Vision:Access

Faith | Mission | Community

This past Sunday, we 'launched' or 'unveiled' (or whatever other word you want to use) our vision for Access Church. The idea was that we would gather a group who might be somewhat interested in joining us, cast the vision, and see who sticks around. Our hope was to gain a greater 'core' of Aldergrove residents to join in the vision and mission of Access with us. Did it work? To a degree, yes. But I think that the real 'results' of the vision spiel (as I like to put it) will be seen in the lives of those who heard and were inspired, whether or not they join us at Access Church. To that end, I would like to make our vision spiel available to you, our faithful blog reader, to inspire you whether or not you ever enter into community with Access Church.

Our vision for what our church will become rests on the three pillars of faith, mission and community.

Faith is what comes first. A church that doesn't start with that isn't a church - it can be a service organization or a social club, but it's not a church. Our faith is more than a few creeds listed on the wall - it's a living faith which directs and reflects all that we do. Our faith is more than scripture memorization, a love for Old Testament stories, and a belief in a god. Rather, it's rooted in the Gospel of Jesus - and we see all of Scripture through the lens of that Gospel, as pointing to that Gospel, as telling the story of that Gospel. In the vision for Access Church, faith isn't separate from mission and community; rather, it gives structure and purpose to those other pillars. Our faith is in a God who stepped out of heaven to come to earth, in order to seek and save the lost (mission) and to bring reconciliation between God and man, man and man, man and himself, and man and creation (community).

Mission is essential to any church. A church without mission is nothing but a relic, a castle, a fortress for the faith. Sure, it defends its creed, but at the expense of living what it claims to believe - to go into all the world and preach the Gospel. Mission is about going into the world, living in the world, being involved in the world. What's the big deal? You ask? Aren't we all in the world? Yes, but there's a tendency for Christians to try their best to stay away from the world, to build up the fortresses and protect themselves and their loved ones from the big, dark world. But instead, Jesus told us that we ARE the light of the world. Our job is to take the light of Jesus into the dark world. We can no longer blame the darkness for being dark - we can only look at ourselves and ask why the light hasn't gone into those dark places. So the vision for Access Church is to be involved in our world, our neighbourhoods, our community, Aldergrove. It's not easy, especially in a culture where individuality and self-reliance are high values. We need to be bridge-builders between people, builders of community, not just between culture and the Gospel, but between people and people. We need to show God's love in practical ways intentionally. We need to give freely as we've received freely, to live generously.

Community has received a lot of lip service in a lot of places. Already I've mentioned it here. But a church that isn't a community isn't a church. This is the attractional piece to what it means to BE church - and attractional isn't bad when it's balanced with mission. How can we do mission together, if we don't have community with one another? What are we calling people to in inviting them to the Gospel when community doesn't exist? The vision for Access is that it will be a Gospel Community - one that involves Christians and non-Christians, one that's a movement, on a journey, one that's intentional and enjoyable and life-giving. Friendships between men, between women, and between men and women need to be central and purposeful. Somebody has said that friendships are the building blocks of spirituality - where relationships are stunted, friendship with God and spirituality is stunted. But Gospel Community goes beyond friendships. Somebody else has said that community is where your least favorite person lives. This kind of community takes commitment, and this kind of intentional commitment to community is what will mark Access Church as much as what we believe and how we live it out.

I dream of a community of restoration, of reconciliation. I dream of transformation in Aldergrove - economic, relational... people caring about their neighbourhoods in new and radical ways. I dream of recovery, of hope, of vision and purpose. I dream of Aldergrove in the nation's news as a community turned around, a source of light for all of Canada. This can happen as we embrace Faith, Mission and Community.

I dream of people swarming to the heart of downtown Aldergrove, the corner of 272 and Fraser, now known for violent acts and exploitation, and lifting up unshakled hands and voices in praise to Jesus, who has set them free from the oppression of sin, both in their personal lives and in their community.

Join us in dreaming and visioning a new future for Aldergrove, for what will happen when the Gospel impacts this town, as we live out our faith, mission, and community.

(to hear the Vision Spiel audio, click the title link or click here)