Our Mission statement—Hawera Baptist Church exists to: Honour God; Build the Kingdom of God; Connect with our community
Our Vision statement – “Living faith from the inside out” (and the five focus areas)
Now that we understand our purpose and have found a vision that we can partner with God in to-gether, we find ourselves in a place where the rubber really meets the road. We are in a new phase of the journey. This current phase is exciting because it is the time for action. So here are the BIG questions:
Are we willing to make the changes needed for significant Kingdom impact?
Are we able to make the jump from theory to practice?
In order to work on these changes and develop a strategy we need to:
Develop leadership within each of the focus areas.
Develop activities and outcomes for each of the focus areas.
Get everyone who calls HBC “home” to find their place within the plan.
Keep the “big picture” in mind.
There has been progress in all of these areas. For example: Several people have been approached to consider the development of leadership and skills for focus areas; we have a number of church activi-ties set for the first half of 2012 which reflect the five focus areas (see below); some people have approached me with questions of “fit” and we are working on that with them; I keep writing things like this to help keep the “big picture” in mind :)
There will be more detailed info available in the next couple of weeks, but for now here are some of the “activities” planned for the first half of the year with the specific focus areas they relate to (in brackets):
“The Help” Movie night, 10-12 Feb (Care & Inclusion)
5-5-5 Prayer, 12 Feb—11 March (Prayer & Worship)
Church family camp (Theme: “Living faith from the inside out = all areas)
Bridge Builders, 15-17 March (Discipleship & Training AND Care & Inclusion)
Easter “stations”, 5-8 April (Prayer & Worship)
Self Denial, 10-24 June (Local & Global Mission)
As well as the above “one offs” we will continue with ongoing activities (craft, youth, service, mission team etc.), but we are also looking at a number of new initiatives (eg. Quad groups for men; another Alpha course; others…?). Please take some time to consider where you might fit and what your pas-sion is.
Arohanui, Pastor David Auty