I’m sure there have been times in your life when you were part of something much bigger than yourself—something you couldn’t possibly achieve single-handedly—and that required a team of individuals willing to contribute sacrificially to the shared mission of the group, willing to be there for each other and to rely on one another.

As a congregation, Redeemer is embarking on just such a time, as we dive deeply over the next three years into five specific ministry declarations that will guide much of our attention, energy and resources. Redeemer’s Leadership Team and staff, along with additional individuals comprising a strategic planning team, prayerfully discerned these five ministry focus areas as essential to the fulfillment of God’s call to us as a congregation over the next few years. These were presented as ministry declarations at our spring congregational meeting and are provided here by way of reminder and review:

CULTURE: Define and grow a culture that is a welcoming, loving and supportive intercultural community, centered on Christ.

WORSHIP: Create compelling worship services and ministries, engaging our diverse congregation, which are conducive to evangelism, discipleship and fellowship, meeting people where they are as we worship and glorify God.

BUILDING/FACILITY: Develop and implement a master property improvement plan that will meet the changing needs of our congregation and mission.

DISCIPLESHIP: Develop and implement an overarching framework and coordinated process for developing lifelong disciples of Jesus Christ.

COMMUNITY ACTION: Identity one significant need within Brooklyn Park, and design and implement a program addressing this need, in partnership between community members and our congregation.

All of these big-picture goals have a target completion date of December 2022. Clearly, it will take a team—the whole congregation, in fact—to achieve these goals. It’s equally clear that it will take the active work of God’s Spirit among us to enable us to achieve any of these things. These are God-sized tasks that will drive us to rely on our powerful, able, trustworthy God.

The next step in this process is the development of tangible, measurable goals within each of these big-picture ministry declarations. The Leadership Team has decided on staff and teams that will be charged with leadership in each of these areas, and those teams will develop specific goals over the summer. Come fall, work will begin in earnest in each of these areas. That doesn’t mean, however, that you won’t be hearing about these or seeing initial efforts in these areas before September.

If you’re wondering how you can become involved, stay tuned! You’ll be hearing a LOT about these ministry declarations in the months to come. In the meantime, if there is one or more of these that particularly grabs your attention, please talk to me or to any of our Leadership Team members about how to join in this work. The Leadership Team was so enthused to see such vibrant conversations happening around tables following the congregational meeting. We will need that energy, enthusiasm, commitment and creativity from MANY of our members and friends as we move now from vision to planning and implementation with these ministry declarations.

We’ll need to continue to depend on one another, and especially upon God, as we move forward and take next steps in these areas. Please continue to pray for those who lead and serve in these areas, and prayerfully consider your own role as we, together, follow God in the mission to which he has called us.

Pastor Ben