COCHRANE—In March the CNBC national staff hosted Focus 2009, a meeting designed to communicate the mission, vision and values of the CNBC as well as dialogue with those in attendance.
From this gathering of field staff and key leaders, five key emphases emerged for 2009 and beyond.
Church Planting: We continue to believe God has given us the vision of planting 1,000 healthy, reproducing, cooperating churches by the year 2020. The Start Team has a well-defined strategy and continues to discover church starting advocates to help carry out this vision.
Evangelism: We are asking God for 100,000 baptisms. After much discussion with those in attendance we sensed we should continue to pursue this goal. There are many challenges, but God is beginning to stir the hearts of many of our leaders. For this goal to become a reality we are asking God to create a movement. Action 52 is one of the key strategies for seeing the fulfillment of this goal.
Associations: There is a new sense of cooperation and partnership between associations and the national staff. From a national perspective there is a desire to add value and find ways to encourage and strengthen local associations. We realize that each association is at a different stage of development and hope that established associations will help those emerging.
Cooperative Program (CP): CP giving has continued to grow at a steady rate over the last 10 years. While this growth is celebrated, and is an indication of support of the CNBC vision, approximately 50 percent of our churches do not give to the CP. Our desire is to do a better job of communicating in the heart language of our churches to help them discover that we can do more together than any one church can do on its own.
Covenant: Each of these priorities will become a reality if our churches and leaders learn to live in the spirit of the “Church to Church Covenant,” adopted at our 2008 convention. Our mission statement says, “We are churches in covenant, giving ourselves away to advance the kingdom of God.”
For the above things to happen there must be strategic communication among national staff, associations, churches and local leaders. We must engage in meaningful dialogue as to how God would have us cooperate and work together, in the spirit of our covenant.