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“Turning
People to Righteousness— Cedar
Park Assembly of God DRAFT Spiritual Mission
When the Roman Empire lost Britain, hardly a ripple stirred in
Rome. They cared little and
understood less of the implications of that loss. In a similar way, the Church has been retreating for several
centuries. We have lost
intellectual and physical territories. We are a shadow of our former selves. I
believe now is the time to launch a counter-attack and reclaim what has
been lost. It is my desire
to be about the process of restoring
the strength of the church and rebuilding the ancient foundations.
As a Christian community, we are starving ourselves to death. We need to stop depriving ourselves of our heritage and refuse to
accept anorexic Christianity. The
road is narrow, but the influence is meant to be wide. Our desire is to build a church that is influenced and challenged
by our past, but is led by the Holy Spirit.
Dr. Don Argue, in his inaugural address to Northwest
College,
described the position of the College and every Christian institution. He said, “We are heirs of the past, guardians of the present,
and architects of the future.”
The present condition of Christianity is neither terminal nor
irreversible. With God’s
willing help, I believe it is possible to see a great turning to the
Lord. I believe it is
possible to see both a righteous and a powerful Church. For this spiritual goal to be accomplished there must be physical
tools. Physical Tools of Ministry
Land
Land is essential both for the present and for the future. Land opens possibilities not otherwise
available. We want to acquire as much as possible. As of the summer of 2001 we have 48
acres. Although this is a substantial amount of land worth millions of
dollars, it is not too much. With
the enormously restrictive governmental regulations, much of the land
can never to usefully employed. There
are ten additional acres to the north of the church that follow in our
natural development trajectory. In
the timing of God, we hope to acquire that land. “Facilitating” the Mission Christians
have always recognized the importance of buildings especially set aside
for the worship of God. Indeed,
in a time when the entire world worshipped gods outdoors, God told Moses
to build him a place for his dwelling. God is a God of place. As
soon as Christians were ejected from the synagogue they began to develop
their own places. At
first they were tiny and secret to avoid persecution. Whenever the burden of persecution lifted, they stepped into
public view with buildings that declared who they were. With the rise of Constantine, their confiscated churches and
properties were returned and the Church enjoyed centuries of worldwide
freedom to build as they saw fit. In
many parts of the world that legacy remains visible and impressive to
this day. These
early places centered on three functions. They had places for worship, places for baptism, and places for
burial. As the church grew
is strength, they built special schools and places of study. They built freestanding economic communities around their
spiritual values and goals. In
short, they built structures to accomplish their spiritual goals. Cedar
Park has the goal of building structures to literally facilitate the
mission. In recent years
several dimensions of our building plans have been fulfilled. We added the “A” and “B” classroom buildings with a total
of 24 classrooms. The
covered play area was built in 1999. The first phase of the Chapel of the Resurrection was completed
in the fall of 2000. Additional burial phases will be added as demand
requires, probably starting as early as within a couple of years. The
classroom buildings were built as detached buildings in a campus setting
to accommodate the future expansion of the Sanctuary. The original building is expandable within the envelope of the
present building. Since
there are no bearing walls within the building, the Sanctuary can
increase to a possible 5,000 seats within the present structure. As the sanctuary expands and classrooms are replaced, Sunday
School and other educational functions will be moved to the outlying
buildings. The
next major expansion will be the new High
School building. It
will have a triple gym along with the other specialty classrooms of a
strong High School. As soon
as government and other factors permit, that building will be started. At this writing (Fall 2001), that could be as early as the summer
of 2002. Construction of
the High School will also require upgrading the southern
parking lots to handle more cars. Plans
for the foyer expansion have not been completed. Mechanical and other technical designs must be
finished. When the foyer expansion is completed, it will provide a larger
music area plus a larger
reception area across from the Chapel. A covered walkway will extend to the driveway. The
initial stages of a site plan
for the northern 18 acres was begun in September 2001. That site plan will include ballfields, sites for multipurpose
housing, a facility to accommodate the almsgiving ministries including
the mechanics ministry, and the necessary storm water treatment
facilities. “Turning
People to Righteousness—
Cedar
Park has become a Cathedral Church. Even though people think of a “cathedral” when they hear the
term “cathedral church,” the concept has nothing to do with the
structure of the building, but everything to do with building a ministry.
