Kingdom Growth
The Vision Story
In three years we see Clear Creek as a refuge for the lost and broken-hearted. The most consistent quality of this picture is the culture of invitation. Every person who calls Clear Creek home, starting with the leadership, will be actively looking for ways to intentionally invite people into the family of God. The members of Clear Creek will make room in their life to invite people within their sphere of influence to Sunday morning worship, to small groups, to events, and more. The culture of invitation would be prominent, exciting, and sets a new picture of what “status quo” looks like. People would be excited to see new faces at Clear Creek. They would be eager to invite a family to lunch who just stopped by for service. People in their every day work would see their co-workers in a new light, as potential guests whom they have the honor of inviting to be part of their life through a small group or an event. The culture of invitation would run deep because our worship of Christ runs deep.
Clear Creek, from the moment you walk in on a Sunday morning, is a place where anyone who doesn’t know Jesus or has been hurt by a church in the past would feel at home. Everyone is greeted out front and given clear gentle directions on where to take their children or any other important instructions. Everyone is given name tags so that people can address each other by name. Part of the teaching calendar would include intentional series’ that are evangelistic and clear presentations of the gospel including powerful invitations. There would be regular opportunities for baptism and many invitations to baptism. There would be a clear “Welcome Booth” that helps give people information about what it means to follow Jesus. It would also help unbelievers find out ways to get involved (maps and descriptions of small groups, flyers for upcoming events, etc). It would also help connect someone who has made a decision to follow Jesus with someone who can come alongside them in the first two weeks of their walk.
Small groups would be a place where unbelievers would feel welcomed and invited to follow Jesus along with the family of believers. There would be small groups that are specifically designed to be great entry points into God’s word and living for Jesus. They would be geographically located in areas, such as Barberry Village, where there are lots of people who aren’t part of the church family. The small group leaders would have excellent training and follow up on how to create a welcoming solid teaching environment that doesn’t exclude people who don’t know much about Christian vocabulary or living. Everyone who is part of a small group would be continually encouraged and strengthened to be inviting others to the group. Small groups would regularly (every quarter or 6 months) serve in their community in a way that gives the people of the group experience in sharing life with unbelievers. This could happen at 162nd and Burnside, Barberry Village, Night Strike... etc.
There would be regular events in the community that are specifically designed to invite people who don’t normally come to church and are great places for Clear Creek members to invite friends, neighbors, and co-workers. These events would be planned by a team of people who love to see unbelievers invited to share in experiences with the church family. This team would think creatively on what kinds of topics, events, etc would be interesting, meaningful, and helpful to unbelievers in our city. They would put on the events and the whole church family would be in support by spreading the word and intentionally inviting those who do not yet know Jesus.
In order to see these three areas functioning well in regard to invitations, the people of Clear Creek would be well equipped in the area of outreach. There would be an outreach curriculum that is structured in a 101, 201, 301 style that would be a mix of Biblical education, experiential learning, and challenges. There would also be a clear model for members to utilize that would help them assess who, how, and where to invite people to get a touch point with the worship of Christ at Clear Creek. It would ask questions to help guide someone through the process of discerning what might be the best event, service, or small group to invite someone to.
One of the challenges from the curriculum would be a neighbor mapping project. This project would take place in the spring during the middle of curriculum class. Each participant in the class would be challenged to take two weeks to produce a map of their neighbors. They would have to meet the people on their immediate street. They would maybe bring cookies, just knock on doors and say hello and introduce themselves. They would produce a map that shows the houses and the names of the people and maybe other bits of information for prayer. Then in the summer they would be encouraged to put on a block party. Invite those neighbors out to have a good time and build a bond for that neighborhood.
The vision within the next three years is to see an abundant heart for prayer for the lost. The above strategies have the underlying theme of prayer. Clear Creek, as it builds an invitational culture, must realize that it will most readily be born out of a heart of prayer. The Sunday morning prayer team will include prayer for the lost as a regular topic. There will be an outreach prayer team at Clear Creek. Their role will be to pray for the unbelievers whom members of Clear Creek request prayer for, and they will hold seminars teaching about prayer for the lost. Clear Creek will also plan and participate in regular outreach prayer events such as 40 days of Prayer and the Prayer Walk.
Objectives & Strategies:
- There would be a culture of living an invitational lifestyle. Members would model Christ likeness and make space in their life to invite others.
- By making space in your heart
- By making space in your time
- By making space in your budget
- Leadership goes first
- Having a schedule challenge
- Neighbor mapping - This will most likely be included in a 2012 Curriculum.
- The members of Clear Creek would be trained in what evangelism is, who is their mission field, how to connect-invite-disciple.
- Outreach 101 Class: solid curriculum to be launched Jan. 2012. It would be a Sunday school class that mixes Biblical teaching, experiential learning, and personal challenges. The goal would be to have a small class (10ish) who would dedicate themselves to doing it well.
- Sunday morning preaching series
- Tools to connect: a “brochure” that helps people be aware of where they can connect people and how they can connect people to the community of believers.
- Consistently pray for the lost to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus.
- Sunday morning prayer team
- Raise up a team who will pray and teach prayer to congregation
- Regular prayer opportunities (40 days of Prayer, Prayer Walks)
- There would be events that are relative and provide opportunities for members to invite friends, co-workers, family, etc.
- Sunday morning series presenting the gospel
- Community Events: These events could be planned in the next year and would be planned by people who could be invited onto an “events team.”
- That Clear Creek is prepared with a decent infrastructure to receive a dramatic increase in membership.
- Prepare Clear Creek for catastrophic change
- Prepare new small group leaders or small groups that could assimilate new members
