Catching the Vision

I think I can safely speak on behalf of our Elders by saying that we were absolutely thrilled by our Dream Day activity last Saturday. Almost 50 Life Springers showed up to offer their thoughts and ideas—their visions and dreams—for the new church campus.

One of the things that I found most gratifying was the degree to which our congregation seems to be catching the vision that our leadership has been laying out for the past two years. Experiencing and Expressing the Love of God is not just a slogan—it is the expression of the vision that our leadership has for Life Spring. And the ideas and suggestions offered on Saturday indicate that this vision is becoming a reality among those who call Life Spring “home”.

There were plenty of ideas offered about how the property and facilities can assist us in Experiencing the Love of God. Novel classroom ideas for children’s ministry, great discussions about worship that is innovative yet respectful and wonderful thoughts about how we can promote fellowship among the saints all lend themselves to our freshly experiencing God’s love.

But as a church, we are not content to be a gathering place for Christians. There were plenty of ideas about how our property and buildings can be used to benefit Spring Hill and surrounding communities. I didn’t write down all the ideas (that was our architect’s job), but here are a few of the creative proposals for Expressing the Love of God to each other and our neighbors.

An outdoor amphitheater that could be used not only for church-related services and productions, but also could be used by the community for plays or performances.

A community garden that people could use to plant vegetables for their own use, or to make donations to the Farmer’s Market.

There were several suggestions about ways to open up our property to the entire community, such as walking trails with exercise stations, playground equipment, a skate park, and a coffee shop that would be open all week to the public.

We talked about ways to meet the needs of the disadvantaged, including a clothes closet, temporary housing and emergency housing.

These are just a few of the many suggestions offered during 4 ½ hours of discussion. I wanted to share this sampling of ideas just so that you can see why our leadership is so proud of our congregation for thinking in broad and visionary ways.

I drove by a church recently that has signs prominently posted in their parking lot, For Church Use Only. I understand where they are coming from, but what message does that send to the community? May our congregation never have the attitude that we have to “protect” our church from the community. In fact, let’s never lose sight of the fact that it’s not “our church” to begin with. May the property and facilities God gives us assist us in more fully Experiencing and Expressing the Love of God.