God's Vision for Sequoia
By Ryan Dawson
Last weekend the Pastoral Team and the Sequoia Board met to spend time together and seek God for our church family. We took time to prayerfully reflect on our current vision and we sensed God affirming this direction for our church. I invite you to take time to prayerfully reflect on where God is leading us and to then ask the Lord how He would want you to engage in the life of our church so we can see this compelling vision fulfilled. It will take all of us, walking in faith, relying on the Spirit, and working hard to see God bring this to fruition. It's going to be an amazing adventure and I'm excited to journey with you.
Blessings, Ryan
A Compelling Vision: By God’s grace, in the next decade, we will help thousands of people experience the reality of living under the loving leadership of Jesus, so that our lives overflow with the life that Christ offers. We will encourage and equip people to live out the Kingdom life together, as extended families who love and serve one another. We will see thousands who are passionately committed to making an impact with their lives, so that Jesus is made famous throughout our world.
People are thirsty for a life that is meaningful and fulfilling. Sadly, our culture is looking for satisfaction in all the wrong places. The National Capital Region is a place of affluence where the pursuit of the “good life” is the highest goal. People chase material wealth and security, self-serving relationships, sex, image and success as ‘ultimate things’. But, in the end, they are left unfulfilled. People are damaged by the pressures of life, and have little room for authentic community where they are truly known and loved. Today, people are more ‘connected’ than ever, but they often feel more isolated, alone, and anxious than ever before. People long for true and meaningful friendships, but they don’t know where to look. Lives are being torn apart by selfishness and sexual sin, leaving a wake of hurt that impacts families for generations.
All of this reveals that, in so many ways, our lives and our world is broken. But Jesus is the Ultimate One who brings true life, meaning, fulfillment, wholeness, and satisfaction. We must help people find this true-life Source, because they will never be truly satisfied apart from Him. Jesus is the Good News who leads us to the good life. But, to help others find this Kingdom-life; we must first experience it ourselves. That is why our spiritual formation process is so important.
Our leadership development and spiritual formation process will help us understand and experience the fullness of the Kingdom Life that Jesus promised. It will also help equip and prepare us to live out our faith in tangible ways so thousands more can experience this same life. We see Sequoia’s Christ-Followers creating places of belonging where we can proclaim and demonstrate the goodness of God in meaningful ways to all we encounter. As a result of creating genuine community and blessing, where Jesus is at the centre, lives will be healed, families will become healthy, people will experience real relationships, broken people will be made whole, and God will be glorified.
We will see neighbourhoods transformed by the unexplainable kindness of Sequoia’s Christ-Followers: people living out the Kingdom life in a way that demands a “God explanation”. We envision one hundred Impact Communities across the NCR, filled with people who live as families of servants on mission. These Impact Communities will engage different neighbourhoods and social groups sub cultures in ways where people are drawn to Jesus and life in His Kingdom. We see our Impact Communities acting as strategic mission outposts across the NCR, where as disciples of Jesus we engage new causes and help establish new Sequoia campuses and church plants. We see Kingdom partnerships and collaboration with other churches and ministries for the sake of the Gospel. We see a Kingdom building, as a missional hub, serving the city, housing our church family and other organizations seeking the renewal of the City. The impact of these initiatives will be measured by positive community transformation as we see the renewal and restoration that Jesus brings through His Kingdom. And we won’t stop until we see our city filled with people who are fueled by the love of Christ and committed to seeing Jesus’ Kingdom come. But it won’t stop in our region. We will equip and empower people to go throughout the world to represent Jesus, so that everyone experiences the full life that Christ offers.
What is our Vision? In a sentence, it is to see thousands of people experience and live out the Kingdom of Jesus together, wherever we live, work, play, and go.
We know that this can’t happen without God moving in power, bringing spiritual renewal and transformation, and that is why we are passionately committed to seeking God through prayer. As we pray together, we are learning to depend on God for His will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven. We know that with God all things are possible, so we are moving forward in faith keeping our eyes on Jesus. We believe that when we as Christ-followers learn to live out our true identity as a Family of Servants on Mission, through a multiplying Impact Community model, we will change the world. For the Kingdom of Jesus will expand and multiply through our lives to the neighbourhoods and communities of the National Capital Region, and to the ends of the earth, bringing glory to God.
