Our 2030 Plan

Today, we're going to move from kind of vision more into some of the practicalities. And so we have the heart of where we're going, which is this theme of Jesus for generations. But today we're kind of drilling in to what does that practically look like in church life? So what is going to be the focus and the heart of our church over the next five years? And so just now, Stephanie and Pastor Margot are going to come around and they're going to give you one of these booklets.

This is the challenge to you, is don't read ahead, because we're going to go through it page by page. We're going to unpack it. It's not all going to be listening to me. There are going to be others that kind of come and share around some of these things as well. But what we have is we have five mission goals, five mission goals that are gonna shape the next five years of our church.

These are five areas, and if you open up to kind of the second page, you'll see them there. Five mission goals, five areas that we're gonna drill in on and that we're gonna focus on as a church. And so I'm gonna lead you through the first one of those. And like I said, we've got a few people coming. They're gonna share around a few of those things.

But if you flick over the page there, you'll see that our first mission goal is that we are becoming a church that regularly sees people come to faith in Jesus. Now, I think if we heard that this morning, we would all say, that sounds great. That really sounds good. That's kind of the heart of the gospel, is that it wouldn't just land in our hearts, but it would transform and touch other people's lives as well. But I want us to, this morning and over the weeks that come, I want us to get a sense that this is more than just a nice idea.

This is intended to be more than just something that we would talk about, think about, and think, oh, gee, if that happened, it would be nice. I. I want us to feel a sense of anticipation, a sense of excitement even about what God is going to do in and through us. I want us to get in our hearts, because it's certainly in mine that this is a conviction that this is part of our future. Because right at the heart of this vision of Jesus for generations is this truth that the gospel is still changing people's lives, that the gospel is still changing people's lives. We still believe that God is calling people to himself, and that each one of us has a part to play in that.

And so on a practical level, you'll see in the middle there on the screen. By 2030, we're believing that each person who calls Horizon home will see at least one of their family or friends come to have a personal relationship with Jesus. We're believing for that, that every single one of us would have one person that we know that right now isn't following Jesus, doesn't have that relationship with him that by 2030, will. Now, I want you to hear this morning church, that this is not a guilt trip. It's not an idea that we're going to kind of put pressure on you.

And. And if you're sitting there thinking, I just can't imagine how that's gonna happen in my life. I just can't imagine. Or you're thinking, simon, you haven't met my friends. Maybe even worse, you haven't met my family.

I don't know how this can possibly happen. Well, this morning, the good thing is that these mission focuses, these are things that we're striving for that will take faith and. And they will take God's involvement in. None of these things that we're gonna talk about today are things that we can do in and of ourselves. All of them are gonna be about us partnering with the Holy Spirit, who we know ultimately does the work of seeing people's hearts changed and transformed and as seeing people brought to Jesus.

But I want you to just imagine for a moment, just to pause for a second and picture someone in your life. Maybe it's someone who is, in your view, far from God, or maybe it's someone who's already taking those kind of initial steps of their faith journey. I want you to picture what it would feel like and what it would look like when they give their heart to Jesus. I want you to imagine the excitement you'd feel as you see them following Jesus into the waters of baptism as they declare openly that. That the relationship with Jesus has changed their life.

I want you to get a sense of the excitement of that now on the sheet there on that page. What we've done is we've listed a few dot points there about ways that we as a church are gonna start working towards in faith, seeing this happen. And so first on that page, there we go. Going to partner with you. One of the things we want to see built in church is this idea of personal evangelism.

Like, we want it to be really clear to all of us that the work of ministry doesn't just be. Isn't just done by the pastors. It's actually done by each and every one of us. And so we want to develop that in church life. We want to equip you to feel confident in sharing your faith.

And so we're going to be talking about that regularly. We're going to make that a key part of how we pray together as a church family, and we'll talk more about that in the coming weeks. We're also going to be intentional over the next five years about creating moments in church life where people can come and explore faith and ask questions and experience the presence of God in tangible ways. Because we want Horizon to be a place where it is normal for you to bring someone who doesn't know Jesus. And we want it to be a place where those people hear the gospel really, really clearly, but are also loved and cared for and included and welcomed as part of the church family.

