Vision Sunday
SUMMARY
IAfter 16 months of prayerful listening, Broadway Church's Vision Team — represented by Jennifer Smith, Jeff Johnston, and Karl Ihfe — unveiled a vision rooted in a simple but powerful truth: people experienced the love of God before they ever knew God. Drawing from congregational stories, community conversations, and discernment of Broadway's unique gifts, the team discovered — not invented — a vision to make God's restoring love visible in our community, our city, and the world. Grounded in Jesus' own command to love one another (John 13:34), this foundation will guide Broadway's leadership in making future decisions with clarity, unity, and confidence.
TRANSCRIPTION:
Well, good morning, church. It is good to be together this morning. It's going to be a little bit different as we get to hear from our Vision Team chairs, Jennifer and Jeff and myself, as we get to share with you the results of the work that we've been at together for the last 16 months. Jennifer, come share with us.
Okay. So I am extremely nervous. It is very different to be in the fellowship hall with 35 to 40 vision team committee members than it is to be standing right here. So you'll probably hear my voice shake and I'll read from the paper a lot, but I'm gracious that my heart to home group said they will not throw any tomatoes at me. And so that's what I'm hoping the rest of y' all will do as well.
I am so grateful to be part of this process. When I first was called by Troy, talked about a committee, I said, oh, committees. I don't really love committees. Does anybody really love committees? But I really love the idea and the fact that Broadway brings all of its people, its family into the process.
And so I'm so grateful that we did this over the last year. I'm thankful to Carson and Shelby from the Sibert Institute. They really taught us a lot. And Tony taught me to trust the process. And Carl and Caroline were on the Vision Team Committee as representatives of the staff and just of our Broadway family, Troy and Terry as elders on the Vision Team Committee.
And then there were probably 30 or 35 of us that met over the last year. So I'm so grateful to all of you and grateful to be part of that process. So like I mentioned, we started the process last year about 12 months ago, and we closed it around the end of March with an Elders meeting. And I wasn't able to attend the elders meeting due to some work travel. And so I recorded a video to start us out in the elders meeting.
That just so happens that that works out great for today because then I don't have to talk for the next three minutes and it gives you all of the information. So hopefully that video is ready to. To show. Hello, everyone. The Vision Team's journey has been quite a process to embark upon, and I am so thankful to have been involved with this particular team of people.
I can attest that it has not been what I thought it was going to be when I started, but rather it has been so much more. We definitely would not have done this as well without Carson and Shelby at the Sibert Institute and their knowledge of going through a process like this and knowing that what you learn on the journey shapes the destination. They were so helpful in helping me to trust the process. I know that this path started long before I was involved and was shaped by the Holy Spirit. Before I ever knew that I would be part of this team.
I am just so thankful. At the end of this Vision Team process, the result looks like a one page sheet of paper with words on it. However, I also know how each word on that sheet of paper was poured into by so many people with prayer and discernment listening using our heart, our mind and soul. My prayer is that these words on this page will be a calling for Broadway and aspirational for us in the way that we live and show God's love to each other, to ourselves and to our community. Regarding the mechanics of the process and it involved three primary phases, the first being the congregational stories through listening groups last summer.
The second was the community stories here in Lubbock where we divided the Vision Team to engage in conversations with various segments in our community, government, other churches, nonprofits, higher education at the universities, and K through 12 education. The third phase was discerning Broadway's gifts and callings. From each of these phases, we compiled copious amounts of notes and after each phase we would pull together the themes and connections that were popping up and the output was the first draft of our vision. Then, together as a vision team, we began poring over these themes and information until it became what you see today. I am so excited for you to hear it tonight and to feel it through the Vision Team in the room.
I hope that this document gives you some foundational and specificity behind the things that Broadway envisions to do and aspires to do and that it can help our leaders in guiding decisions. Thank you again for inviting us into this process. Thank you for trusting us with this endeavor. See you all soon.
Okay, so the next slide should have an image of three phases that we went through. So you can see here on the screen. The phase one was our listening groups and we were really looking at what is Broadway's story and Broadway's experience of God. In phase two, we were looking at our community and what has and is God doing within our community and where are the needs. In phase three, we were looking at what has God given to Broadway to utilize.
