Establishing a strategy will help the church determine and communicate what it is to do as well as what it is not to do.
From a strategic perspective, success is gauged by the quantitative and qualitative evidences of life transformation, which translates into reproduction.
The Chapel's strategy can be broken down into three areas:
- Creating a connection with God
- Creating a community of righteousness
- Creating a convergence with culture
This strategy is about worship: Everything the church does is about glorifying God. It is the desiring of a Holy God with every thought, word, and action under the microscope of loving Him completely, heart, soul, mind, and strength.
Worship is the attributing of great worth through the expression of love toward a holy God for who He is. Barna, in his article, Worship Tops the List of important Church-based Experiences, indicates that 75 percent of all adults and 92 percent of all churched adults said that it is very important to them to worship God. However, many of those surveyed admitted that, in spite of their desires, they often experience difficulty entering into authentic worship and leave services feeling frustrated, not knowing how to correct the situation.
Worship is more than good preaching or good music. It involves the entire person: mind emotion and will. Regular evaluations of worship are critical. Gordon MacKonald recognizes that the church should not be legalistic and rigid concerning worship styles and patterns, but genuine worship should accomplish certain objectives and transformations in the individual.
Although this expression can manifest itself in many forms, God, not man must be at the center of all authentic worship.
This strategy is the radical transformation of a life for a lifetime. It is becoming all that God desires for His people to be. It is the examining of lives through the microscope of loving others as unto the Lord. It is the educating and equipping of God's people for God's mission.
There is nothing more powerful than a living testimony of transformation. There is nothing more encouraging than watching lives change for a lifetime. There is no power on earth more potent than the gospel in the heart of a believer. Ed Silvoso puts it like this, "The church has been entrusted with something that every politician on earth would give an arm and a leg to have: the power to see hearts changed."
Authentic community is wrapped in a package of doing life together. This strategy is an intentional attempt to begin conversations. Authentic community built upon a desire to live holy lives produces opportunities to make a difference in the culture of the church.
Also, when the church becomes a community that is authentically connecting with a Holy God and with each other, it presents opportunities to converge upon a society with tremendous influence.
This strategy is all about mission. It is challenging people to move outside of themselves administering their gifts for the good of others whether it's in their Jerusalem or across the world - the living out of God's Mission.
Mission is about the value of people and redeeming human community. It must be understood that Jesus didn't come to preach Christianity but to draw people into the Kingdom of God. It is the understanding that the church doesn't exist for itself but rather it exists to serve the world. It is the living out of God's mission as His witnesses. "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on You; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8 NIV
There are two ways we tell others about Christ - with our words and with our lives. God wants you not only to tell but also to live a different life. It is the ultimate lifestyle of love in front of the lost world.
It is our desire, with the implementation of the above strategies, that the Chapel would be characterized by the following Missional traits.
Authentic Connection - authentic passionate spirituality demonstrated in life change. Where an individual is found actively pursuing the holiness of God, which in turn, translates into all areas of life. "Being" the body of Christ. "Being" always translates into "Doing". Where every person in God"s community is found being who God made them to be so that they will be found doing life together.
Authentic Community - leadership is expressed through serving community. Leaders who serve their community have an increased opportunity to share God's Good News. Developing people not programs is at the heart of community. Gift mobilization will be for all people with eternal purpose. Leaders and laity are equally important to the mission of God from neighbors to nations.
Social Convergence - Finding ways to fix what is broken in the society. Taking God's Good News into people's bad news situations. Developing opportunities for its congregation to live out their faith in the crevices of culture.
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