Where are we heading?

Last week I unpacked what we do at Christ Church St Ives. The answer was of course obvious - we are being a church, a gathering of people focused on knowing and following Jesus. Specifically, our prayer is that every person connected to our church would grow as a wholehearted disciple of Jesus, and be wholeheartedly devoted to him.

As your staff team, this is what we are focused on all the time. This is what we do: build wholehearted disciples of Jesus. 

But, where are we heading with all this doing? Is there a vision for where we want to be at some point in the future?

Well, we have been talking for a few years about 3,000. Why 3,000?

Well, first of all, it feels massive to say if you are sitting in any one of our gatherings. I want to acknowledge that, but I also want to say that 1 Timothy 2:4 says that God our Saviour “wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” So, while it may feel massive, we have a God who is seeking the world and we need to prayerfully take our part in his missional plans. I don’t want us to have an easily achievable vision; I want us to be onboard with something only God can do! 

But why 3,000? Well, it’s just about doubling where we are at right now. If we cast our minds back to November which was the last regular month of church, we had 1,574 people who call Christ Church their church attend one of our groups or gatherings. Praise God for that! 

But there are still a lot of people who don’t know Jesus in Ku-ring-gai and we need to keep looking to the fields rather than just being content with the people who are in the barn (or church) at the moment. This sort of thinking is Jesus thinking. He doesn’t look at the thousands following him around and say, “Hey what a great crowd!”. He looks at the whole city of Jerusalem and has compassion on its people, saying “the harvest is plentiful!” (Matthew 9:37)

So, 3,000 people who call Christ Church home is the big goal. Each congregation has individual goals for 2025, but together, that’s the mountain we are prayerfully climbing in God’s strength, for God’s glory.   

How are we going to get there? Well, we attract lots of “already Christians” because of our outstanding children and youth programs and excellent church services. But reaching those who are not yet Christian must be our priority. We don’t want to just scoop up believers, we want to see everyone come to a knowledge of the truth about Jesus and trust him with their whole life. 

We cannot simply rest upon transfer growth; I am anxious for Kingdom growth. And this is why, as I have been saying, we are trying to ensure Mission gets to the centre of our attention again this year. I pray we all live evangelistic lifestyles as we engage with Share Life, invite people to Mondays, and pray regularly that people may come to know the Lord Jesus.  

So, where are we heading? We are heading to 3,000 wholehearted disciples of Jesus. And when we get there, it will be a good start. That’s what I am praying for and I earnestly invite you to join me.