First Baptist Church Goals

To Make Disciples

The Report of the Strategic Planning Task Force
(2003)

Goal 1

Equip and Empower the Priesthood of all Believers, enhancing the ministry skills of all individuals.

Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God's sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. I Peter 2:4-5 (NRSV)

As Baptists we understand that we participate in the priesthood of all believers, but too often we forget that we must be trained for the tasks that involves. Throughout the Gospel, disciples are taught before they are dispatched to serve. We propose to enhance our preparation for the priestly calling by deepening our spiritual roots and broadening our skills for Christian works.

╬ Create opportunities for hands-on ministry and mission.

╬ Offer Christian education in ministry and life skills.

╬ Emphasize spiritual growth and Bible study.

╬ Include youth in church ministries.

╬ Provide increased opportunity for constructive engagement and feedback.

╬ Ensure that the church constitution provides foundation for ministry.

Goal 2

Build up the Body of Christ, forging stronger bonds of community and deepening our spiritual roots.

Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. I Corinthians 12:27-28 (NRSV)

We are not only individual followers of Christ; we are also part of a "body" called specifically to do Christ's work in groups of two or more. We propose to "build" stronger ties among us and deeper connections to the spiritual roots that nourish those ties.

╬ Nurture the spiritual growth of the congregation through regular, worshipful retreats.

╬ Built greater understanding of each other's gifts and insights through increased opportunities for fellowship.

╬ Multiply small groups for study, support and fellowship.

╬ Enhance the welcoming of newcomers.

╬ Sustain and deepen the nurturing feel of the congregation.

╬ Recruit, train, and support a visitation team with the skills and commitment to minister to sick, elderly, and homebound members.

Goal 3

Make this church a beacon, projecting the light and love of Christ into the surrounding community.

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16 (NRSV)

We are concerned that the surrounding community sees too little of us and feels too little the loving touch of our Christian faith. We hope to build on the growth sought in goals 1 and 2 by visible works that witness to the glory of God.

Although our sanctuary stands in a portion of the community that seems less needy than others, we have become aware that social service agencies using our grounds serve many of the very needy people of the area. We propose to extend greater service to the families of those our "tenants" serve.

╬ Develop relevant outreach ministries (perhaps serving neighbors, families supported by our tenant agencies, immigrants)

╬ Witness through musical events.

╬ Witness through our actions of service and love within the community.

╬ Attract new disciples to our congregation who seek "to do as we do" for the glory of God.

Goal 4

Celebrate and embrace diversity as an opportunity for ministry.

In my Father's house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, I would have told you. John 14:2 (NRSV)

We recognize that the diversity of cultures, races, language groups and spiritual backgrounds in our church represents an unusual blessing in a world where, as Dr. Martin Luther Kind Jr. once said, the time of worship "is the most segregated hour in America."

We propose to share that blessing by making our diversity of gifts and perspectives more broadly available to our community. We also propose to celebrate and deepen it through intentional exploration of each other's traditions as well as those of people not yet affiliated with our church.

╬ Increase diversity of worship forms.

╬ Offer a multi-lingual Bible Study to increase communication across language groups.

╬ Use constructive feedback to improve our ability to hear different voices, perspectives and outlooks.

╬ Investigate opportunities to use our gifts of cultural diversity to serve the local immigrant community.

╬ Broaden our cooperation with other faith communities in the area.

Goal 5

Tell the Story to the Community

You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Matthew 5:14-15 (NRSV)

We believe that the Good News that gathers us as a congregation deserves to be shared. We also believe that by advancing toward the achievement of our first four goals we will have an increasingly compelling story to share.

The actions listed below are examples of how our story can be presented to the public as a powerful witness equal to the vision of giving "light to all in the house."

╬ Explain our Baptist identity and history to a community often confused by the many different expressions of the term "Baptist."

╬ Ensure that our growing "good works" are known to be inspired and empowered by our Christian faith.

╬ Become better informed about how to access different forms of media: newspapers, television, radio, Internet, newsletters, even word of mouth.

Goal 6

Maximize the use of property in support of Ministry and Mission

Now the Israelites settled in Egypt in the region of Goshen. They acquired property there and were fruitful and increased greatly in number. Genesis 47:26-28 (NIV)

In the beginning our planning process was driven by concern that we could not be good stewards of our property if all we did was rent it. As we labored in the vineyard God set before us, we came to see God's larger plan. With the help of your prayers we now have a vision of using our property in service that is mission-driven and disciple building.

The following actions show how we see our beautiful grounds and buildings serving God's plan for us. In each case we note in parentheses another of our goals that will be served.

╬ Free up resources, financial, physical and human, for ministry. (Goal 1)

╬ Provide attractive programming and activity space for youth and families. (Goal 2)

╬ Use church property for concerts and public service presentations. (Goal 3)

╬ Display professional quality signage on the property announcing our events, activities and faith. (Goal 5)

Next Steps:

Prepare your own ideas about how we can act on our new plan and share them with the committees, boards and small groups in which you participate.

Join new groups as they undertake projects that interest you.

Pray diligently that the glory of God might be manifest in our actions and service.

Expect good things to happen wherever two or more of us are gathered in Christ's name.