“Moving Forward as One”
Dr. Ricky Warren, Convention President
Have you ever been frustrated while driving behind someone who did not know where they were going? The lost driver will take odd-seeming actions like changing speed, changing lanes, giving false turn signals, and even stopping and starting abruptly. If you have ever driven around lost yourself, you understand lost drivers are looking for clues that will help them identify the place they need to go, and sometimes the clues are hard to find, leading to erratic driving. We can get frustrated with them because when we who are following behind know exactly where we are going and how to get there, it is hard to understand those who do not. Everyone having the same clear understanding of where they are going and how you are going to get there makes the journey almost effortless as they move along initially and efficiently.
The illustration of a lost driver gets more complicated when we add additional cars and additional passengers to their car. Additional cars and passengers mean additional distractions and additional ideas for the overwhelmed driver to consider. It would be a much more fruitful and enjoyable journey if everyone knew and were willing to work cooperatively for the same unified objective or destination.
Our denomination is a bit like those drivers. We all think we know where we are going, but few can clearly describe a vision of our destination or how we all get there together. It gets more complicated because there are sometimes voices of dissent making progress impossible because we stop working cooperatively. We end up just driving around haphazardly looking for something that everyone can agree on, but we are not sure if we will find it before we run out of gas. The climate of the car turns negative in frustrated response and then the joy of the journey, and the hope of timely arrival, disappears.
If we are honest, we can admit that our denomination is independently minded, which sometimes leaves us frustrated, indecisive, isolated, and weak. Yet, God calls his people to be strong and courageous, united with him and with each other for in a common shared objective, attitude, and method. Unity is our greatest need as a denomination, because if we have unity with God through Jesus Christ and each other, then our vison, path, and work, which often elude us, will become clear.
To strengthen our unity, the Executive Committee has chosen a four-year convention theme series to best honor God's will in addressing this need. The accompanying chart gives the basic details for the series, “Moving Forward as One.” For the next convention, on May 28, 2025, the program will focus on the theme of “Christ-centered and Moving Forward as One.” In 2026, the unity theme continues with “Bible-based and Moving Forward as One.” Then in 2027, the theme will be “Ministry-focused and Moving Forward as One.” Finally, the unity series will conclude in 2028 with “Missions-minded and Moving Forward as One.”
The Executive Committee will use each of the next four conventions to address these four important aspects of denominational unity: Christ, the Bible, ministry, and missions. Jesus himself gave us these four aspects of unified work in the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. When we plan church programs, we turn these into church tasks or functions: fellowship, discipleship, missions, and evangelism. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we were all united in these efforts? It is our hope that each ministry, conference, church, lay ministry group, youth group, and every individual person in our denomination will prayerfully adopt this theme series and incorporate it into their planning, programming, and preaching for the next four years.
The way forward is forward, together, with God.
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