Last weekend the Pastoral Team and the Sequoia Board met to spend time together and seek God for our church family. We took time to prayerfully reflect on our current vision and we sensed God affirming this direction for our church. I invite you to take time to prayerfully reflect on where God is leading us and to then ask the Lord how He would want you to engage in the life of our church so we can see this compelling vision fulfilled. It will take all of us, walking in faith, relying on the Spirit, and working hard to see God bring this to fruition. It's going to be an amazing adventure and I'm excited to journey with you.
Blessings, Ryan
A Compelling Vision: By God’s grace, in the next decade, we will help thousands of people experience the reality of living under the loving leadership of Jesus, so that our lives overflow with the life that Christ offers. We will encourage and equip people to live out the Kingdom life together, as extended families who love and serve one another. We will see thousands who are passionately committed to making an impact with their lives, so that Jesus is made famous throughout our world.
People are thirsty for a life that is meaningful and fulfilling. Sadly, our culture is looking for satisfaction in all the wrong places. The National Capital Region is a place of affluence where the pursuit of the “good life” is the highest goal. People chase material wealth and security, self-serving relationships, sex, image and success as ‘ultimate things’. But, in the end, they are left unfulfilled. People are damaged by the pressures of life, and have little room for authentic community where they are truly known and loved. Today, people are more ‘connected’ than ever, but they often feel more isolated, alone, and anxious than ever before. People long for true and meaningful friendships, but they don’t know where to look. Lives are being torn apart by selfishness and sexual sin, leaving a wake of hurt that impacts families for generations.
All of this reveals that, in so many ways, our lives and our world is broken. But Jesus is the Ultimate One who brings true life, meaning, fulfillment, wholeness, and satisfaction. We must help people find this true-life Source, because they will never be truly satisfied apart from Him. Jesus is the Good News who leads us to the good life. But, to help others find this Kingdom-life; we must first experience it ourselves. That is why our spiritual formation process is so important.
Our leadership development and spiritual formation process will help us understand and experience the fullness of the Kingdom Life that Jesus promised. It will also help equip and prepare us to live out our faith in tangible ways so thousands more can experience this same life. We see Sequoia’s Christ-Followers creating places of belonging where we can proclaim and demonstrate the goodness of God in meaningful ways to all we encounter. As a result of creating genuine community and blessing, where Jesus is at the centre, lives will be healed, families will become healthy, people will experience real relationships, broken people will be made whole, and God will be glorified.
We will see neighbourhoods transformed by the unexplainable kindness of Sequoia’s Christ-Followers: people living out the Kingdom life in a way that demands a “God explanation”. We envision one hundred Impact Communities across the NCR, filled with people who live as families of servants on mission. These Impact Communities will engage different neighbourhoods and social groups sub cultures in ways where people are drawn to Jesus and life in His Kingdom. We see our Impact Communities acting as strategic mission outposts across the NCR, where as disciples of Jesus we engage new causes and help establish new Sequoia campuses and church plants. We see Kingdom partnerships and collaboration with other churches and ministries for the sake of the Gospel. We see a Kingdom building, as a missional hub, serving the city, housing our church family and other organizations seeking the renewal of the City. The impact of these initiatives will be measured by positive community transformation as we see the renewal and restoration that Jesus brings through His Kingdom. And we won’t stop until we see our city filled with people who are fueled by the love of Christ and committed to seeing Jesus’ Kingdom come. But it won’t stop in our region. We will equip and empower people to go throughout the world to represent Jesus, so that everyone experiences the full life that Christ offers.
What is our Vision? In a sentence, it is to see thousands of people experience and live out the Kingdom of Jesus together, wherever we live, work, play, and go.
We know that this can’t happen without God moving in power, bringing spiritual renewal and transformation, and that is why we are passionately committed to seeking God through prayer. As we pray together, we are learning to depend on God for His will to be done on earth as it is in Heaven. We know that with God all things are possible, so we are moving forward in faith keeping our eyes on Jesus. We believe that when we as Christ-followers learn to live out our true identity as a Family of Servants on Mission, through a multiplying Impact Community model, we will change the world. For the Kingdom of Jesus will expand and multiply through our lives to the neighbourhoods and communities of the National Capital Region, and to the ends of the earth, bringing glory to God.