​Vision is one of those words that is used so often--and so often used incorrectly--that it becomes empty of real meaning. But vision is essential to our work as a church. At its core, vision is simply a picture of a preferred future. Vision is about where we want to be, knowing that we’re not there yet. Vision is all about what can be, what should be, and what will be. 

So what’s our vision at New Roads? First and foremost, the reality that drives the vision of our church is that we know that there are people in our community--hundreds and thousands of people--who don’t have a relationship with God and have drifted away from the church. All too often, churches have introduced people to religion that is devoid of a relationship with God. Relatedly, so many people have experienced church as something that is unengaging and irrelevant to their lives. 

It’s our vision to solve that problem. We want to remove any obstacles in our church that would keep people from encountering God. Our desire is that our community would be the very best place in our community where someone can come to authentically meet God and intimately know God. We don’t want our church to be a place where it’s just possible to meet God. We want our church to be a place where it’s impossible not to meet God. 

From the time people arrive on our campus to the time they leave, our desire is that every aspect of our community shows people how much God loves them and how valuable they are to God and to us. That could be:

• In the authentic and warm welcome of a friendly person holding open a door, who is genuinely glad to see you
• In the message that feels like it was written specifically for you and the challenge you’re facing
• In the music that creates an atmosphere of worship that is so powerful and overwhelming and inescapably full of God’s Spirit
• In the experience of Kids’ Church that engages children in a relevant way and shows them how valuable and precious they are to God

We want to be a community that in every way reflects and reveals the heart of God. It’s a big vision and will require incredible work and grace to get there, but we believe it’s where God is leading us. We believe it’s a vision worth sacrificing for.

This is a snapshot of our vision--that picture of a preferred picture--but it’s still a little blurry. As a team, we recognize the need to capture our vision in a couple of sentences that effectively communicate what New Roads is all about and where we’re heading as a community. Clearer language that is memorable and intentional will help everyone serving our church to make progress toward our vision and invite others to join us on this journey. Stay tuned for updates on language around our vision as we work through that!

“Write down the vision; make it plain upon tablets, so that the one who reads it may run.” Habakkuk 2:2

​The inspiration for starting this blog is to bridge a gap in communication that exists in our community. There is so much going on behind-the-scenes at New Roads--at our weekly team staff meetings, with our kids programs, with our worship team, our team health and growth, our building plans, and more. And yet, it’s too much to communicate on Sunday or even to include in a printed bulletin. 

But there’s information we want to share, ideas that people are eager to be a part of, and plans that would be helpful for people to know about, especially people on our extended team--that is, anyone and everyone who serves in ministry at New Roads. Anyone serving in ministry at New Roads is part of our team and team members get to know what is going on and what is coming up! So the primary purpose of this blog is to communicate with our whole team, not just our paid staff, but the many volunteers who make New Roads what it is!

Our goals for this blog are simple:

• To open up a communication channel with our broader team (all those who serve in ministry at New Roads)
• To communicate more clearly with our community about strategic decisions and to give us common language and understanding around strategic decisions or topics
• To help us to see how everything we’re doing fits into our larger mission and vision
• To help other churches who seek to understand or learn from what we are doing
• To give staff a voice to speak to our whole community

We’re excited to launch this blog and we invite you to subscribe by email so that you don’t miss a beat! Just enter your email address below, click submit, and you'll get an email whenever a new blog post is published.