West Abbotsford Mennonite Church
Ministry Direction

Contents

An Overview of Our ReFocusing Journey

As you are aware, we have been involved in a process of “ReFocusing”. Our Leaders came to the realization that we needed to have a clear sense of what God wanted us to be and do as a church family. Without this we could easily fall into debating and even arguing about program and ministry direction. It was felt that we needed a process in which we could discover as an entire church family the future God has for us and surrender to it afresh.

So, how did we create a process where the whole church really had a chance to give input? Answer: By doing it in stages. Three big events marked our journey – Three Congregational Summits. These were times of solid discussion, sharing and discovery. At each summit we endeavoured to answer one question.

• Summit One: "Where have we been?" We remembered and reflected on the past so that we could see what God was saying to us about our future.
• Summit Two: “Where are we going?" We developed a clear sense of direction that we collectively agreed was God’s direction for us.
• Summit Three: "How will we get there?" We discerned a basic ministry model and identified our next steps.

With the completion of this last summit, we as a ReFocus Team have digested the discoveries into this one report for your consideration and approval. It includes a summary of our work as a church to date and lays out a ministry direction for the next three to five years. We encourage you to read this through. If you have been at the summits you will recognize the work and will not find any surprises. Once again we invite you to participate and share your thoughts.

Our Biblical Purpose

As a church, we have a Biblical purpose. It is the reason we exist as a church from God’s perspective. It is as follows:

Our Ministry Milestones

We began by writing our history as honestly as possible - just as God writes history. Our journey wall covered a large part of one wall of our Sanctuary. It was an effort to see what God had been endeavouring to teach us through the years. We listened to each other’s observations and wrote down lessons God had been teaching us. Towards the end of the Summit there was a brief reflection as we talked of surrender. We thought through three questions: What do I need to surrender, What will we as leaders need to surrender and what will we as a church need to surrender. As we closed, there were two distinct impressions.

1. We need to surrender our fear and comfort zones, laying down our personal preferences for what God values depending on Him and surrendering to his direction.
2. We have reason for hope. We see that if we get out of the way and let God work; the future is full of opportunity. As we looked at our Journey Wall and as we considered the values that are on God’s heart, we began to describe what the next chapter could be like if He had his way with us. People said things like –“To Boldly Go” and “Adventure”!

Our Mission Focus

We began Summit Two by discovering whom God was calling us to reach. (Our Ministry Focus). To this end we developed a description of our community and church family. We reflected on people who had come in the last five years and stayed and attendees who had come and chosen to move on. We believe God has given us the following people groups to reach:

Mission Focus #1 – People we are currently reaching

• Individuals in recovery from addictions
• Individuals who have been in prison and their family members
• Individuals who are hurting and/or struggling with mental and emotional health challenges

Mission Focus #2 – People we could reach if we became intentional

• Believers and unbelievers ages 20 to 40 who want to make a difference (Assist people in need)
• Drifting Graduates of Alpha and 12-Step Groups
• The families of those in recovery and in prison
• Our friends and neighbours
• The families of our preschool children
• The families of those in our youth group

Mission Focus #3 – People we will not find easy to reach

• The Indo-Canadian Community
• People who are well off
• Korean People and other Ethnic Groups
• First Nations
• Migrant Workers

Our Preferred Values:

We asked, “What values would we need to have as a church if we were to reach the people in our Mission Focus?” We concluded the following:

1. Christ as Centre – We value Christ as our Lord. We will surrender to him and obey His Word in all things. He is also our Saviour. Therefore we will prayerfully depend on Him in carrying out his work in the world because without Him we can do nothing. This is the essence of our Mennonite heritage.
2. Outreach - We value individuals because Christ does and will give ourselves for their sakes even as He did. Life transformation takes place through respectful, accepting and supporting relationships, not just the imparting of information through a program.
3. Innovation - We value creative ways and means for ministry that go beyond our comfort zones and traditions in reaching lost people and ministering to each other. Our vision requires bold innovation and we welcome it. Playing it safe is not attractive to us.
4. Community - We value unity based on honesty, authenticity, humility and a relationship with Jesus because without these we cannot be people of safety who are salt and light in our world. Our unity grows out of our diversity as we work through issues with respect, love and care.
5. Discipleship - We value the encouraging and developing of believers to reach their full potential as God calls them by His Spirit. This means we recognize gift based ministry and leadership styles that facilitate and empower individuals and teams.
6. Servanthood - We value doing God’s work together. Working together in harmony and fun keeps us from taking ourselves too seriously and allows us to laugh at ourselves, encourage each other, and receive a little more grace on the journey. Without our willingness and discipline to be faithful to what He asks we cannot expect His blessing.
7. Worship - We value joyful, corporate worship where we can express ourselves to God in prayer, confession and praise with complete freedom.

We identified the behaviour shifts that will take place if we adopt these values.

• We will risk rather than atrophy in comfort.
• We will have boldness rather than fear.
• We will please God rather than trying to please people.
• We will be outward focussed rather than inward focussed.
• We will serve others rather than serving ourselves
• We will deal with or resolve conflict rather than avoid it.
• We will “do” rather than just “talk”.
• We will be peace makers not just peace keepers.

