Gospel to all people.

The Great Commission: ¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age. Matthew 28:19-20

The Great Commandment: ⁹Jesus answered, "The most important is, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ³⁰And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' ³¹ The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:29-31

The over-arching vision comes from 1 Corinthians 7:17- Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him.