In the middle you see the culmination of all three of those phases coming to where we were really looking for what is our vision and what is our path. The next image is really a timeline that I'm not going to go through all of this timeline. But some of you may be wondering, what did the vision team do? And there was a lot of people devoting a lot of time and doing a lot of activities. So this is just a timeline from when we started to the end of March with some things highlighted, like in the listening groups that hopefully all of you were a part of, a lot of people were a part of.
There were 15 listening groups. 174 people were part of those. And there were hundreds of pages of notes that were taken and compiled from. From phase one in the community story. In particular, there were five sub teams that our vision team broke into and covering different aspects of our community.
And many of those aspects are represented by the people here in this room as they were on the vision sub teams. And so it was great process and interaction to see what the needs within those different subgroups were. And then in gifts and callings, the gifts and perspectives and his presence during our workshops and our meetings that we had to really help us discern.
So before I hand over to Jeff, some of you may be wondering if the vision team is giving information to the elders on what ministries we need and what ministries we need to stop, whether to sell the building or whether to keep the building. We are not doing this. This is not what we were asked to do. And this process was to listen and create a vision for Broadway that helps to guide our leaders in future decisions that they make. Now I'd like to hand over to Jeff to give us more understanding of where we were led.
Good morning. Thank you. Thank you, Jennifer. Yeah, I want to, I guess, address potential elephant in the room for some of you. There might be some feelings of being underwhelmed by.
Wait, we're not gonna find out decisions about ministries or the building today? No, those things, like she said, are not happening today. But I want to explain why not. I want to explain why we needed to do the work that we did before any of those types of decisions can be made. And so I'll start with sermon on the mount.
Jesus in Matthew 7 talks about a wise man and a foolish man. And I'm sure you are probably familiar with the story they both build a house, and it doesn't really give you any inclination as to, do they build the exact same house? Did they build different types of houses? Because that's not what the story is about. The story is, is about the foundation and the importance of the foundation in which they choose to build their house on.
That is what the vision team was about. It was about helping establish this new foundation for the church as we move forward into the future. And that's what this process was about. And that's what I want to explain today is what is the foundation that we discovered through this process? How did we discover it?
And why is it so important? And why am I personally, and I think Jennifer, too, really, really excited about where we landed and where we're going. So I think the first thing to understand with the foundation itself, it'd be really helpful to know kind of the process through which we went and to help visualize that. There is this thing called the golden circle that Simon Sinek talks about in a TED talk that he did a long time ago. You can look it up.
It went viral very quickly. But in it, he talks about how most organizations, including churches, really start with what they do. What do we do as an organization? Or hey, what ministry should we start? Or what should we do with the building?
That's typically where people start. But what he suggests, and what I think you see throughout scripture a lot, actually pretty often, is healthy organizations start with why. They start with why they exist. Because if you don't know why you exist, then you and you will spend all of your time debating what you should do. I think you see that in Acts, chapter six, it's actually a really, really cool culmination of why and then how and then what?
Because, as Callie read earlier in the Scriptures, really, for Christians, the why is why do we exist? Well, it's to love God and love others. Simply put, that, you know, that's paraphrasing, but that's it. And then at the end of Matthew, when Jesus is leaving, he tells them to go and make disciples of all nations, which is the how for these apostles, right? It is okay, how do we love these people?
It's by making disciples of all nations. On what does that look like for them? It's teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And so that is what the apostles are going off of as their why and their how and their what. And then we see in Acts chapter six, they get brought this problem where it says in verse one, in those days when the Numbers of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.
So the 12 gathered all the disciples together and said, it would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word. So you can see in this story that they are essentially like, okay, this is an important thing. This is loving people.
Well, which is our why. Loving people love God, love others. But how we go about doing that in this situation is different from, from what we've been given, different from our purpose and our why. And so they don't neglect it. They don't say, well, that's someone else's problem.
They make a decision that, hey, this is not what we're going to focus on, but we're going to find people that can focus on this, that are called to this, that this is their calling, their purpose, their why. So you see that in scripture, this structure, this foundation of why do we exist, how do we go about doing that? And then what does that look like on a day to day, day to day basis? Maybe a more modern example that you can relate to is Chick fil a. Have you ever wondered why every Chick Fil a you go to is always so busy, always so successful, and always so consistent?
Well, it is because Chick Fil A built their foundation on this same structure with their why, with their how and their what. They started with really honing in on three things. They honed in on what their customers valued, what they were uniquely gifted at as an organization and as people within the organization. And then what the Market was missing. So with what the customers valued, they noticed that people wanted to feel seen and valued and cared for.
