Reach, Grow, Send
We had a wonderful night at our Vision Meeting this past Sunday, February 25th. Over one hundred people came out to thank God for His goodness over the past year, to seek His direction, and to hear about our church’s vision for 2024. As many of you know, the word the Lord gave to our church for 2024 was Sanctuary. As our sanctuary, we want the presence of God to fill us and sustain us in all that we do. But how do we apply that practically in 2024?
Sunday night I shared three simple words that we need to remember as a church for 2024 and beyond. The words are REACH, GROW and SEND. I believe these words can help us narrow the focus of our church and its ministries in incredible ways in the year that’s before us. Even if you were here on Sunday night, take a moment to read through them again and let them take root in your heart.
Reach
It can be the natural pull of a church family to look inward, focusing only on the affairs that happen within the walls of the church. But the word Reach reminds us that we must constantly be reaching our hands outward and stretching ourselves to touch the lives of those who are hurting or in need of the love of God. I think of the vision that William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, had while he was riding in a coach on a journey. In his vision, he saw “millions of people dying and drowning in a dark angry ocean, yet the people who were pulled safely to the great rock did nothing to reach back and save the others.” (Click here to read the entire vision). I don’t want to be the church who is only focused inward. No matter the size, no matter the financial condition, no matter the location, we need to constantly push and stretch ourselves to reach out to the hurting, broken, and lost around us.
Grow
Are we still growing spiritually or have we plateaued or even declined? When we first become a believer, it seems that everything we read and hear is fresh and new and challenges us to become more like Jesus. However, as we continue in our faith, “the cares of this world” (Matthew 13:22) can choke out the Word and cause us to stop growing. We let go of personal prayer, we don’t have time to read our Bible, or we stop connecting and growing with other believers. Worse yet, we can become cynical, prideful, and even judgmental in the ministries we are involved in.
God’s call for our life is to keep growing. Peter encourages us to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18). I believe that the longer we are believers in Christ, the more difficult it is to keep growing because it takes more effort. Each of us has a calling to make disciples of Jesus (Matthew 28:19). That is a high calling that requires us to continue being conformed into the image of Christ (Romans 8:29). Since I know I am still in the process of being conformed, I therefore must keep growing.
Send
For those of us who have been at Abundant Life Church for more than four years, it has been incredible to see the numerical growth that has taken place. I am often asked when talking to other pastors or church leaders, “How are things at Abundant Life?” That’s a hard question to answer. How do you measure that? Should we just consider how many people are coming to church? Is that our gauge for church success? While I am very thankful for all who come regularly as well as the people who are new each week, I believe the health of the church is based not on how many are coming, but on how many are being sent. Jesus kept this focus when He said:
“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:37-38)
The church statistic that I am most encouraged by from 2023 is how many people from ALC were sent into missions (local and abroad), and how many financial resources were given to missions. We must keep casting that “sending vision” as we individually and collectively grow. As we are built up as mature believers, we should EXPECT to be sent out either locally or globally. The mission field is all around us. There are so many needs. The question isn’t IF I am being sent, but rather WHERE I am being sent.
I am so thankful for the position our church has been placed in. I am even thankful for the location transitions over the years as it has kept our heart focused on the main purpose of Christ. That purpose is to keep reaching, keep growing, and keep sending people into the world for the sake of the Kingdom of God.