Our Vision

With the values identified we moved on to take our first look at vision. How is vision recognized? We followed this road.

• The journey to vision begins with biblical purpose. It is foundational.
• Our Ministry Milestones are the lessons from our past. We learned them at Summit One.
• Our Mission Focus is the people to whom God has called us to reach in accomplishing our biblical purpose.
• Our Preferred Values are the ways God will use us to minister to for a greater harvest.

Given this road, summit members gathered around their tables with this question. “If God were to have his way, what will our church look like in the next three – five years?” Various creative ways were used to portray the future God had for us and it was evident that there were a number of common themes. The ReFocus Team listened and noted what the summit was articulating. The following statement was affirmed.

Our Vision
In five years we envision a growing church community of caring, enthusiastic, adventurous people who are developing in their dependence on God, and teaming together with a passion to reach our friends, neighbours and world for Him.

• We see Christ-centred people, who are forgiven by God, living out their lives dependent on Him in prayer, and obedient to His call.
• We see celebrative worship services that are communicating His forgiveness, relevant to life and sensitive to all who are seeking Him. People are coming to Christ regularly.
• We see loving care for families and individuals in our congregation, school and community. This care will be lived out through the week as we engage with people in our lives.
• We see reaching out and engaging people who are often marginalized (people suffering from addictions, prisoners and their families, people with emotional health challenges to name a few). We see larger creative events and ministries which may include Recovery Groups and Programs, Transition Houses and transportation for those who have no means of attending. We see an environment where partnering with other agencies and churches that touch lives and draw people to God is readily accepted in order to reach the people we can’t.
• We see small groups of various kinds passionately ministering and caring for people. Everyone is loved, important and cared for. These groups are safe places where no one stands alone but rather experiences intimate community in the stresses of daily life. We see each of these groups bridging to the community and serving God in their unique settings.
• We see people growing in faith and wholeness as they willingly follow Jesus. They are mentored and empowered to live out God’s calling here and around the world.

Ultimately we see people in this community looking to West Abbotsford Church as their spiritual home, a safe and celebrating place that proclaims the forgiveness of Christ for healing and hope in a world that is often dark and overwhelming.

Our Ministry Model

A Ministry Model depicts how people flow though the life of our church and how the ministries of our church integrate into a holistic system. In the last Summit we designed the following model that intentionally honoured our values (who we are) and positioned us to reach the people of our mission focus.

Model Description: Relevant, celebrative worship services targeted to believers, sensitive to the unbeliever who may attend. Evangelism happens through the attraction of worship, targeted creative outreach events, care groups, Alpha and age-level/felt-need programs. Our Ministry Model suggests we will have the mindset that all ministries will be done in community, no matter how large our church becomes. We value relationships for ourselves and recognize how incredibly important they are in reaching others.

Our Strategic Initiatives:

DEFINITION: Strategic initiatives are major ministry developments or critical steps of obedience that become the shared priority of the entire church.

With clarity on our Ministry Model, the following initiatives were identified. These initiatives will dominate the development of our church’s ministry.

1. Prayerfully research, develop and implement an holistic Recovery Ministry that could include a drop in centre (with soup kitchen) recovery groups, discipleship, and a transition house.)
2. Prayerfully develop and implement a plan to develop people (leaders and all members of the body) to reach their full potential in Christ by providing ongoing discipling/equipping /training in:
• Personal development (parenting, finances etc.)
• Spiritual formation (spiritual disciplines)
• Ministry formation (serving in ministry according to calling and gifting)
3. Prayerfully research and negotiate Strategic Partnerships. Because our vision calls for resources in leadership and finances beyond our current ability, we must prayerfully seek out possible partnerships (with our denomination or other churches) and if necessary join with them in doing together what we cannot do alone.
4. Prayerfully develop and implement a philosophy of worship that matches our vision and results in people encountering and being transformed by Jesus.
5. Prayerfully develop and implement a strategy for small groups that results in a majority of our congregation involved in small groups that care, empower and minister.
6. Prayerfully develop and implement a plan to clearly communicate our vision to others so that we are unified and we attract others to serve with us in the call that God has given us to reach our community.
7. Prayerfully develop and implement a process that develops community in the body and with our city through various church family and community events. (Christmas, Easter, Potlucks etc.)

Action Plan:

On November 27, our leaders (Vision Team and Council) met to review our “Ministry Direction”. They affirmed the report as reflecting the work of our summits and pulse groups and believe it accurately reflects the call God has given us. They are now circulating it for you to add your comments in the pulse groups. Your further input is welcomed.

Although the Strategic Initiatives contained in the Ministry Direction are large and challenging our leaders believe they are right. After excellent discussion, they discerned unanimously that our first priority will be to explore potential ministry partnerships (One of the seven Strategic Initiatives). This will commence immediately. Our Executive, with the addition of George Schmidt, has been commissioned to this task with the hope that they will be able to report back to us with in the next month. Their findings will have ramifications for the final Action Plan which the leaders will develop with the information brought forward. Please be in prayer as they diligently work to complete an action plan that honours the vision and call we believe God has given us.