And with their own people, they realized that their best employees were the people that had this innate passion for, for hospitality. And then they recognized that the fast food industry was largely focused on speed and efficiency and not a lot on care for people and for customers. And so at the intersection of those three things is where they found their why, why do they exist? And they call it second mile service, which is actually all based on Matthew 5:41, which I thought was really, really cool. So that was their why, why they exist.
And they're like, okay, well how do we go about doing that? How do we do this second mile service thing? And they landed on, okay, we're going to do it through a hospitality focused culture. Great. Okay, so we have our why, we have our how.
But hospitality focused culture, that could mean a million different things to a million different people. So what does that look like on a day to day basis? And that's when they got really specific with these behaviors or their what. And that's what you see today, they build these behaviors around. You hear my pleasure literally every single time you say thank you.
You see people always bringing your food to you at your table, rather than you having to go get it yourself anytime something bad happens, like someone spills a drink, their immediate resolution. And then they see. You always see their. Their leaders, their managers modeling this service. These are their practical things.
So you see their why, and then their how, and then your what, and that is why they're so successful, and that is why they are so consistent. This framework, this foundation that they made became the framework for every decision that they make as a company. It's how they hire, it's how they train. Every single operational decision that they make is based on this foundation. If it doesn't align with their why, if it doesn't align with their how or their what, they don't do it.
And that's why they're so successful. And that's exactly what we just did with the vision team. We did the same structure, and we honed in on three things that Jennifer already shared about our story. Our community and our gifts and callings. And so our story, we really focused on the question of where has God already been faithful among us?
And there's a lot of themes that emerged, but we really distilled them down into prayer, relationships, authenticity, generosity, and community. Those things kept coming up over and over and over again. And then our community. What does our city actually need? Themes emerged there, too.
There was loneliness, struggles, there was mental health challenges, need for authentic faith. There was family support needed, collaboration needed amongst people across the city. And then our gifts and callings. What has God uniquely entrusted to Broadway? Themes that emerge there.
Hospitality, prayer, mentoring, teaching, compassion, and generosity. And so we looked at all these three things, these three different circles. And like Jennifer already showed, at the intersection of these three things is where we found our why. Why do we exist as a church? And that was to make God's restoring love visible in our community, our city, and the world.
That is our vision. That is why we exist as a church. And one thing that I think is really, really important to understand in all of this is that we did not create this vision. We discovered it. These were not things that we just dreamed up in a conference room and said, that sounds good.
These are things that emerge repeatedly through prayer, through guidance from Holy Spirit, from listening to y' all and to people within our community, through discussion, and through discernment. This is not something that we just made up ourselves. These are things that we discovered. So that's our why, why we exist as a church, but how do we do that? How do we make God's restoring love visible in our community, our city, in the world?
And this one was really cool because as we worked through it, we discovered that our how is largely what it has been, which is pursue God, build community, unleash compassion, and share Jesus. So you'll recognize those first three. You heard them on Broadway today, this morning, you hear them every week. And then we added a fourth one, which is share Jesus. And while that one seems obvious because we are a church and you could probably argue that shared Jesus fits within those other three, it was something that just came up over and over and over again throughout this process.
And we felt that it was really important to state it explicitly within our how or our mission. And so that's how we do it, right? So we've got our why, we've got our how. But then what does that look like on a day to day basis? And this part really, really important because if you just have your why and your how, then one person hears pursue God and they think, oh, that means we should have more Bible classes.
And then another person may think, oh, that means we should have more time for prayer within our service. And another person may think, oh, this means we should have more opportunities for worship throughout the week. There's not, there's, there's a lot of different interpretations there or within build communities. Someone might think, oh, that means we should have potlucks every month. Or someone else might think, oh, that just means we should add more small groups.
Someone else might think we should, we should have more mentoring opportunities. All good things, right? All of these are really good things, but they all go in different directions. And so if you just have your why and your how and you don't have what we are calling our practices, then you can start debating again and going off in different directions and not really having a clear lane for what should we do. And so we developed these practices under all four of the parts of our how or our mission statement.
So under pursue God, build community, unleash compassion, and share Jesus. We developed these practices to add more color to all of this. So an example of this is within build community, we added build relationships across generations, cultures and backgrounds. We, we added practice courageous vulnerability, cultivate opportunities for every person to belong, grow in Christ and participate in God's word, and then commit to spiritual mentoring. All four of these things.
