Prayer & Action Goals

Ministry Year 2023-24 Prayer & Action Goals

Why Have Goals?

I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 3:14

In his letter to the Philippians, Paul the Apostle declares that even he hasn’t “arrived” yet and still has room to grow. He invites us to adopt the same mentality. This spiritual “pressing on” is what our yearly Prayer & Action Goals are all about at Peninsula Community Chapel.

Our church elders have identified several goals for us to pursue as a church this year. Some of these goals will excite you while others may make you say, “Ehh…” And that’s kind of the point.

Your walk with God is a community project! Because of that, some of our goals will relate to things that you are already passionate about. Other goals will stretch you to take action and pray for an area or topic that you might not have that much interest in at first and that’s the beauty of growing in community. When we grow together as a community, we help one another to address blind spots and areas that we could use shoring up in. None of us has “arrived” yet and we all have areas in which we need to grow. By growing together as a church family, we help to ensure that our growth is biblically balanced and nourished by other people’s perspectives and experiences.

If we only pursue goals that we are already excited about, our spiritual growth will be stunted as we simply reinforce our own interests and passions. But when we grow together, we stretch ourselves to explore new areas and press on to know the Gospel’s influence in every corner of our lives.

So join us this year in using these goals to guide your prayers and actions. We are excited to have you with us for this adventure!

Our Year of Faith

Faith is one of those words that can mean very different things to different people. For some, it merely refers to maintaining an optimistic attitude. According to God’s Word, however, faith means something more. Faith has an object. It means trusting in something or someone outside of yourself.  

In the book of Joshua, God invited his people to practice faith. As they entered a completely new chapter of their history, he invited them to trust in his presence, his power, and his promises to do for them what they could not do for themselves. They would face many challenges that would make practicing such faith difficult.  

God continues to invite us to practice faith today. He invites us to trust in Jesus, in the power of his resurrection, and in the promises that he made through his teachings. Like God’s people during the time of Joshua, we are invited to trust him to do what we cannot do for ourselves. We also face various challenges that make practicing such faith difficult. We are regularly pressured to doubt God and trust in other things to meet our greatest needs.  

These Prayer & Action Goals are designed to help us strengthen our faith and share it with others. Please prayerfully consider pursuing them along with us. Below each goal, we have included several suggestions for how it can be pursued. Please feel free to make these goals your own by pursuing them in other creative ways as the Lord leads you. It is our hope that these goals will enrich your spiritual growth this year!

Trusting in Him,
Garrett Spitz
Lead Pastor

Word

Strengthen my faith in God’s presence, power, and promises through the book of Joshua.

I will pursue this goal by doing one or more of the following: 
  • Apply sermons on the book of Joshua to my life.
  • Study Joshua on my own or with others (Home Group, Bible Study, or Discipleship Course).
  • Watch the Bible Project’s video on the book of Joshua. 
  • Learn about and celebrate God’s past faithfulness to our church by participating in the 40th Anniversary Homecoming Global Ministry Conference. 
  • Commit to pray for and participate in The Next 40 capital campaign.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. - Joshua 1:9 

Worship

Exercise my faith on Sunday mornings by worshiping corporately one hour and serving or learning the other hour.

I will pursue this goal by doing one or more of the following: 
  • Worship corporately at either the 9:00AM or 10:45AM service and use the other hour to either serve with KidzMin, the Welcome Team, the Coffee Team, the Usher Team, at a Global Ministry Prayer time, with some other ministry, or learn alongside others in a Discipleship Course.
  • Practice spiritual disciplines (e.g. prayer, meditation, study, fasting, etc.) during the week that will help me reflect on and apply what I experience in gathered worship.

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! - Psalm 100:1-2 

Equip

Deepen my faith through deep study with others that applies God’s Word to life.

I will pursue this goal by doing one or more of the following: 
  • Participate in three Sunday morning Discipleship Courses throughout the year. 
  • Complete one evening VIA course. 
  • Attend a seminar or workshop related to some aspect of the Christian faith.

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.  - 2 Peter 1:5-7 

Engage

Local: Grow confident in sharing my faith with a skeptical world.

I will pursue this goal by doing one or more of the following:  
  • Read How To Talk About Jesus (Without Being That Guy) by Sam Chan and discuss it with others (e.g. Home Group or small group).
  • Identify at least one non-Christian for you to regularly pray for and seek to share the Gospel with this year.
  • Attend a Discipleship Class or seminar on how to share my faith with friends, family, neighbors, co-workers or someone from a culture unlike your own.
  • Dig deeper into the topic of evangelism by reading one or more of the following books.
  • Encourage others in evangelism by sharing stories about spiritual conversations that you have initiated and seeking encouragement and accountability in sharing your faith. 

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? - Romans 10:13-14 

Global: Change the world through faith-fueled prayer.

I will pursue this goal by doing one or more of the following: 
  • Attend a global prayer time on a Sunday morning at 10:45 sometime during the year
  • Use PCC’s weekly prayer sheet to direct your prayers on your own or with others at the Tuesday morning prayer meetings (online at 6:00AM, in-person at 6:30AM) 
  • Pray for Global Ministry Partners at Home Group
  • Respond to global events in the news with prayer
  • Direct your prayers using a tool like Radical’s Let All the People’s Praise You prayer guide or the Joshua Project’s “Unreached of the Day” website/app.
  • Pray specifically for our Global Ministry Partners on a rotating basis using the provided prayer cards. 
  • Learn about what God has done globally through PCC over the past 40 years and spend time praying for such work to continue through the next 40 years. 

…praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak. - Ephesians 6:18-20