And so we're gonna be working over the next five years to see that come about. And so over the next couple of weeks, what I'd encourage you to do, church is start praying. Start asking God who that person is in your world, who that person is. The specific person that you are praying and believing over the next five years is going to come to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, because we want you to be able to pray specifically. I think often we pray broadly, and there's nothing wrong with that.

That's good. We pray for our friends and our family, but we want to start praying specifically for people we're going to commit to walking alongside over this next five years. And so my part, you'll notice each one of these has a my part. And the reason it has a my part is because this is about our church family. This is.

Horizon has always been about the people of the church. And so this is something for each one of us. And my part is this declaration that I share Jesus with others. And maybe that's already something you feel comfortable doing. Maybe that's something you already, like, do all the time, or.

Or maybe it's something that seems really daunting to you, but we're going to declare that together as a church over the next five years, that that is a core part of who we are, that we share Jesus with others. All right, that is, number one, we'll have a lot more time over the next couple of months to talk about it. I'm going to hand over to Pastor James as he leads us through Number two. Good morning, church. I'm going to briefly talk about part two of this plan, which is we are becoming a church with deep connections to our community.

So community there is talking about our local community. We're talking about the people of Duffy, the people of Western Creek and those deep connections. We're really talking about our relationship with those people. And it's a relationship built on the love of Christ. And so we want these people to know that they are loved.

We want to know what their. Their needs are, and we want to try and meet those needs. And so I remember Pastor Simon posing a question to the leadership committee a while ago now. He said, you know, if the church didn't exist, would people miss us? If next week, you know, hypothetically, if the church wasn't there, would people care that we were gone?

And that question has really stuck with me because it really speaks to the heart of the matter, which is if we have those deep connections with our community, then they would. And that highlights so clearly to me that we don't want people to just know that we exist. We don't want to appear to be some sort of exclusive club. We want people to know actually we're here for their benefit. We're here to serve our local community.

And that's really important because through that, I truly believe that our community will be transformed. If the people of God, the people who are filled with the Holy Spirit, who, you know, the people who have Jesus alive in them, are out there in the community, if they're active in the community, then you should expect transformation. You should expect emotional, physical, spiritual transformation in those places. And they should be transformed for the better because God's people are amongst them. And so you'll see there on the screen that our goal here is that by 2030, we'll be engaging with 500 people from our local community every year.

So that's 500 people that we want to have some sort of intentional interaction with. 500 people that we want to try and start building a relationship with. And we're going to do that through several different things. We're going to look at outreach events, partnerships, and presence in our local community. So some of these things we are doing already.

So think of our Christmas event that we ran last year. We've run Easter events in the past. We've run alpha courses. Think of our playgroup, for example, all those areas where we're inviting and encouraging people from our community to be part of things that we're doing outside of our normal Sunday service. And so we're thinking of those things.

We're thinking of what local services already exist in this area and can we partner with them? Are there volunteering opportunities, for example, that would benefit our local community? Can we support those in some way and then from there establishing some really clear follow up pathways. So how do we invite those people who are interacting with us to become part of this church, become part of this family? You know, people who are maybe on the fringes of the church, how do we welcome them into the center of this?

How do they become part of this family? And so looking at those really clear follow up pathways and just inviting those who engage with Horizon Church into a deeper connection. And so this is really about doing what is best for those in our community. It's doing what's best for those who probably don't know us, who probably don't understand what we're about and doing something for them. We want them to know that we exist for their benefit.

And so we want each and every one of you to be able to say with confidence, I reach my community for Jesus. That's my part in all of this. And so if you have any questions about this, if there's something you're passionate about, I'd love to have a chat with you. So please come and talk to me afterwards. I'm going to hand it over now to Adam Wagg.

Good morning, church. I have the joy and the unusual combo of leading both our worship team and being the church's treasurer. And that might sound a little odd, but they're actually more alike than you might think, which I've come to realize over time. And they're both acts of worship. Whether it's about lifting our voices up to praise God or managing our resources, each reflect how we honor God and participate in the vision he has for us.