You can see that when you add these underneath build community, it becomes a lot more clear what we actually mean. When we say build community, this is again why you see at Chick Fil A, you hear my pleasure all the time. It's why you see people bringing you your table regardless of which Chick Fil A you go to across the country. Because they established this what at the edge of their how to make it very, very clear that when we say hospitality focused culture, this is what we mean. And that's what we did with these practices here.
So that when you hear pursue God, build community, unleash compassion, and share Jesus, you will then be able to see these practices and know, okay, this is. When we say pursue God, this is what we are referring to. Essentially what it does for you is it helps 10, 20, 100, 200 different people be able to read the same mission statement and actually know what that means and what that looks like. So the final document that Jennifer mentioned in her video and that you guys will be receiving later shows our why, why we exist, also known as our vision statement. It shows our how, also known as our mission statement, and it shows our what, which we are referring to as our practices.
Now, this document doesn't directly tell us what we should do with the building. It doesn't directly tell us what ministries to start, but it does give us a framework now to allow us to make decisions in a clear way, in a discernible way, and in a unified way as a church, essentially. Now, before decisions are made, we can ask, hey, does this align with our vision? Does it advance our mission and does it reflect our practices? This doesn't mean that it eliminates difficulties from decisions, but it helps us make them from a place of clarity rather than preference.
Because without clarity, that's what we do. We debate preferences. If all we're talking about is what and we don't have a why that we are all unified around, or a how that we're all unified around, then we're just debating my preference versus yours. I think we should do this. This is a good thing.
And you think we should do this, which is also a good thing. So what do we do with clarity, with this foundation set in place? Now, what we can do is instead of arguing my preference versus your preference and having that debate, we can discern alignment around our foundation. Discern alignment around. Does this fit with our why, with our how and with our what?
So put another way, with a shared vision, every decision becomes a debate. Or sorry, without a shared vision, every decision comes a debate. But with a shared vision, decisions become discernment. And that's what this has allowed us to do. Now we can have a place where instead of debating, debating preferences, we have discernment around does this fit with our foundation and with where we believe God is calling us.
So that's what we've been doing for the last year, laying this foundation around the why, the how and the what of Broadway. There are lots of exciting decisions still to be made. We believe that this work will give us confidence that the church leadership can make those decisions with clarity, with greater unity and greater confidence in where God is leading our church. Last thing I just want to say is it was an honor to get to be on this team. As Jennifer said as well, thank you guys for letting us be a part of this and trusting us with it.
We did not take it lightly. This is something that we gave to God and we tried to just walk in alignment with what he had for us every step of the way. And we believe we did that to the best of our abilities. And we are excited for where this is going, gone, what we have now and where it's going to take us. And so with that, I will pass it over to Carl to talk more about the vision statement itself.
Perfect. Thank you, Jeff. Church, what a gift it was to get to serve on the vision team. And just in our couple minutes remaining here this morning, I just want to share with you a little of the heart behind how we wound up where we are. As we had all of these conversations, both as a church, with our community, as we're identifying resources, this theme just kept emerging in the conversations that we were having with so many of you.
And that theme was this. People experienced the love of God before they knew God. Countless time after time, a story from one of you or from one of our community members who's interacted with Broadway said, man, we experienced the love of God the very first thing with you before we even knew all about who he was. In fact, in the listening sessions, Carson and Shelby went back through listening for and kind of identifying some descriptors and some that stood out to them that they shared with us, that I wanted to share with you this morning. Of stories that you shared.
You said we were welcomed before we had everything figured out. In fact, a couple of testimonies. One of you said, we found people who truly cared about us every day of the week, not just on Sunday. Another of you said, I've always felt accepted here, that we were seen when we felt invisible. Right.
Some of you said, my a friend took me under her wing and introduced me to so many people. Another talked about the experience of Broadway didn't just welcome me, but they actively invited me into ministry, to serving. And so the comment was, thank you for seeing something in me. Thank you for pushing me forward. This idea of you saw me instead of me just being invisible.
Others of you commented on how we were cared for in seasons of pain. And so we heard things like, you don't even have to ask the question, are you gonna be here for me? People are like, no, we're here. We're here for you. Or I've never seen any contempt for people who need a lot because then whenever it's your turn, you're not afraid to ask for help.
