Vision 2017 & You!
In early September last year, the pastoral team spent a week thinking and praying about our hopes and dreams for 2017. This was followed by interaction with the Ministry Leaders, the Elders. At our final Church Council meeting in November, we together affirmed our commitment to work and pray for God’s mercy in four specific areas in 2017. I want to share them with you.
1. GREAT SUNDAYS
With God’s help and a lot of hard work on the part of all of us, we want to make Sundays a great experience, “gate to gate”, for all who attend RUC . . . from the youngest child to the oldest senior. We want a team of dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers to welcome worshippers and help them park at the 10am service. We want the experience of children, teens, and parents to be of the highest quality. We want the welcomers, stewards, and Information Desk teams, and Street Café to take their game to a new level, and we want everything that happens in the services to honour God, edify his people, and help seekers find the Saviour.
2. EXCELLENT EQUIPPING
We believe, according to Ephesians 4:12, that the task of church leaders is to “equip God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.” As leaders, we want to be faithful in providing excellent equipping experiences in all ministries across the church so that every believer at RUC will be able to use their God-given spiritual gifts in building up the body of Christ.
3. INTENTIONAL INVITING
In 1956 I was a Grade 2 pupil in Stanger on the North Coast of KZN. A classmate by the name of Bill Rowan invited me to Sunday School. I declined; but he persisted, and invited me again and again, until I reluctantly went with him. As a result of that invitation, over time my entire family came to Christ, and both my brother and I were called to the ministry. If you have in any way been helped by my ministry over the years, it can be traced back to a Grade 2 boy named Bill Rowan! Who can imagine the far-reaching power of an invitation! As I look at empty seats in our sanctuary every week, I ask myself, “How can they be filled? How can RUC grow to its full potential?” Here’s my answer: You have to be a Bill Rowan! It’s that simple. RUC will not grow through better advertising, glitzier programmes, or big-name guest preachers, but by you inviting others . . . by you becoming a Bill Rowan.
4. SPIRITUAL REVIVAL
On 1 June last year I celebrated 45 years in Christian ministry. After being challenged in my reading of the OT book of Ezra in the lead-up to that day, I wrote this prayer in my journal on 1 June:
“Lord, please use me as you did Ezra, to be an instrument in the reviving of your people. I have two-and-a-half years of ministry at RUC before I step down. It would be so wonderful to see you work in gracious revival . . . in my final years at RUC.”
I shared this burden with my fellow pastors and leaders and I believe that by God’s grace it is becoming our burden. I want it to become your burden too so that perhaps, in God’s sovereign grace, we will experience revival “in our time” (Habbakuk 3:2).
At our Church Council Meeting on 25 January, I asked each of the leaders to, thoughtfully and prayerfully, answer these four questions about Vision 2017:
- What can I do differently to make Sundays great?
- In what new ways can I contribute to equipping other members of this body?
- In the circles in which I live, work, and play, who can I pray for and invite to a service/event at RUC?
- What part might I play in us experiencing the revival we long for?
Please give careful thought to these four questions as they apply to you and come up with some appropriate action steps.