And today I get to speak about the third pillar of our 2030 plan, which is a church resourced and ready for the future. And I want to start by unpacking the personal challenge you can see at the bottom of the screen and the bottom of the page there, which is I give generously to see God's kingdom grow. So let's break that down. First of all, I give generously. And at Horizon, generosity has always been part of our makeup.

Generosity in the love we have for each other, the grace we extend each other, the time we invest in each other, the church and our community, and also our giving. And there's a few things we believe about giving here at Horizon, about, about why we give. First of all, like I said, it's an act of worship. An act of trust. It's about placing our finances in God's hands.

Secondly, it's a way to acknowledge his provision in our lives that all we have is really from Him. It also, and this one's always important to me, it frees us up from focusing and being controlled by our money and our finances and lifts our focus onto how we can bless others with what we have. And Scripture is really clear that sowing our finances generously into the church is a spiritual practice as part of our discipleship journey. And just like every area of discipleship at Horizon, we don't believe in pressure or guilt, but in invitation. As it says in 2 Corinthians, chapter 9, verse 7, each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion.

For God loves a cheerful giver. And in the same way, the church as a whole gives generously, which is why we've always ensured that at least 10% of church income goes directly into local, national and international missions to ensure we reach people beyond sort of our four walls. The next part that's exciting. Giving is exciting, even though it can be challenging at times. But the next part, I think, is the bit that I'm excited about this morning, and that's to see God's kingdom grow.

Because our giving is not about a budget or a financial sheet about how do we make Jesus for generations a reality. And you know, up here, when giving is mentioned, we thank people for partnering, but what do we. What do we really mean? And as treasurer, I see the practical side of keeping the church operating. The insurances, the utilities, replacing broken equipment when it's dropped, paying dues for the church.

And these things are really important. The key question that we focus on and we pray about isn't that isn't the things that just have to happen, but it's how do we best use God's resources to advance his kingdom and to make a difference in our community? And as someone who's involved in the setup and pack down each week, I've often dreamed and prayed and potentially cried out for a building or a place of our own, a place that was more visible, involved less physical labor, all those good things. But over the years, whenever we explore those options, the doors being closed, and while I'm going to keep praying and I keep believing for God's miraculous provision, it's become clear to the team over the last while, while that door has not just been closed, but locked and deadlocked, it's because what God is stirring in this vision is not about buildings, it's not about things, it's not about material things. It's about people and it's about equipping people to reach people about Jesus for generations.

So in practice, what does this mean for us from a practical perspective and a committee perspective? We're going to strengthen our budget, move from a yearly plan to a multi year budget and plan. And with that, with your support, we're believing and trusting that God will provide so that by 2028 we'll have the financial foundation to move to having more staff focused on the areas that we really care about as a church. And that includes full time lead pastor, full time outreach and discipleship pastor, and a full time youth and young persons pastor. 3 full time ministry leaders focus entirely on help, entirely on helping us live out this vision to reach generations.

And so your part and my part and all our part, what are we asking today? First of all, pray. Pray for our leadership. That would be wise and discerning with what God has given us. Second, listen.

Ask the Spirit how you might participate in this vision, not out of pressure and guilt, but out of joy and obedience. And third, partner, join us in building a church that's not just for now, but a church that reaches generations. A church where generosity fuels our mission and people are reached with the hope of Jesus. And if you, if you haven't already, we invite you to prayerfully consider setting up a regular pattern of giving to support this vision and mission and to see it as an expression of your worship and, and an intentional act of partnering with us and with this vision that God has entrusted on each one of us. Because your generosity will help bring Jesus for generations.

Thank you. I'll hand back to Pastor Simon. Number four. Number four. Now, this one is we're becoming a church mobilized for service and mission.

If you have a look at it on face value, it doesn't quite seem as exciting as some of the others. It doesn't have kind of what might appear like a really ambitious dream that God has put in our hearts. It is probably a bit more boring and maybe in some ways for some of you, a bit vaguer, but this is what we would call the plumbing of the church. The plumbing of the church. And this is one of those key areas that actually enables all of the other stuff to work.

