The following was sent out as a church-wide email at the beginning of March. I’m re-posting it on our website for those who may have missed our Commitment Sunday message or who may not have received the email.
Our Mission & Vision for 2023We’ve had a simple mission for the past number of years: We help people follow Jesus. And we do it one step at a time. We believe that everyone, regardless of spiritual background, upbringing, or current life circumstances has a step of spiritual growth to take. That’s the model we see in Jesus. He would always find people where they were, at whatever point in time he found them, and then he would challenge them to take a step—a step of faith, repentance, commitment, obedience, just one step at a time.
So for 2023, we’re going to focus on building relationships. Relationships are a vital part of helping people follow Jesus. Far too often, Christians just want to shove some bible verses in a non-Christian’s face and then we act surprised when that person doesn’t want anything to do with the church.
John 13 says this: 34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
If you just tell a stranger they need Jesus, there’s a good chance they won’t accept it well. But if you make friends and show them the love of Jesus, they’re a lot more likely to accept it.
Our leadership team has been brainstorming ways to encourage relationship-building this year. The monthly social events (game night, axe throwing, craft days, etc.) that we’ve started having are part of this. These events are a great time to get together with your church family outside of a Sunday morning church service and get to know them better. These events are also great opportunities for inviting a friend, neighbor, or co-worker who may never otherwise set foot in a church.
Now don’t get me wrong, our goal is not to turn the church into a social club. We’re still going to be teaching the bible and taking time to worship Jesus. Our Sunday morning service is where we’ve been the strongest the past couple years, and it’s time for us to focus on areas where we haven’t been the strongest.
The stronger our connections and relationships are with each other, the greater our abilities will be to weather the storms of life and be the hands and feet of Jesus. We’ll be better able to notice when someone is hurting or struggling. We’ll be better able to support others, and we’ll notice when someone who has been part of our church family stops coming, so we can reach out and make sure everything’s OK.
Likewise, when someone comes for the first time on a Sunday morning, we want to make sure they feel welcomed and make connections with others in the church. A visitor is much more likely to come back if they make connections during their visit. That’s why we take a few minutes during services to have our weekly discussion question. It’s an easy way to break the ice and start a conversation with someone you don’t already know, and that simple conversation can branch off into something even more meaningful.
We also want to make sure people aren’t falling through the cracks. To help with that, we’ve put together a “follow-up” team, that takes some time during the week to follow-up with visitors and any comments that are left on our Connect Cards. Likewise, they’ll also be taking time to follow-up with people that we haven’t seen for a while, to make sure everything is OK, and see if they have any prayer needs.
But what about outreach amongst the community? After all, our name is“Lafayette Community Church.”
We’ve done several larger community outreach events in the past. Unfortunately, these events require a lot of resources and funds to do them well and be effective. It’s something our leadership team will be evaluating as we go through the year. We definitely want to be involved in the community. However, I also think it can be good to take a bit of a break and focus on strengthening ourselves, so we can be more effective at reaching our community.
Our MembershipLCC does membership differently than most churched. Our membership expires each year, and we ask people to recommit to membership. This year, membership is especially important, as the hiring of a new lead pastor requires a vote from the active members.
If you like what we’re doing around here, and our mission and vision for reaching the community, we’d love to have you join us in membership for the year. If you’re not ready to make that commitment, that’s OK too. You can become a member at anytime throughout the year. Especially if you’re new, we encourage you to take some time and prayer about it. Likewise, you don’t have to be a member to be part of our church family.
If you’re ready to make that commitment, here are the qualifications outlined in our bylaws:
In the past, we had an additional membership covenant that outlined some additional requirements for membership. Our elders and leadership team have decided, especially with the pastoral transition this year, to simplify things. So this year, our membership covenant is simply this:
In agreement with the mission, vision, and governing documents of Lafayette Community Church, I will live in unity with this church for this year.
If you would like to make a commitment to membership this year, you can fill out the online form at https://lafayettecc.org/go/membership2023 or we’ve got paper commitment cards in the auditorium and lobby at the church.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns, please reach out! Emails sent to office@lafayettecc.org will get forwarded to the proper people, or you can email the Elder team (elders@lafayettecc.org) or treasurer (treasurer@lafayettecc.org). We’re excited for what God has in store for our church this year!