One of the highlights of Susan's and my 30 years in Northside Church was our April celebration called Destiny Weekend. We invited the church to spend a Saturday with the pastors to thank God for our past with several video's of all the happenings of our church; look at our present; and to consider our future together as a church.
Because I've always planned in 7-year increments, we laid out a picture and strategy for the next 7 years of our church life.
The next 7 years (2008-2014) are called "Retrofitting" because we are rebuilding foundations for future growth and fruitfulness. Here's how we described retrofitting: To modify something with new parts. The added parts may not have been available or relevant when the building/bridge was first constructed. Examples may be a bridge retrofitted to carry increased traffic; a school retrofitted to be earthquake proof; a car retrofitted with a catalytic converter.
For the presentation of our future, I wrote an overview of our past, present and future called our "Strategic Plan". I can send a copy to whoever would like one, but these are the 20 objectives I stated that we are looking at by 2014:
1. A church with a strong Spirit-empowered emphasis on prayer and intercession that will result in kingdom dynamics evidenced in and through our daily experience.
2. A church who knows God deeper and knows His Word better; and who walks closer to God and to the principles of Scripture than today.
3. A church who consciously lives out the command of our Lord, who says, “Go into all the world, preach the Gospel and make obedient disciples.”
4. A church who readily participates in a well-ordered, effective missions program that reaches more people in more places with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
5. A church who gives enthusiastically and generously beyond our tithe, and who increases that graciousness as the blessing of God gives promised return.
6. A church who continues to multiply in numbers of wholly devoted followers of Jesus, by adding to the existing church family and also by planting new churches.
7. A church who enjoys seeing the restoring power of God heal and make whole, souls that have been broken or wounded by failure, addiction, sin or poverty.
8. A church who sees a new generation of children reared on the fundamentals and principles of the Word and the Spirit, who will become leaders and influencers among the youth of the next decade.
9. A church consciously raising up and releasing a new generation of youth to be strong, Spirit-empowered, godly, ministering adults.
10. A church who is learning and growing by participating in small groups with a wide curriculum of Bible, church and life courses offered in the church and Net Church.
11. A staff of able and godly Pastors and leaders and interns who know who they are, what their call and abilities are, who work in harmony and unity with each other and the church.
12. A church who is known and respected for the development of leaders who will be able to succeed and expand the work of those who have gone before.
13. A church that meets in multiple locations throughout the Tri-Cities, and province, pastored by campus pastors who are united by a singular vision and order of operation.
14. A self-supporting web-church that reflects the values and vision of Northside Church, but reaches and disciples those otherwise not connected to a local congregation.
15. A church who records and produces videos that will be regularly used in multiple campuses and house churches both locally and world-wide.
16. A church that is multi-cultural and intercultural; that recognizes and celebrates the beauty and colour of various nationalities, traditions, languages and cultures, yet binds them together as one church.
17. A church that communicates so as to be understood among leaders, with the congregation and with those beyond the circle of the church.
18. A church with properties and buildings that serve the living church with beauty, purpose and practicality.
19. A church that has firm vision and plans for the years to come, but stays in synch with the daily steps directed by the Holy Spirit, our Shepherd and Guide.
20. A church that has a good and godly reputation among other churches, city and provincial leaders and in the community.
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