2020 Vision for Canada
The Canadian church leaders have come together with some dreams and goals for what we hope to accomplish collectively over the next 10 years! Will every dream be fulfilled? Will every goal be reached? Only God knows. But as a wise man once said, “He who aims at nothing hits it every time.” Excitingly the Canadian Region of the International Churches of Christ is definitely aiming at some things. With faith in God, hope in his promises and love for Jesus, one another and the lost as our motivation, we will see what God chooses to do and where he decides to direct us.
It is my goal, to encourage the VCOC leadership and church to support these dreams and goals through prayer, financial support (when and where possible) and personal involvement (when and where possible). As with the local church, so with the church nationwide and worldwide – the body will grow and build itself up in love as each part does its work (Ephesians 4:16). Let’s not be concerned with what we can’t do, but let’s all focus on doing all that we can do by God’s power! Anything that he truly wants us to do and accomplish, he can and will accomplish through hearts and lives that are completely committed to him! With God all things are possible!
Is There A 2020 Vision for Vancouver?
But what about the VCOC? What is the 2020 vision for this group of Jesus’ disciples? Let me make it very clear – our collective vision is only a strong and as reachable as is our individual vision. The church of Jesus Christ is simply the assembly (Greek – ekklesia) of people who are committed to following Jesus’ example and obeying his commands. Apart from individual disciples of Jesus coming together in unity of faith and love there is no church. We can only accomplish collectively what each of us willing and able to bring of himself/herself to the work. The church (Greek – ekklesia) collectively will only realize those dreams or reach those goals that we as individual Christians are willing and able to commit our prayers, our time, our energy and our financial resources to.
I want to share with you my vision for what God could do in us and through us over the next 10 years! I have not obligated us to any of these dreams or goals – I’ve not even brought them up to the Leadership Team before today (i.e., April 3, 2011). As with everything we do, if at all possible, we try our best to bring it before the church first for feedback and then we can make a decision about where to go.
Also, for me, goals and dreams are not obligations, but rather something that inspires me and motivates me to keep moving forward. It is my conviction thatGod directs moving objects, so as long as I am doing my best to move forward, God will open and close doors as he sees fit, and according to his timing. That is what I see over and over again in the New Testament – Jesus in his life, and the early church, had dreams and goals that they pursued, but often God interrupted and intervened so that they could accomplish his will in his way. My vision for the VCOC lies in two broad areas: Our Maturity & The Mission
OUR MATURITY
My vision for the church here begins with us reaffirming and strengthening our core convictions. Please read Hebrews 5:11-6:4. We cannot move beyond “the first principles” to maturity until we are unified as to what those first principles are. First, our belief in God, His Son, the Holy Spirit and his Word must be unshakable! Second, our understanding of salvation must be clear and based solely on the scriptures. The gospel is what saves us – Jesus’ life, death & resurrection (1 Cor. 15:1-8). We must respond to the gospel with faith, repentance, confessing Jesus as Lord and being baptized into Christ (Acts 2, 8, 16, 22; Rom. 6; etc.).
Third, our practice of discipleship must be consistent with Jesus’ clear and unequivocal teachings on the subject (Matt 16, 28; Luke 9, 14; etc.). Being a Christian is not about having some kind of intellectual agreement that Jesus is God’s Son. It is about daily striving to obey and imitate Jesus. And according to Jesus that takes self-denial, cross-bearing and a total surrender of all that we are and have to Jesus as our Lord. Whoever lives that way will clearly demonstrate the marks of discipleship: obedience to his will, love for one another and bearing fruit in every good work (John 13-15).
The church worldwide consists of all those who are truly – in word and deed – disciples of Jesus. God knows all who are his! The church local is a living entity, an assembly of true disciples of Jesus who love, learn, grow and work together for the glory of God and the salvation of as many as possible. We have to decide individually and collectively what our core convictions are and we need to do our very best to live according to those convictions.