The one that really stood out to me as they were reporting back, and even my own experience listening to the session that I was a part of said, we were loved into the kingdom. It changed our life, seeing how people live and struggle and try to do the right thing. This church loved us even when we haven't been very lovable. Just amazing to hear these words over and over again. In that last one, we were loved into the kingdom just resounded so deeply with our team.
Not pressured, not managed. We weren't argued into it. We were loved into the kingdom. And so as we began asking, what kind of church is God calling Broadway to be? This vision emerged from all of that love that we would be the kind of people to make God's love visible in our community, in our city, in the world around us.
We wanted others to experience what so many of us already had and knew in a deep place. And so this morning, just a couple of thoughts on Scripture, how this vision is not, just, as Jeff said, words on a page, but actually it's drawn right out of the heart of Christ, if we see and follow his ministry. Because what we discover in following Jesus around is he made God visible, his love visible to the world. In John's Gospel, he records this episode of Jesus teaching his disciples. And he's teaching them right as he's about to be betrayed and handed over.
And so he reminds them of this. He says these words. Callie, read for us just a moment ago a new command. I give you love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
Jesus didn't simply command love. He modeled it to those who followed after him. I mean, throughout the Gospels, you see Jesus consistently, time and again, made God's restoring love visible to the world around him. He touched lepers and he ate with sinners. He defended the helpless and he welcomed children.
He restored failures. He saw the overlook. Jesus didn't love People from a distance, he actually moved toward them. Maybe you remember the story of Luke 7. Jesus going to Simon the Pharisee's house.
And while he's reclining at the table, this woman, who's a sinful woman, walks in, and she walks over to his feet, and she kneels down and just begins weeping. And she's weeping so much that it's wetting his feet. And so she lets her hair down, which was a big no no in that culture. And she starts drying his feet off, and then she's kissing his feet and pouring perfume. It's.
It's what the kids call. She was making a scene. It was a scene, right? And everyone around knew who she was. And we even get a little window into Simon the host, his mind, because Luke tells us what he muttered under his breath.
He said, if this man were a prophet, he would know who this is. If he were really who he says he is, he would know who this woman is, that she's a sinner. Everyone around saw her as unwanted. Not Jesus. Jesus saw her differently.
Instead of a label, Jesus saw a woman worthy of dignity and respect and honor. And before her life was fully transformed, it was. But before that, we're told he loved her. Or maybe you remember the story of the rich young ruler in Mark, chapter 10, where he just wanted to justify himself so badly. And instead of embarrassing him in front of the group, Mark tells us this important detail.
Verse 21. Jesus looked at him and loved him. And before Jesus tells him the truth, and he does tell him the truth, we're told Jesus loved him. In fact, love is the reason John tells us that Jesus came in the first place, for God so loved the world that he sent Jesus that whoever believed in him would not perish but have eternal life. For Jesus didn't come into the world because to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
And that's the reason and that's the way that restoring love looks to the world. Not ignoring sin or pretending it doesn't matter, but actually moving toward broken people with love strong enough to restore. Jesus didn't come to condemn. He came to forgive. And that's because of love.
So then it shouldn't surprise us that as Jesus followers, then we receive that same mission. Jesus makes God's love visible. Well, the church makes Jesus visible through our love. Listen to the second half of that verse that Callie read a moment ago. A new command I give you.
Jesus would tell, love one another as I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this Everyone will know that you are my disciples if you love. Not if you have the biggest church in town, not if you have the most number of ministries out into the world, not if you have the best theological arguments. But can you love? The primary apologetic for the church then is not perfection.
It's not having all the answers. It's not knowing everything. It's love. And for the last 135 years, that's what Broadway has been about every day. Ordinary acts of love changing not only us, but the community around us.
It's why a group of the elders and the leaders here after World War II, raised, wrote a letter to the President of the United States asking for permission to send missionaries into Germany. Because they knew the German people needed to know God's love. That's why they started the Children's Home of Lubbock for abused and neglected children here on the South Plains. That's why they started Carpenter's Kitchen, to help feed food insecure people here in our community, to make sure everybody had a warm meal to eat. That's why they continue to welcome newcomers and to walk alongside people who are struggling with addiction and loss and grief.
And it's because of love. I mean, many of us could testify, and many of us did, before we fully knew and understood who God was and what his calling was on our life. We experienced his love. People reached out and loved us. And that matters because the gospel is not merely a story.
