He Will Guide Us Forever!

Psalm 48:12-14

¹²  Walk about Zion, go around her,

number her towers,

   ¹³           consider well her ramparts,

go through her citadels,

                that you may tell the next generation

       ¹⁴       that this is God,

                our God forever and ever.

He will guide us forever.

We have considered week after week this Lenten season the promises of God about Jesus and the promises Jesus declares to us himself. The Psalmist in turn declares with great power, “He will guide us forever.” That promise, that God will guide us, is all the more helpful when we consider our recent vision session we had in February with Dr. Guse. Well over 100 members of the church attended the full day workshop and it was a beautiful moment of unity and open expression. Dr. Guse helped us to frame our desires and wishes for the church in a way that was productive and largely positive.

From that open discussion came numerous points of agreement and appreciation of the church. We are a church focused on the word of God, driven by the mission of Jesus, and excited to serve each other and our neighbor. As we turned to major points of focus, the attendees were all asked to prioritize a handful of major opportunities and dreams for our life together at Hope. The goal was not to levy criticisms, but come up with actionable plans for how to improve and strengthen areas of the church in the next 90 days. The hope was that members would take ownership of the ways they wish to see us grow for the better.

5 major areas of focus rose to the top:  

Villages

More than just fellowship or small groups, many observed that there is need to develop a network of intergenerational care and support among the members of the church. The goal is to do life together; support each other, connect as friends, raise our kids together, and love one another as fellow Christians. Although these are broad goals, they center on a desire to create meaningful relationships among our members who sometimes only briefly connect before or after service.

Communication

Communication emerged as a strong focus for many people. Key areas of concern were our sound system and live-streaming, upgrading the website, the transition to Realm, the design and information in our bulletins and newsletter, timely responses from church leaders, the creation of a visitor table, and tracking our attendance among other areas. Many of the goals set out were tasks that need direct support from the staff of the church, and some are underway already. The dream here is to have a thriving church communication that leaves people consistently feeling that they understand what is happening in the church and that they have an open door of communication with the staff and leadership of church.  

The Preschool

Many of the families with younger children expressed a desire to see the school offerings of the church expand. Smaller more achievable goals to extend the reach of the preschool were discussed. Whole new possibilities of expanding into elementary education and beyond were considered and received significant interest from many who attended. Serious interest in pursuing a new building project were brought to the fore and plans were made to see how feasible some of these new offerings would be in the years ahead.

Small Groups

While great appreciation for the small groups of the church were expressed, the concern that many had grown too large and were closed raised the point that more offerings for small groups was needed. Further, the feeling among many was that they needed some guidance and encouragement on which small groups to join. There was a strong desire to breathe new life into our small group ministry and further expand its reach in the church.

Mentoring

Many called for new opportunities to support mentorship within the church. Positive examples of mature Christians providing guidance to anyone seeking further encouragement in their faith. Hope’s prior history of offering marriage mentors was offered as a positive example of how mentoring can help set you up for a strong future. The need to help give some guidance and discipleship that comes from mentoring was set as a major goal of the group.

In sum, the focus of the vision event was strongly internal, considering how we can better care for, disciple, connect, communicate with, mentor, and teach our people and children. For the staff, one takeaway is that we have done well as church to reach out to our community, but we need to better consider how we care for the people inside our church. We are confident that the Lord will guide us in this and all our needs. The congregation is invited to an update that will be offered on Sunday, May 18^th at 12:30 to share what we’ve accomplished thus far and discuss future plans.