With strong core convictions, we can grow and build up the body of Christ. Please read Ephesians 4:11-16. God calls some to be evangelists, some to be elders and some to be teachers so that all God’s people can be equipped for works of ministry. The body of Christ needs men and women who have the faith to step up and accept that responsibility. The body of Christ needs men and women who are willing to be trained and mentored and equipped so that they can equip others. It is God’s expectation that every member be equipped to do his/her part to help the body grow and build itself up in love. All VCOC members must be participants (i.e., no spectators), using their talents, times and resources in the works of ministry. Then just like the Roman church we’ll be known for our faith and our obedience (Romans 1:8; 16:19). And just like the Thessalonian assembly of disciples we’ll be known for our growing faith, love and hope as demonstrated by our work, our labor and our endurance (1 Thess. 1:2-3; 2 Thess. 2:3-4).
THE MISSION
The good news is that collectively we are already pursuing and investing in the mission to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20). Very excitingly, we have started a “church planting” – our campus ministry. The Greater Vancouver Area (GVA) consists of more than 250,000 college and university students. That’s more people than are in Red Deer or Sherbrooke or Kingston or Moncton or Hull (five of the six cities slated for church plantings)! Only London Ontario has more people that we have on our local campuses! There are more people on our 10 largest campuses than there are in any city in Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, P.E.I. or Newfoundland (the four provinces where as yet we do not have a church)!
What we are striving to do in our campus ministry is as vital to Canadian missions as any church planting that is being proposed, and it will also help us plant other churches! When our campus ministry gets going we’ll be able to help seed campus ministries (either to start or to strengthen) throughout B.C and Canada (in future church plantings or existing congregations)
I’m convinced that we don’t need to travel far to plant more churches in the next ten years because our next church plantings need to be in the cities that make up the lower mainland. Of the 20 most populous cities in B.C., 14 of them are right here in the lower mainland. Number 1-8 are: Vancouver, Surrey, Burnaby, Richmond, North Vancouver, Abbottsford, Langley and Coquitlam. Delta is number 11; Chilliwack is number 15; Maple Ridge is number 16; New Westminster is number 18; Port Coquitlam is number 19; West Vancouver is number 20. Why do we need to start churches far away, where people need to relocate and where it will cost us tens of thousands of dollars, when 2.5 million people live right here?
I propose that we focus on planting churches (or, if you prefer, regions of the VCOC) in the lower mainland over the next 10 years – in the Southwest, Southeast, Central, Northeast, Northwest and the Fraser Valley. While it will require some extra money to do this, mostly it will require disciples to come together in those cities with a mission team mentality. And it will require mature disciples to take on leadership roles – i.e., “tent-making” evangelists and elders who can equip, inspire and support the team members. I believe we can raise up those people from within our midst. I believe those leaders are here right now and are current members of the VCOC.
Please read 2 Timothy 2:2. Who will be the reliable men and women among us who will be able to teach others? Who will answer the call? Who will respond to the invitation? This will be our “MI3” program to Identify, Inspire and Invest in those who will lead our mission teams currently in the Southeast, Southwest, Northeast and Central and then those who will lead teams to the Northwest and to the Fraser Valley! One day God will give us open doors to preach the gospel in Kelowna, Kamloops, Saanich, Nanaimo, Prince George and Victoria, but we’ve still got so much church planting to do right here in 14 of the most populous cities in B.C.!
Reaffirm, Recommit, Renew, Re-energize!
The leaders and members of the International Churches of Christ are coming together again in a renewed spirit of love and respect and with a vision to see God’s will done in us and through us in our lifetimes! As a global fellowship – things are happening and more is being planned. As a national fellowship – we are demonstrating mutual trust and respect and a renewed vision for this great and vast land of ours with over 34 million souls. And as a local fellowship – with reaffirmed and strengthened core convictions, a renewed love and commitment to one another and a re-energized zeal for the evangelization of our cities, God can and will do great things right here in the lower mainland! Please read Ephesians 3:14-21. This is my prayer! Will you join me in having a 2020 vision for Vancouver?
