RENEW PHBC: At A Glance (By Dan Barfell)
He who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5, emphasis added).
Recently, our church has gone through a strategic planning process for the purpose of helping us determine how we can be more effective at carrying out our mission of “helping people find and follow Jesus Christ.”
While that overarching purpose for the Church should never change, culture continues to shift and turn, drifting further and further away from once-held biblical beliefs and values. Consequently, many methods of ministry that were once highly effective in the past are bearing little fruit today and showing signs of being totally unproductive in the future.
The mission of the Church (why we exist) never changes; the vision of the church must change from time to time to paint a new picture of where we are going and how we are going to get there. A vision is God’s specific plan for a specific church at a specific time.
“Vision, as modeled in Scripture and throughout church history, came as God’s people saw the needs around them and then sought God for what He wanted them to do. Moses’ leading the people of Israel out of Egypt, David’s fighting Goliath, Nehemiah’s rebuilding the temple wall, Jesus’ calling His disciples, Paul’s writing to the church in Corinth—these and other stories in Scripture indicate the vision of these leaders. They saw in their mind a future that was preferred more than the present. And their vision propelled them forward to do courageous things.” (J. David Schmidt, Why Your Church Needs A Written Vision Statement)
After many hours of prayerful discussion, God has inspired a vision statement that on the surface has some familiarity to it. But this statement, which aligns around our discipleship process, gives us a clear focus on what is truly important at PHBC, and will serve as the corrective lens through which necessary changes will be made in order to increase our effectiveness at helping people find and follow Jesus Christ at PHBC. Simply put, our vision is:
To see this generation transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ through awe-inspiring worship gatherings, life-changing Growth Groups and serving the world in Jesus’ name.
With that vision as our “north star,” so to speak, we are undergoing some significant changes at PHBC that are intended to alter the status quo. We believe God’s promise in Revelation 21:5, “Behold, I am making all things new,” includes PHBC. And because of that, we are calling the whole process RENEW PHBC. Renew means to “give fresh life or strength to” or “replace something that is broken or worn out.”
So, what’s new at PHBC? How about this:
- New Vision
- New Staffing Structure
- New Weekend Experience
- New Ministry to Young Adults
- New Ministry Alignment
- New Master Facilities Plan
To this point, we’ve largely been in the information-gathering phase of these initiatives. I’m so looking forward to having conversations with you as clarity and focus begin to take shape in each of these areas!