About 15 years ago, I found out that there were about 260 churches in Kalamazoo county. I was working with church leaders and we were trying to build unity between churches. A group of us actually telephoned every church in our county inviting them to a leaders’ gathering. Additionally, we mailed invites and promoted it in other ways. The event was successful, but we didn’t get even close to every church participating.
I also discovered that there are about 260,000 people living in Kalamazoo County. Wow. That means that there is potential for nearly every church to have as many as 1000 members! Of course not every church is called to be that large, and some churches are called to be much larger. But it’s the idea of so many souls not living in connection with a life giving spiritual family that grabbed my heart.
When starting New Day Vandalia, one of the first things I did was see how many people live in Cass County. I found out that there are over 52,000 people that live within about a 20 minute drive from our church there. I’m not sure how many churches there are in Cass County, but it’s likely similar to Kalamazoo County. The BIG IDEA is that we are surrounded by thousands of people that either do not know the Father or have a genuine relationship of faith in Jesus, or they may, but are not connected in a meaningful way with a local church.
In Matthew 16:18, Jesus says, “I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” The church is the only thing Jesus said He would build. In Ephesians 5:25-27 we discover what Jesus intends for His church, “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” So the church, though no doubt still in the process of having our stains, wrinkles, and blemishes removed, is nevertheless the bride of Christ and the object of His affection.
This means that every expression of the church is valuable and is intended by God to display certain characteristics of Christ. Over the next few weeks we’ll be looking at four aspects of being a church that we feel are ingredients that define the New Day Flavor. These are aspects we work into everything we do, and make us unique among all the churches in our region. We will look at our vision of Making Disciples & Multiplying Churches out of our Passion for Jesus, what it means to be a Presence Based Church, our Core F.I.R.E. Values, and our emphasis on Healthy Community.
New Day is an amazing church with three distinct but interdependent congregations that all share these same ingredients. It's time to celebrate who we are and what we offer to our communities. You are New Day; you are the affection of Christ and the fruit of His labors. Let’s step up and be the church in our community!