If you've ever had plumbing issues at your house, it is really, really frustrating because it costs a lot to fix and you don't see any tangible benefit normally unless like, you know, toilets overflowing or whatever it is. But this area is something that we're going to be working on. Some of it will happen in the team behind the scenes a little bit, but it comes from this desire that by 2027, so in only a couple of years time, we'll have an operational and leadership structure through that drives spiritual maturity, church involvement and mission in our congregation. Because church, if we're believing that each one of us will see a family member or friend come to know Jesus, if we're praying that we're gonna engage with 500 people in our community each year, if we're believing that each one of us is gonna be growing spiritually and then we'll be growing as a church by 2027. We'll.

We need to have the structures in place that will enable us to do those things. And a key part of that is we want to make sure that everyone who calls Horizon home or is coming to check out Horizon, whether that's now or in the coming months, that they would know their next step, that they wouldn't come and just kind of join the community and think, well, I don't know what happens now, Like, I've joined the church, I've been coming, but what do I do now? How do I grow in my faith? And so our hope and our plan is that we'll develop structures that will actually enable that to happen. And we're going to restructure the way that we think about teams and about leadership in church life and about where different people fit on their journey around these four sequential steps.

They're not on the screen, they're in your booklets and so you can have a look at those and you might notice the way that they sequence through. So firstly, community engagement. We need to develop a team around that community engagement, welcoming and building connections with those outside the church. Those people who are going to their ministry focus is going to be on working towards that broader community connection. The second step of that is around church life connection.

So it's how do we support people who are new to Horizon to feel at home, to feel settled and, and to know what their next step is, whether it's joining a team. And we'll talk about that in a moment. The next one is spiritual growth. And so we need to provide those pathways for discipleship, for serving, for deeper faith formation. We want those people who are really going on in their faith to know what their next step is.

And then leadership development. We need a pipeline of leaders. We're already seeing that now that our Connect groups, which are organ awesome. And I'm not gonna steal Bethany's thunder here. Cause she'll get up in just a moment.

But we need new Connect leaders. We actually are believing and praying for that as a church. And so all of this comes from a desire to ensure that each person who calls Horizon knows their part and is able to, without pressure, but by invitation, is able to be involved, to be growing, to be serving, to be leading. And so our declaration, our conviction, your part, my part in it is this ownership over. I am growing in my faith.

It's this heart that says, I'm not just comfortable with where it's at now. I'm going to be pursuing Jesus. I'm going to be pursuing spiritual growth. Mission goal 5. Bethany's going to come and share that one.

This is our fifth and final mission goal. And it is to become a church where each person is deeply connected. So this is not, you know, we've already covered sort of resourcing and service and people coming to faith and mobilizing for action. And this is about us. This is connecting together.

This is about the members of the church becoming a strong godly community, growing in faith together. So this can be done through things like Connect groups, the ministry opportunities that we have, different serving opportunities and really just connecting in together. Because church is more than Sundays. It's not just about what happens today. It's so important to attend and listen to the sermon and worship together.

But we can get so much more out of our community if we. If it's more than Sunday. So God has a plan for each of our lives. We know that we have a mission. We have a focus.

We have actions that might need to be taken and God. But this plan for us includes us speaking into other people's lives. It includes encouraging each other on our faith journeys. It includes praying for one another. And then after that, we see God working in our own lives, in the lives of those around us.

We see his hand at work in each of them. We see prayers answered. We hear the testimonies of the people around us. We see healing and breakthrough and change. And this can happen, can only happen when we're connected in as a community.

So we all have a role to play in each other's lives. We're not meant to walk this journey alone. God designed us for community and not isolation. And there are so many examples we could choose in the Bible of this. But one of the passages is Hebrews 10, 24, 25, and it says, let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.

And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. And the best way to do that is not just on a Sunday, but also throughout the week. Connecting in together. So this is the kind of church that we want to build. A place where small groups and ministry teams become the heartbeat of our community and our spiritual growth.

A place where being in a group isn't the exception, but just the next natural step to take. However, we know that life is complex. I'm a perfect example of that. I feel like I spend my Sundays chasing a toddler around. It's not simple.