It's not just information, a theological proposition. The gospel is love embodied through people who have been shaped by Jesus. Jesus tells us, rather, John tells us that Jesus was full of grace and truth. It doesn't mean we water down the truth. Instead, it means we recognize that no one's beyond redemption and no one is we're going to give up on.
When the church lives that way, then God's love is made visible. One day, Jesus was talking with a lawyer. And this lawyer asked him, jesus, of all the commandments, what's the most important? What matters most? And we heard his answer a few minutes ago.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength. The second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself. There are no commandments greater than these. When Jesus was asked what matters most, he said, the two things that matter most, love God and love others. The way that you know that you're a disciple of Jesus is our love.
And so in response to this, the church is called to move out. Right? Jesus makes God's love visible. The church Makes Jesus visible through our love. And so we're invited to go out into the community.
And maybe you heard some familiar language in that vision statement. In our city, in our community, in our city, in the world that we hope it kind of rings, that acts one bell where Jesus has been resurrected and he's been teaching his disciples on the Mount of Olives. And he challenges. He says, go back to Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit to fall. Because when you do, he says, you're gonna receive power.
And you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, in Jerusalem, in our community, in Judea and Samaria, our city, our community, our area, and to the ends of the earth, to the whole world. You see, the love of God was never intended to stop with those first disciples. In fact, if you look around the room, every eyes that you lock eyes with, every person, they're a living testimony that that love didn't stop with those first disciples. And that love is not supposed to stop with us either. Like, we're invited into the same mission.
And so we too, have to live in the way of love. And Jesus consistently moved his followers out into the community around him, out into the world, toward neighbors and outsiders and the vulnerable and the nations. He said, go and tell the story. Tell people that the kingdom of God has come. You see, a healthy church doesn't exist just for itself.
In fact, we see this thread all through scripture that we are blessed by God to be a blessing, and we've been loved by God so that we too can love. And we've been restored by God so that we can participate in that ministry of. Of reconciliation. Our vision reminds us that Broadway is not just a group of people who happen to be at the same place at the same time, but we're people called by God and sent out into the world, into neighborhoods and schools and workplaces and coffee shops and all kinds of mission locations to make God's restoring love visible. You know, sometimes we do it through our words, sometimes in our presence, sometimes through our compassion, sometimes through our generosity, but always in Christlike love.
In the coming months, we're going to talk some more and unpack those statements. Our vision. Not only our vision, but our mission. Pursue God, build community, unleash compassion, and share Jesus. We'll dive deeper into each one of those.
In fact, as Jeff alluded to, we'll send that out to you this afternoon so you have a chance to start to sit with it and read through it and pray through it. And think about it. But we want you to know those aren't separate from our vision. That's actually the embodiment of our vision and manifesting and showing God's love to the world. I mean, imagine what would happen if that became the reality for us here at Broadway.
That we became that place. That when folks are having trouble in their marriage, they knew we could go to Broadway. When lonely people were looking for friends, they could come to Broadway. When those who were hurting, they could find hope here at Broadway. Those who are skeptics could encounter grace and just deep faith.
Those who have kiddos could grow up around Christ, Christlike and loving adults who would just cheer them on and encourage their hearts and let them know they're not alone, but also model to them what it looks like to be a disciple of Jesus. All this not because we're impressive, but because Jesus is alive among us. He is with us. You see, the world does not need another church trying to win arguments while losing people. The world needs a church, a community where the restoring love of God can actually be visible.
So church, may that be true. May God help us learn to pursue his heart in deeper ways, to move out into our communities toward brokenness, to love sacrificially and to give generously that we might make God's restoring love visible in our community, in our city and in the world. Let's pray. God, it is a gift to be yours, to be your people, to be people who have been changed and shaped by your love and God, we want to live that way in the world around us. So, Father, as you create opportunities for us, as you open doors, would you give us feet ready to follow you wherever it is that you want us to go?
That we would be the people who are known not for how great we are, but God, how great you are. That we be a living testimony of the restoration that comes only through Jesus Christ. Father, would you help shape and form us into those men and those women, those sons and daughters, husbands and wives, parents and grandparents, daughters and sons, the kind of people who live with intention that we want to be people who constantly make your love visible? Lord, we're here today because someone made your love visible to us. They loved us with a deep and abiding love.
They forgave us, they helped us, they modeled to us, they encouraged us. God, we want to be those people for this next generation. Lord, would you help that to be true? We pray in Jesus name. Amen.