Ministry Year 2018-19 Prayer & Action Goals
Our Year of Freedom
We want this to be a year of new freedom in Christ at PCC.
Some of us have grown up in religious traditions where legalism, false guilt and fear of the surrounding culture produced not freedom but bondage. Others of us have been influenced by secular traditions in which freedom meant doing whatever we want. Freedom in Christ is a third way between these two extremes.
Galatians 5:13 captures this third freedom: “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”
We want to pray and act in ways that will increase our freedom to love God’s word (WORD), love God’s person (WORSHIP), love one another (WORK), and love God’s world (WITNESS). It is for freedom, then, that we pursue the following prayer and action goals.
Tom Kenney
Senior Pastor
We want this to be a year of new freedom in Christ at PCC.
Some of us have grown up in religious traditions where legalism, false guilt and fear of the surrounding culture produced not freedom but bondage. Others of us have been influenced by secular traditions in which freedom meant doing whatever we want. Freedom in Christ is a third way between these two extremes.
Galatians 5:13 captures this third freedom: “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”
We want to pray and act in ways that will increase our freedom to love God’s word (WORD), love God’s person (WORSHIP), love one another (WORK), and love God’s world (WITNESS). It is for freedom, then, that we pursue the following prayer and action goals.
Tom Kenney
Senior Pastor
Word
I will find freedom in my identity as one of God’s redeemed and set-apart people through the book of Exodus.
I will do this through one or more of the following actions:
Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. - Exodus 6:6-7
I will do this through one or more of the following actions:
- Listen to and discuss with others a sermon series on Exodus and realize the freedom of God’s redemption
- Study and apply the book of Exodus with a home group
- Read the book of Exodus twice
- Attend a Walk Thru the Bible seminar to put Exodus in context
- Attend a CD on the 10 commandments and learn how the law relates to and is used in the New Covenant to help believers live lives of freedom
- Memorize and meditate on a summary of the 10 commandments
Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. - Exodus 6:6-7
Worship
I will grow in my ability to worship the one who freed me from self, sin and despair to generosity, holiness and joy.
I will do this through one or more of the following actions:
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. - Genesis 1:27
I will do this through one or more of the following actions:
- Practice using Isaiah 6 as a framework for personal and corporate confession and worship
- Reflect on the lyrics used in our worship services either before or after the service (found here)
- Participate in a Seder Meal (the Passover meal anticipating Christ) during Lent 2019
- Memorize and meditate on John 8:36 and Galatians 5:13
- Set boundaries on media consumption/screen time in order to free up space in my heart for worship
- Identify and share my time, talent, and treasures in new ways in order to better serve others
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. - Genesis 1:27
Work
I will experience renewed freedom in God’s beautiful design for me as a man or woman made in His image.
I will do this through one or more of the following actions:
Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works! - Psalm 105:1-2
I will do this through one or more of the following actions:
- Write a personal statement completing this thought: God made me male or female so that…
- Discuss and apply sermons on God’s beautiful design for us as men and women
- Read PCC’s statement on Sexuality and Gender Roles (found here)
- Participate in a CD or Bible Study on what God’s Word says about gender
- Read and discuss with others one or more of the following short books providing biblical teaching on gender issues commonly discussed today: Jesus, Justice & Gender Roles (Kathy Keller); Women & God (Kathleen Nielson); The Masculine Mandate (Richard Phillips); Is God Anti-Gay? (Sam Allberry); Transgender (Vaughan Robert)
Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works! - Psalm 105:1-2
Witness
Locally: I will use my freedom in Christ to love my neighbor.
I will do this through one or more of the following actions:
Globally: I will seek gospel freedom in Africa by developing a heart for Africans in general and the A people.
I will do this through one or more of the following actions:
For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” - Galatians 5:14
I will do this through one or more of the following actions:
- Get to know, love, serve my actual neighbors living next to me
- Get to know, love, serve my neighbors in Southeast Newport News by volunteering with Serve the City, the Peninsula Rescue Mission or the Newsome Bailey Project
- Read The Art of Neighboring by Pathak and Runyon
- Get to know, love, serve a college student by providing a home away from home
Globally: I will seek gospel freedom in Africa by developing a heart for Africans in general and the A people.
I will do this through one or more of the following actions:
- Read a recommended book on Christianity in Africa
- Join the monthly Africa prayer group at 9AM on the second Sunday every month
- Pray regularly for the cross-cultural ministry of our sister church Karen Community Church
- Follow African news on the BBC website and pray for the headlines
- Participate in our February global ministry conference on the A people
- Sign up for regular news from the A people work from: Ezekiel W; Rotham House (Mosers); Flying Mission Zambia (Lotts); translation work in Chad (Kathleen King); Congolese development projects (Jonathan Shaw)
For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” - Galatians 5:14
Why Have Goals?
Paul makes it clear in 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 that churches will have “good purposes” — they will have goals. And they will own them — “good purposes of yours.” These purposes are linked to action which is “prompted by your faith.” They are goals that can only come about as God’s people identify what He is calling them to strive for and trust Him to fulfill.
At the Chapel our team of elders leads by carefully and prayerfully setting goals. When you commit to taking their leadership seriously, God promises you some “advantage:”
Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. - Hebrews 13:17
Our annual Prayer & Action Goals are just that. They call us to pray for the purposes God puts on our hearts. They call us to act in faith on those purposes. When each of us commits to exploring ways to advance our goals, the results are amazing.
Our goals don’t describe everything we will do in the coming year. Rather they identify areas that are in some way broken and need to be fixed or they are areas in which God is on the move and He would have us build upon what He is doing.
Contact a staff member, elder or ministry leader for help in pursuing any of the goals. The office can provide contact information.
At the Chapel our team of elders leads by carefully and prayerfully setting goals. When you commit to taking their leadership seriously, God promises you some “advantage:”
Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. - Hebrews 13:17
Our annual Prayer & Action Goals are just that. They call us to pray for the purposes God puts on our hearts. They call us to act in faith on those purposes. When each of us commits to exploring ways to advance our goals, the results are amazing.
Our goals don’t describe everything we will do in the coming year. Rather they identify areas that are in some way broken and need to be fixed or they are areas in which God is on the move and He would have us build upon what He is doing.
Contact a staff member, elder or ministry leader for help in pursuing any of the goals. The office can provide contact information.