So schedules vary. Family commitments are different. We can have clashing things at different times, and it's hard to meet up. So that's why we aim to create groups that suit a variety of needs. So far, we have groups that run in the day, ones in the evening where children are encouraged to attend, ones for youth, ones later in the evening so you can attend after work.

And we're open to creating new formats so that everyone can be involved in a community. So if you'd like to speak to me afterwards or Simon or someone, if you're not connected in and would like to be connected in, if there are things that are getting in the way of connecting in, let us know, because we'd love to be able to create things, create times and groups that enable everyone in the church to connect in. Maybe you're already connected in, but you have a friend that you can invite along with you so that they can also be connected.

So you can have a look at your booklet. We've got the steps here, the ways that we as a church can ensure that we encourage this culture we where we're connected in. So that is, as we said, creating groups at different times, creating ones that can suit people, strengthening small group and ministry leaders. So we really have a need for leadership in this area. So we're praying over that and believing that God will provide that.

Small groups will be the primary space where people can pray together, study scripture and encourage one another. And as you can see, the my part there, I invest in community. And this is because having a community is not just what we can get out of it, but how we can serve and encourage one another. And that is part of God's plan for us. You'll find at the back of your booklet there is another page, and that page is a table.

And that table is just to help each one of us pray and consider what our next step might be. And so we've tried to make this as practical for you. We've tried to drill down and make it so that it's not too daunting, but so that each one of us can just pray and believe for a little bit of faith to take a step. And you'll see that down the bottom it says my first step church. There's two things I'd say here.

The first thing is don't forget this is a 2030 plan. So don't look at this and think, that is so big and it's scary and there's some really big goals there, some dreams, and they sound great. But how are we going to do this? I don't know. All right, so if you come and say to me later, how are we going to do all this?

I actually don't know. But I do know that God is over it and I do know that we will do it by small incremental steps as we faithfully follow Him. That's all we've ever done, right from when this church was 10 people in a lounge room. That's all we've ever done, is we've just faithfully done what God put in front of us. And so we're going to keep doing that.

So that's the first thing, is that it's a five year plan, we've got time. Second thing is that it'll only happen through God's help and through our partnership with it. And that's why we've put here my first step. What is a step that each of us can take? Firstly, that we'll commit to praying for someone we know, that we want to see come to know Jesus.

Secondly, that we will get involved in our next outreach activity. Third, that we'll prayerfully set up a regular pattern of giving. Fourth, that we'll prayerfully consider our next step, whether that's joining, serving or leading. And fifth, that we'll join a connect group and a serving team. What I encourage you to do is to take this away, to take this home with you.

I know that often these get left on seats and so please put it somewhere where you'll remember to take it. If you forget it today, please come back. We won't judge you next week if you ask for another one, they'll be on the desk at the front, so you're welcome to grab one. But take this home with you. Read over it, pray over it, have conversations about it.

This week in connect groups, we're going to be unpacking the vision in two in the Fortnight and Connect groups. We're going to be unpacking this as well. And so that's another opportunity to have some really good conversations about what this might look like. But why don't we pray now? Let's just pause for a moment.

Sausages are waiting. Let's pray. God, we come to you with open arms and open hands and Father, we say that we ask that you would use us. Lord, we have got these amazing goals that you've put in our heart, Father, things that you've planted the seeds of and that you've asked us to be faithful and nurturing. God, would you give us boldness?

Would you give us courage? Would you give us the faith that we need to see these things come about, Lord, not so that we would be glorified, but Father, so that you would be not so that our church would be built, but so that your kingdom would advance, Father, so that people would come and step in to knowing you and to having their lives transformed, that they would discover the purpose and the hope that is found in knowing Jesus. Father, that you we pray that you would give us wisdom and discernment, make us wise in knowing where to invest our energies and our time and for each one of us, God, that you would help us to be a part of this, Lord, that you would help us to use the gifts and abilities that you've given us, each one of us uniquely made, uniquely gifted, Lord, that we would use those things to see the church grow, to see people come to know you, to see your kingdom advance. And so we ask you these things in Jesus name.