“Come on Iain just a few more steps.” This is the constant chorus I shout at my aching legs and heaving lungs as I stagger towards the prize of summiting a mountain peak. Often it’s worth it! great vistas of mountain ridges, sky and snow stretch out as far as the eye can see. Panoramas only viewed by the muddy-footed, masochistic hillwalker. These are the visions that spur me on through bog and boulder-field and focus my navigation.
As on the hills so in life. We all like to know where we are headed, what we need to get stuck into and where we need to deploy our resources for maximum effect.
That brings me to our vision Sunday this week. On Sunday we will be painting the big picture, pointing out the mountain and outlining where we will climb as we move out of this pandemic. These themes have been brewing in our leadership team for a couple of years and we are all glad that we can begin to work this out. I should add that we were advised to keep this clear and simple. I hope we can. So here are the headlines of our fresh vision.
Why are we here as QPBC? What are we for?
Our heart-cry remains to
“Call our City to Life”
More than ever people in Glasgow and its conurbations need to encounter the life-changing reality of Jesus who is the source of life in all its fullness and flourishing. That’s what we are going after.
So how are we going to do that? How are we to reach our city?
- By living lives that are worth sharing, lives that are saturated by ongoing encounter with God, centred on Jesus and filled with the Spirit.
- By living lives that are shared with one another, encouraging each other to grow as disciples of Jesus through accountable and supportive relationships that are grounded in God’s word and full of the Holy Spirit. Imagine a multicultural, multigenerational and socially diverse community of Jesus followers spurring each other on.
- By living lives of faith that are shared with others, sharing the good news of Jesus as we scatter into our families, workplaces and communities and as we gather together to build bold and creative outreach.
We sum these up in 3 priorities that will shape and guide all we do
Encounter – Encourage – Engage
We aim to be a community of wholehearted followers of Jesus who are
- Encountering God (Father, Son, and Spirit)
- Encouraging transformative relationships in one another
- Engaging in bold outreach
As we move into this new era, our standout priority is to engage in bold outreach.
Our 2010 vision was visualised by the banquet table from Matt 22. This emphasized invitation and welcome, grace and respect (great values – don’t lose them!) and inspired some great projects and events.
However the challenge we face today is not simply to invite people in but to go to where they are and to expect God to show up “out there” as much as “in here”.
To put this challenge in picture form, it is to shift from the “table” of Matt 22 to the “gate “of Acts 3:1-10.
In Acts 3 Peter and John encounter the lame man at the “beautiful gate” in the heart of the city of Jerusalem. God shows up there and then, on the street, on the lame man’s turf, in miraculous and life-changing power.
As we take up the challenge to step out and get alongside people where they are, let us too have faith that God is already on the streets and homes and workplaces of our city seeking to give the gift of a transformed life.
Please pray into these themes and how you might contribute.
See you on Sunday!