So as I’m putting the fall together it’s apparent that this year is going to present itself with a ton of challenges that we were hoping not to face. With the church growing in so many positive ways, we see that we are also reaching limited capacity physically, financially and on the personnel side.
In result we are going to have to think outside the box. Space hopefully won’t be an issue after the back room is done; however, we need to look how to grow. Building a youth center is a long term plan, so one thing to do in the meantime is look at different ways of expanding the community. The first being small groups into homes. Not going to do it this year, but something to shoot for in the next year or so.
The other situation that is pressing on us is financial limitations. We are trying to move from a fundraising church into a church where people fund the mission through tithing and offerings. The reason for this is we don’t want people to feel obligated out of guilt to give, we don’t want people tricked into giving. We want people to give because they believe they are giving towards God and fulfilling His mission. So that puts pressure on me to speak and communicate vision clearly, but most importantly to do my best to make sure that this is a God focused ministry. It can’t be about me, it can’t be about my ministers or just focused on getting teens into the building it’s got to be about God and how God wants us to raise up Godly youth.
Lastly, as mentioned before Nativity is growing, and with that so are the programs. I wish I could manage everything; unfortunately, I’m just one person and I’m not perfect (not even close). There are people in this community that have such amazing gifts and talents. These are the people who are going to take the church to the next level. Secondly, I would love to establish an efficient internship program where we are raising up God focused, mission driving ministers. Not just for this particular church but for the entire church. I would love for people to see Nativity as a place where people can learn about church work and grow in ministry.
Anyway, if you didn’t notice I have some big things on my mind, so I’m going to end this blog on that note.