Imagine...

Imagine... a church where you can check out Christianity and seek answers to spiritual questions, completely without pressure.

Imagine... a church where you can experience God and authentic community in ways that are culturally relevant and personally applicable to your life.

Imagine... a place where you could find community in Christ.

I dream of a church that shines brightly as a beacon of faith, hope, and love in Harbour Heights, Florida, and the surrounding areas - a church that is made up of real people who actively lead others to a real Savior and meet real needs as it is compelled by a real God to do so. I yearn for a church full of people who have hearts for God and are so contagious with authentic Christian life that non-believing, dechurched, and unchurched people are drawn to experience Jesus for themselves – many for the first time!

I dream of a church where people know they are loved because they know how to share their needs with each other, they know how to pray for each other, they know how to support and encourage each other, and they know how to spur each other on to be all that God intends them to be.

I dream of a church where discipleship is taken seriously – where people deeply desire to grow in their knowledge and experience of Jesus. I long for a church where people grow spiritually because they put their faith into action, using the gifts and talents God has given as they intentionally seek to fulfill God's calling upon their lives.

I dream of a church where spiritual gifts are discovered and deployed for God’s glory – a church where leaders lead, administrators administrate, teachers teach, and caregivers give care – a church where people with mercy gifts offer mercy, people with hospitality gifts make all feel welcomed – a church where all the other spiritual gifts found in the Bible are effectively utilized as God calls people to use them.

I dream of a church where people expect to encounter God in worship and wait with excited anticipation for the next opportunity to gather together.

I dream of a church where everything happens as a result of diligent prayer and the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Where people humbly go wherever God leads for his glory, and for the benefit of needy and unbelieving people.

I dream of a church where young children are raised in a relevant children’s ministry so that the faith they come to know can enable them to grow to maturity in Christ – as their continued experience of Jesus Christ will carry them through the turmoil and challenges of adolescence and young adulthood because they have seen authentic Christianity lived out by the adults that surround them.

I dream of a church that refuses to be ingrown or self-focused. A church that is respected by all because it breathes hope and life into this world as it meets needs and transforms lives. A church that is so caught up in what God is doing that it generously shares its resources with those in need, and with other works of God around the world. I dream of what Christ Community UMC can be – a beacon of faith hope and love – a real church for real people.

(adapted and inspired from Benji Kelley, Pastor at New Hope in North Carolina)