Executive Director’s Report 2010
| 09 December 2010
Executive Director’s Report 2010 
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Why? It’s not just the constant question that inquisitive preschoolers need to ask, it is a question we all need to ask regularly. In a class lecture at Moody Grad School, Dr. Lloyd Perry said that if he ever was a pastor of a church again he would raise a banner across the sanctuary with this one word question on it: Why? He went on to explain that failing to ask this question regularly causes us to drift from our mission and the reason the Lord has us here.
The same is true for an association of churches. In recent years we have been asking this question more regularly, and this is a good thing when it causes us to reflect on the mission God has given to us. When we return to the mission and vision that God has given to us and focus on the relationships He will use to help us accomplish it, we gain the opportunity to spark a new life cycle and become more fruitful in our service to Christ.
Why an association of churches? I believe the biblical and theological evidence clearly argues for the importance of churches working together. The triune nature of God as a relational community accomplishing the work of creation and our salvation provides an example for us to follow. Throughout the Old and New Testaments and down through history God uses leaders to rally His people together to accomplish His mission. The nature of the church as Christ’s body with interdependent parts illustrates the importance of working together. Christ prayed for the unity of the church, and He commands it in Scripture. There are many examples of New Testament churches working together in service and mission. Christ’s model and mandate to serve rather than be served is expected of believers individually and collectively.
The sin of pride that lives in rugged individualism is condemned throughout Scripture as it creates isolation and wreaks havoc in relationships through many selfish forms. This sin was rebuked when found in individuals as well as in God’s stiff-necked people and pharisaical leaders. In contrast the fruit of the Spirit yields in us characteristics of community and relationship: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. This sin of pride also reveals itself in the pervasive consumerism of our culture that demands its own way and needs be cared for above all else. This what’s-in-it-for-me mindset is the exact opposite of the mind and attitude of Christ demonstrated and commanded of us in Philippians 2.
The question of why may also be answered on the basis of the mission Christ gave to the church to make disciples of all nations. With fields white unto harvest we must work together utilizing one another’s gifts, strengths, and resources to accomplish this. As the nations of our world are populating the communities around us we need the help and expertise from one another to meet the growing complexities of mission in our own backyards. Although the evangelical church in the Northeast is growing, the fastest rate of decline in the percentage of the population attending any kind of Christian church is in the Northeast. It is the most unchurched part of our nation. We must work together to strengthen each other for the mission Christ has given to us to reach not only our communities but also the world with the gospel of Christ.
Why CB Mission Northeast? The answer to this question is found in the things we share in common: our heritage, doctrine, core commitments, and purpose. Although our churches are quite different from one another in many ways, our commitment to Christ, and these things we hold in common provides the basis for our unity and working together with one mind and purpose. Our values, mission, and vision give us a Ministry Map for the future.
OUR MINISTRY MAP
Our Values
We value and celebrate:
- Courageous leaders who passionately seek to equip their churches to accomplish Christ’s mission.
- Healthy local churches who work to make disciples of Jesus Christ and launch new churches.
- Partnership and accountability among churches and leaders who are networked together to accomplish our mission.
- Multiplication of leaders and churches so that the Gospel of Jesus Christ radically impacts the world.
Our Mission:
To serve the local church; assisting them to accomplish their God-given mission to make disciples of all nations.
Our Vision:
We envision a network of vibrant churches empowered by God and mobilized by passionate spiritual leaders, living out the gospel by serving their communities and making disciples of Jesus Christ to the glory of God.
Our Strategy:
- Train effective spiritual leaders
- Equip healthy churches
- Assist with strategic networks
- Multiply leaders & churches
Resulting in: new life, new churches, and new leaders
Our Key Measurement Areas
Train effective spiritual leaders
- Training and resourcing the leadership of our churches
- Establishing and maintaining long-term pastoral relationships in our churches
Equip healthy churches
- Strengthening churches toward health (inwardly strong and outwardly focused)
- Coaching churches to accomplish their God-given mission
Assist with strategic networks
- Clustering churches together to facilitate mission, ministry, learning, and caring for each other
- Partnering with others to advance mission and ministry
Multiply leaders & churches
- Facilitating churches planting churches
- Growing next generation leaders
Our Structure:
We will implement our strategy by developing the following Leadership Teams:
- A Vision Team (aka Executive Board): Primary Focus: Keeping us accountable to our mission, values, and vision
- Network Teams: Primary Focus: Facilitating ministry together, a peer-learning environment, & care for each other
- Coaching Teams: Primary Focus: Mentoring and Coaching in their area of expertise
Our First Steps:
- Establish specific goals for each key measurement area
- Connect churches with each another in interdependent, covenant relationships
- Mobilize clusters toward ministry, learning, and caring
- Recruit and train Coaching Team Leaders
- Resource our region with training and ministry partners
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