God is great! (And if I ever learn to just completely trust Him, my life will get a lot less stressful.)
People in Iran are still protesting their government, and now religious leaders there are calling for more executions. http://bit.ly/cwPXHj
Purpose
Jan 29
Our purpose is to help people in Austin, TX grow closer to the Lord God Jesus Christ in His Second Coming by means of local, relevant, healthy church communities.
[This is from the Launch Plan for New Way Church. Go to yesterday’s post to read about “Core Values“. Next week: “Mission“, “Our Mantra”, “Aspirational Goal”, “Vision”, and “Rationale”. If you are finding this interesting, please do post a comment. And if you know of someone else who would find this useful to talk about, send them a link to this site.]
Sitting in row 2 up in section 216 at the #Flyers game with my Mom, my brother, and my son.
Core Values
Jan 28
The following twelve values are the foundation of this plan and will remain as constant principles guiding our goals and activities from the proposed congregation’s inception onward. The first five define our faith and purpose, and the remaining seven represent the qualities that define a healthy spiritual community in the human form.
- The Lord Jesus Christ is the one and only God, and the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Heavenly Doctrines are His Word, and the foundation of all we do.
- We teach truths, and use those truths to help people to live good and useful lives.
- We love and serve one another, so that together we may love and serve the rest of the Lord’s children.
- We value marriage between a man and a woman and honor the unique, complimentary nature of each gender.
- We launch new, healthy congregations that share these values, and we inspire, instruct, support and advise others who are also called to do so.
- Survival – a healthy congregation has the ability to continue on despite outside events, despite the change of pastor, and despite the change of culture within the group.
- Growth – a healthy congregation has the intent to grow, in depth of involvement and in numbers involved.
- Reproduction (Fruitfulness) – a healthy congregation will eventually spawn, sponsor, and/or support additional fledgling congregations and missions, and will become a net producer of future ministers and pastors.
- Sovereignty (Freedom) – a healthy congregation is not financially beholden to other organizations, denominations, corporations or individual benefactors, although it may associate freely with them.
- Harmony – a healthy congregation has a focused purpose and unified mission around which there is a small harmony of goals that its membership organizes itself around and clearly agrees to.
- Service (Use) – a healthy congregation is outward focused and service-oriented, leading to a compassionate dedication to serving not just one another, but those outside the organization.
- Integrity – a healthy congregation keeps a fearless, unapologetic adherence to the principle teachings of New Christianity regarding the Lord, the Word, and the life of charity.
[This is excerpted from the Launch Plan for New Way Church in Austin, TX. Yesterday we posted “The Point“. Tomorrow: “Purpose“.]