Our Core Vision is the most clearly stated “how to” when it come to fulfilling our mission. We want to be those who are “Making Biblical Disciples Through Relational Environments.” In short, this means that we want to help everyone grow in Christ through involvement on one of our Life Groups. We also have goals and strategies to help us become a healthy, vibrant, growing church that is a testimony to God’s glory by reaching the lost, making disciples, pursuing other church plant opportunities and becoming more intentional in developing multicultural leadership in our church community.
Empowering Leadership
Concentrate on equipping, supporting, motivating, and mentoring individuals empowering them for ministry modeled after Jesus.
Strategy:
- Mentor to multiply our team of elders, staff, ministry leaders, and Life Group leaders.
- Develop a Leadership Development Process that cultivates a growing leadership culture and which specifically recognizes and reflects the multicultural diversity of our membership.
- Implement a Ministry Coordination Team to cast vision and strategize.
Gift Based Ministry
Help Christians know and apply the Spirit’s gifting for ministry in their lives, enabling them to serve with the Spirit’s power behind them rather than their own abilities.
Strategy:
- Teaching should include instruction about the Spirit’s role and spiritual gifting, including gift evaluation
- Incorporate frequent and numerous opportunities for ministry training and development
- Ministry leaders should mentor and evaluate those who serve to measure the “fit” of those serving in various ways
- Ministry opportunities should be offered and specific people encouraged to fill these roles through relational contact.
Passionate Spirituality
To see Christians in this church “on fire”, living committed lives and practicing their faith with joy and enthusiasm.
Strategy:
- Elders and staff model a lifestyle that demonstrates reliance on prayer, active involvement of the Holy Spirit and a growing personal relationship with God.
- Encourage all Ministry Leaders and Life Group Leaders in this lifestyle.
- From the pulpit and through educational opportunities, communicate a lifestyle of excitement and “God-dependency.”
- Practice and encourage the healthy practice of spiritual disciplines.
- Continue to develop purposeful discipleship opportunities through Life Groups and other personal relationships.
Functional Structures
Frame church life and ministry around a leadership structure, ministries organization, and processes that promotes life and growth.
Strategy:
- Encourage Ministry Leaders regularly to meet with those working with them.
- Weekly staff meetings.
- Elders meet twice monthly with staff.
- Ministry Coordination Team regularly meet to evaluate and strategize.
- Life Group Coordination by LG Ministry Leader; monthly meetings of LG Leaders.
- Semi-annual Elder, Staff, Ministry Leader meetings.
- Annual 401 Refresher concerning our Discipleship Process
- Quarterly Welcoming Lunches
- Regularly teach 202 Christian Basics I and 203 Christian Basics II
- Minister intentionally; take time to regroup when focus and intentionality are lacking
- Monthly evaluations of how ministries and leaders are functioning to ensure we are all sharing the load and not becoming overburdened
- Limit competition among ministries to maximize volunteers’ time and opportunity for growth
- Focus on the outcomes (our Mission/Vision) of various ministries and regularly celebrate them
Inspiring Worship Services
To see the Holy Spirit at work in assemblies where those attending are truly inspired and indicate that “going to church” is the highlight of their week.
Strategy:
- Offer inspiring worship services on Sunday morning that honour God and nurture faith in believers.
- Encourage more participation in assemblies (sharing times, faith stories, prayer, youth involvement and more involvement from all cultures in our church family).
- Strive for a higher level of excellence (praise team, assembly planning, technical).
Holistic Life Groups
To see groups that are growing in Bible knowledge, are practical, relevant and which bring about positive life-change as Christians learn to serve others both in and outside the group. To make biblical disciples in relational environments.
Strategy:
- Increase and maintain the level of participation by the church in Life Groups at a level of 70% involvement.
- Encourage the training and equipping of Life Group leaders, especially using the Discipleship Training Manual.
- Hold Life Group Leader meetings once a month.
- Implement processes to connect the unconnected into Life Groups.
- Offer RLM Immersion I to potential Life Group Leaders.
- Continue to develop a strong community aspect to Young Adult Ministry, Teen Ministry, Men’s Ministry and Women’s Ministry.
- Offer “mid-size” community through educational opportunities, special events, and homogeneous culture groups.
Need Oriented Evangelism
Focus evangelistic efforts on the questions and needs of non-Christians.
Strategy:
- Expand existing evangelistic events by members reaching out in the communities where they live and work.
- Capitalize on the opportunity to reach out into the multi-cultural community based on the existing diversity of our congregation.
- Specific continued outreach efforts in the Marlborough community.
- Key leaders (Elders, Staff, MCT, LG Leaders) model an evangelistic lifestyle.
- Offer an evangelism course in the coming year, “Becoming a Contagious Christian.”
- Maintain a strong focus on the Children’s ministry and Youth ministry because these are such critical times in personal formation and development.
- Regularly encourage from the pulpit evangelistic urgency within each member.
- Increase Maryvale’s role in supporting Missions around the world.
- Keep the congregational Mission (which is outreach oriented) in the minds of our members.
- Effectively and intentionally connect with assembly visitors.
Loving Relationships
Encourage an atmosphere where genuine love can flourish and be expressed. People do not want to hear us talk about love; they want to experience how Christian love really works. This atmosphere should pervade every area of ministry.
Strategy:
- Develop strong relationships among staff, elders, ministry leaders and all church ministries and teams.
- Provide opportunities for deeper relationships through special events, potlucks/brunches, Life Groups.
- Develop a dynamic and growing Youth and Family Ministry.
- Offer “mid-size” community through educational opportunities, special events, and homogeneous culture groups.
Accommodate Numerical Growth
The focus of the church is not numbers, but church health. And it is a fact that healthy churches grow and therefore need to make plans for how to accomodate such growth.
Strategy:
- Continue to evaluate Sunday School/Assembly model and modify if necessary.
- Encourage existing members to intentionally connect with newcomers.
- Investigate options to expand our current facility by modernizing and adding classrooms.
- Multiply the number of services
- Quarterly Welcome Lunches
Church Planting
One of the most significant events in the life of an individual and a church is giving birth… the miracle of multiplication. This process is an integral part of our church’s health, growth and kingdom impact.
Strategy:
- Maintain focus on and participate in the support, encouragement and successful launch of domestic (Canadian) church plants.
- Continue to meet regularly with the Greater Calgary Church Planting Network to support and encourage current church plants in Calgary and to develop a strategy for planting more churches in Calgary as opportunity
- Regularly and intentionally communicate with, celebrate with, and assist with the Northern Hills Church church plant
“Missional Church” Service to the Community
Carry the ministry of the church to the lives of the unchurched, the homeless, the hurting, the lowly, and the needy of Calgary, intentionally taking into account the needs of the Calgary non-caucasian population and immigrants.
Strategy:
- Special focus on the Northeast within the limits of our geographic demographics and commuter church character.
- Devise and implement ways of going into the community with Christ and the gospel, rather than expecting that they will come to us.