You never thought church could be like this!
First Baptist
Church
Waukegan
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You never thought church could be like this! |
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First Baptist |
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Children's church Comments, questions? |
When you visit one of our services this weekend you will find great worship music, relevant teaching from the Bible, a casual atmosphere (don’t worry about what you wear), and a safe and loving environment for your children. So, whether you are just beginning your spiritual journey or you’ve been on this path a long time, we invite you to come discover everything that a relationship with Jesus Christ means for your life.
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Updating Our Church Vision |
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Having a vision from God is important. Vision answers important
questions. Where are we going? What should we be doing? How does my
small but significant part fit into the bigger picture of God’s Kingdom?
We all have a need to invest ourselves in something bigger than
ourselves if we want to find joy and meaning in life. “Without a vision,
the people perish” is how the book of Proverbs puts it. It is a fresh,
captivating vision from God which gives inspiration and direction to a
church and its members. On the other hand, without such a vision we tend
to lose aim and focus, scattering our energy and effort. We wonder how
it is that we lost our edge when things had been going so well. What has
gone wrong? Actually, for most churches nothing may be wrong at all. Losing one’s vision is pretty normal. No vision is meant to last forever. Life constantly changes and so must vision. You see, catching a vision from God is sort of like catching a wave while surfing. As a surfer you must patiently wait for the wave which is just right, and then ride it as far as it will take you. At that point you must catch a new wave if you want to go any further. A church must continually seek a vision for what God wants to do in and through it in relation to the current circumstances it is facing. When found, we catch that Divine “wave” and ride it for as long as God blesses. Then we go back to prayer and discernment, asking God to provide a new, fresh vision for the next leg of the journey. The trick is to look ahead so that when one vision winds down we are already preparing to hitch a ride on the next one God provides. A friend of mine pastors a four year old church plant on Waukegan’s north side. He recently told me that because his ministry circumstances change so rapidly, he must completely redefine their church vision every six months!! It has been three years since FBC and Grace Chapel joined ministries together around a common sense of mission. Pastor Jorge and I then sought God for a vision strategy based on the needs, gifts and callings of those whom God had given us as members, as well as on the needs and opportunities of our mission context. We tried a number of things in pursuit of that vision, some of which worked, some of which didn’t. We have seen people go, and other people come, with the result that FBC is a totally different church today than it was three years ago. This new situation requires a fresh casting of the vision. Your pastors have been seeking God for that fresh vision for awhile now. We have hosted listening sessions with members to hear valuable feedback. We have been praying, reading Scripture, discerning. I am excited to report that a new updated vision is coming into view. We are now ready to meet with our church “leaders” (broadly defined as all who would like to have an active part in moving the church toward where God wants us to go), to share the vision that we are hearing from the Lord and what role you might play.
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