Simply put, a
Cathedral Church acts in a supervisory capacity over a variety of
ministries designed to serve the wider church and community. It takes its name from the major church of a geographical area
from which parish churches and ministries were organized and directed. In Cedar Park’s context, we are a church that serves and
supports other ministries beyond what is commonly experienced in smaller
local churches. When
Cedar Park planted Redwood Hills Church, it was acting as a Cathedral
Church even though we did not retain any actual supervisory capacity
with that Church. On the
other hand, when we took on the ailing Northshore Church, funding it and
directing its ministries, that was a classic function of a Cathedral
Church. In fact, many of
the broad range of ministries that we currently have fall within the
description of a Cathedral Church. Any ministry that serves more than the local church could be
described as a function of a Cathedral Church. Among
the ministries that help define the Cathedral Church are
The
distinguishing characteristic of each of these ministries, the thing
which helps them define the Cathedral Church, is the fact that they
serve the wider Christian community and act as an outreach to non-christians
as well. Incidentally,
with the exception of the branch churches, each of these ministries is a
fee-for-service ministry. That
is, the greatest part of the budget comes from the fees paid by those
using the service. This
approach offers considerable possibilities for further development and
expansion. Widening the Outreach of our Cathedral Church Ministry
For Cedar Park as a local church, one key to growth will be the
degree to which we can use the Cathedral Church concept to introduce
people to the next available step in their relationship to the church. Christian people may participate in multiple aspects of the
ministry without ever becoming an actual member of the church or even a
participant in a worship service. At
the same time, over the course of many years, if they are ever looking
for a new church home, they would at least consider Cedar Park. The same
is true for non-Christians. They
might use one or more of the services without becoming attached to the
church or receiving Christ as Savior. Our goal should be to make
it easy for people to take the next step to becoming connected to
one of our churches believing that at some point they will have an
opportunity, when they are ready, to accept Christ as their own Savior. Each ministry should promote the other
ministries. In this way, the outreach ministries should link people to Cedar
Park and provide possibilities for growth.
Making sure that we do a more effective job of offering our
services to those we are already ministering to is the goal of a new
ministry being developed under the leadership of Mike Smith. It will act as a quality
assurance function as well as introducing people to the next
available aspect of our ministry.
If the present ministries are serving to introduce people to the
Lord and to Cedar Park, the concept could be expanded. I believe one of the very fruitful ways of widening our outreach
is through largely self-supporting ministries. Given our large parcel of land, our substantial financial
resources, and our church culture favoring individual initiative, we
have the capacity to start several new ministries in the years that lie
ahead.
Cedar Park Northshore also serves as a good model for the
development of new churches
within the Cedar Park structure.
Our Chapel could be used on Sunday mornings or Saturday nights to
house new “churches.” These
churches might have different names, different pastors, and different
styles from the “mother” church, but they would still be a part of
Cedar Park. They would be
attached to our mid-week programs, Sunday School, and the other broad
range of ministries currently available. That is, their adults and children would be fully Cedar Park
participants both as leaders and students. The ministry would be supported with central accounting and
budgets. They would be
members of Cedar Park. At
the same time, they would develop their own ministry programs and
emphasis. Thinking of the
Cathedral Church model, they would be a cultural, stylistic, or ethnic
parish or branch within Cedar Park’s larger Cathedral Church. As Branch Pastors and Ministers, the leaders would be accountable
to the Assemblies of God. They
would also be part of the Cedar Park system and be accountable to the
Cedar Park Pastoral and Board structure.
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