Blog
By: Pastor Doug
On Saturday morning, January 26, leaders of Holy Cross gathered for a leadership summit. The focus of this summit was on what we call the vision frame of Holy Cross. Some of you are aware of what this frame is, but my gut tells me that most of you are not.
This leadership summit consisted of youth, school staff, lay leadership, and church staff. People of various ages and different responsibilities gathered in groups of four to discuss the direction of Holy Cross by means of our vision frame.
What is the vision frame?
Picture a painting that’s hanging in your home. A frame probably surrounds that picture. The focus is on the picture, but the frame is important to the beauty of the painting.
That specific picture does not have to be in that frame. You might find yourself purchasing another painting and using the same frame to surround this new painting.
The frame stays the same, but the picture can change.
The leaders of Holy Cross spent time exploring the frame that surrounds the vision of Holy Cross. This frame remains the same, even when the vision changes.
A portion of that frame appears each week on the cover of our bulletin. The mission mandate of our vision frame states that we “encourage those who hunger to be nourished by God.”
The leaders were not only encouraged to delve into our mission mandate, but also our mission motives (core values), mission map (strategy), and mission marks (how we hope lives will be changed at Holy Cross through the work we do together), ending with time spent admiring the picture which this frame surrounds.
What is that picture?
Here is the vision that we’re working toward at Holy Cross.
As modeled by Jesus, we will build a welcoming community that’s transformed through genuine worship, growth, and service so all may follow him.
The vision statement appears outside the entrance to the sanctuary. I hope that you will spend time reading it and thinking about the part you play in becoming this welcoming community.
This welcoming community is modeled after Jesus. He welcomed sinners, tax collectors, and outcasts. He stood up for the widows and orphans. He even ate with his enemies.
However, Jesus didn’t welcome people just to make them feel good. He welcomed people that they might be transformed through their connection to him. He was not content to leave people wallowing in the brokenness of their lives.
And neither should we be content with simply being a welcoming community. By the power of the Holy Spirit, God is changing us to be more like Christ and he is changing others through us.
How does he do his transforming work here at Holy Cross? We believe that God is working through genuine worship, growth and service to cause this change. This is our three-legged stool of how we do things at Holy Cross. The ministry at Holy Cross is organized around worship, growth and service.
There was a great deal of excitement, conversation and desire to embrace this direction for Holy Cross at the leadership summit. Though you might not always be aware of what is driving the work of your leaders, I hope that you will experience the excitement that they felt at this summit as we move forward into God’s future for us.
