Hope is going "simple": CONNECT, GROW, SERVE

  • Pastor David Hillis
  • Jan 14, 2008

This year at Hope, we have a lot to look forward to…we truly do!  In many ways, 2007 was a regrouping year in the life of Hope Covenant Church…regrouping from our first church plant (The Bridge Covenant Church, Gilbert); regrouping from a lot of people who have moved out of state; regrouping from financial/giving challenges that forced us to tighten our belts even more in order to make it through another year; regrouping from many more new people finding God at Hope and beginning their journeys with Christ, and needing direction on how to do that.

In the midst of all of those challenges and more, I picked up a book called Simple Church: Returning to God’s Process for Making Disciples.  It piqued my attention, and some of the things I read started to really stir inside of me…

“To have a simple church, leaders must ensure that everything their church does fits together to produce life change…[many churches are content in implementing] programs and ministries without asking what they contribute to the whole.  More and more [programs/ministries] are added without an understanding of how it all affects the whole…[how it] moves people through stages of spiritual growth.”

“How do you structure your church to make disciples?  How do you set up your ministry programs to move people toward spiritual transformation?”

You see at Hope, we grew from a church of 50 to a church of 500 rather rapidly…in just a few short years.  God blessed the work at Hope, I believe, because He saw us willing and eager to do what was most important…disciple people who were far from God, regardless of their background, and lovingly direct them to Jesus.  Hundreds have accepted Jesus as a result.  Even in the past year, over 100 gave their hearts to Christ here at Hope.

But is that where discipleship ends?  What happens after one accepts Christ as his Savior and Lord, so that he can grow and be challenged to live a life more fully surrendered to God?  Can we, as a church, expect others with Bible in hand to figure out what that looks like on their own, and expect it to happen?

I realized that we had been blessed at Hope with a burden…that of hundreds of lives, who have accepted Christ and now need to be discipled…challenged…to live the life seldom chosen of being a disciple of Jesus.  Simply assuming people can find their way by offering a bunch of programs and ministries is not enough.

In Matthew 28:18-20, Jesus commanded all those who accepted Him as Savior and Lord to not only be His disciples…He commanded all of his followers to go out and make disciples.  He said, “Go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life…then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you.”  In the world today, there are many who call themselves Christian…but how many of those are actually Christ followers?  Disciples of Jesus?  

In Dallas Willard’s book The Divine Conspiracy, he defines what it means to be a disciple of Jesus.  He says,

"A disciple or apprentice, then, is simply someone who has decided to be with another person, under appropriate conditions, in order to become capable of doing what that person does or to become what that person is.
"Another important way of putting this is to say that I am learning from Jesus to live my life as he would live life if he were I. I am not necessarily learning to do everything he did, but I am learning how to do everything I do in the manner in which he did all that he did."

No easy task!  Yet as a church, it is one in which we cannot ignore.

As I read this book Simple Church, I became inspired.  I gave a copy to Pastor Duane, and he was as well.  Then our entire pastoral staff read it.  Then all of the elders of the church.

God used this little book to set off a firestorm, a move of His Spirit within our church, as it began to challenge us to think seriously about how we disciple people at Hope, and how we can do so in a more simple, clearly understood way, that truly challenges people to take steps closer to Christ on a regular basis. We all realized that if we took this call, this challenge seriously, that some big changes would have to be made.

A renewed vision

Months of prayer and discussion culminated in November, when we met to determine what some of our next steps might be as a church.

One of the first things the pastoral and elder leadership of the church did that day was to revisit that vision statement of the church.  It said, “Our vision is to carry out the call of Christ (Matthew 28:18-20) by pointing people toward a life-changing relationship with Christ, other believers, and non-believers.”  We realized that day that this statement did not fit fully who we are, or what God called us to be.  No longer were we to point people toward Christ; we weren’t simply to offer any longer a bunch of good opportunities and say “just pick whatever you think is best.”  Instead we are to offer fewer ministries/programs, do them better so that we are more effectively challenged to be disciples, and walk alongside people down this path…this process…of being discipled.  
It’s kind of like being a tour guide as opposed to a travel agent.  A travel agent hears what a person would like and the agent offers a bunch of options that the person might be interested in, without any personal investment into any of the options.  A tour guide, on the other hand, specializes in knowing fewer things well.  He knows all about that particular area…he’s not involved with several other things at the same time…and he walks alongside you as you experience that area.  

We hope that we as a church in the coming months will do a better job at being tour guides on this journey with Jesus.  As it says in our new vision statement, “Walking together as we experience the life-changing journey of knowing Jesus (Matthew 28:18-20)”.

CONNECT…GROW…SERVE

Part of being a “simple church” is not just having a simple vision, however, that’s clear to understand and run with…it’s also about having a clearly communicated process for how people can be discipled in their walks with God.  It’s about offering less options and making those options do more effectively what God is leading you to do with them in the first place.

The leadership at Hope believe that our DNA as a church is somewhat unique in a lot ways.  Because of that, our process for discipleship at Hope should look different from others.  It is called “CONNECT…GROW…SERVE.”

“CONNECT” are those ministries that we offer which help people outside the church get connected to our church family at Hope.  These include ongoing ministry like our Sunday morning worship experiences, but they also include events where we really try to connect with our community, like Jazz & Chocolate, Newcomer’s Pizza, the Tea Room Ministry, and the Christmas Boutique.  We have a strong value of “Invest and Invite” at Hope that most other churches do not have, and part of the discipling process at Hope is that we continue to challenge each other to “connect”…connect with people in the community, build relationships with them, and help them get to a “connect” event or experience.

“GROW” are those ministries and events that continue to help challenge us to take steps closer to Christ.  “Grow” actually stands for growing in God’s Word, through Relationships, through Obedient Living and Worshipping God.  Our ongoing ministry that will facilitate the growing process will be HopeGroups, our small groups ministry.  We will continue to challenge each other more and more to be in a small group at Hope.  Our HopeGroups will be places where all four of these values in “GROW” are alive and well.  In addition to HopeGroups, there will be annual retreats for men, women, and youth (Alpine camps) where we will place particular emphasis on “GROW”.

“SERVE” are those ministries where we are able to give back to our church family and greater community in Chandler and the world.  These ministries focus on challenging people to connect and grow, even though their primary focus will be to serve others.  These include ongoing ministries like our prayer team or serving coffee to people on Sunday mornings, but it will also include service events such as at the Mesa Men’s Center, the Navajo Nation and the Muslim world.  With each of these ministries, there will remain a focus on meeting felt needs in order to build relationships…and those relationships once built will lead to us challenging them to take steps closer to Christ.

Starting on Jan. 27, Pastor Duane will walk us through CONNECT, GROW & SERVE in a series of vision messages around these steps in our discipling process.

Are you ready for a challenge?  Are you ready to CONNECT ... GROW ... and SERVE? 

In Christ,
David

 

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