Ever tried to find your keys in the dark? Without clear vision, it’s hard to do anything well. Perhaps you can remember walking, hands outstretched through a darkened room, and then painfully banging your shins on that malevolently-placed coffee table. Vision is mission critical. Without it, we stumble around, unsure and confused. This is true for us personally, for families, businesses and organizations. And it’s true for us as a church. Without a sense of who God has called us to be and what he’s called us to do, we can wander around doing “good things” but never sure if we are pursuing “God things.”
At the Erickson Covenant Church, we want to serve out of a clear vision. God has given us life in Jesus, and he has called us to be his witnesses in the world. So, what’s our vision at ECC? Very simply, we are committed to helping people find and follow Jesus.
With this as our vision, we are able to pursue God’s mission with clarity and purpose, making sure that we are accomplishing exactly that—helping people find and follow Jesus. This vision becomes the filter through which we prioritize, pursue and evaluate the effectiveness of our ministry together. Vision helps us ask revealing questions such as, Is our children’s ministry helping children and their families find and follow Jesus? Is my preaching and teaching helping people find and follow Jesus? Are our Sunday morning gatherings helping people find and follow Jesus? Are our spiritual friendships, our coffee dates, our picker’s lunches, our small groups, our care ministry, our worship teams, our movie nights, our seniors fellowships, our youth groups—in short, all we do as a community—are they accomplishing this vision of helping people find and follow Jesus? And if our answer to these questions are yes, then how is it happening? Can we tell the stories? Are we able to point to those who have found Jesus in the last year? Are we able to describe ways we are learning to follow Jesus in our own lives? If the answer is no, then what are we doing to do about it? What needs to change?
Helping people find and follow Jesus; that’s God’s call to us at the Erickson Covenant Church. It’s the vision we are pursuing, for the sake of our world and for the glory of God.
You can learn more about our vision by listening in on our September 8th sermon podcast. It is located on our Sermons and Podcasts Page.