timmcollins.com

Today is the final post in the series discussing our mission and how we’ve implemented it.

[Check out previous posts here and here for background.]

We want to build a church that unchurched people love to attend.

Notice, the church we’re building is for the unchurched.  To us, unchurched people can be classified as those who have never regularly attended church OR haven’t attended in a long time.  In other words, if you’re coming to church for the first time, or coming back to church for the first time in a long time, our Sunday morning services are designed with you in mind.  A couple of observations about this…

• We believe, if you’re a Christ-follower, this should be your vision, too.  The Great Commission isn’t just for pastors or “missionaries”.  It’s for anyone who names the name of Christ.
• If you’re a “church-goer” (or, if you attended another church before coming to RPC), you’re not our target on Sundays.  You’ll come to realize that over time, and it may require some adjustment, but we want to be up front about it.  We exist to reach those who haven’t heard the message of hope and forgiveness that Christ is offering them, and we hope you’ll help us by serving and giving to support the mission.
• If your passion is to see your unchurched friends and family experience Christ’s hope & forgiveness, we want to partner with you in reaching them.  In fact, there’s probably already someone in your life that you’ve been praying for and inviting to church.  We want you to know we’re ready for them – this Sunday and every Sunday.
• If you think the church’s vision & passion should be something different than this, we respect that.  And you won’t have trouble finding a church that agrees with you.  In fact, there are literally hundreds of churches within a 15-minute drive of RPC, and many of them are doing church differently than we are.  If this “isn’t your thing” we understand.  We’ll do our best to respect your beliefs without trying to change them; we only ask in return that you respect our mission without trying to change it.

I hope this doesn’t come across as angry or arrogant, because we’re neither of those.  We’ve never said this is the right way to do church; this is simply how we’re called to do it.  Maybe you’re ok with that, maybe not.  But I’ve always believed that if you give people the information they need, they’re smart enough to make the right decision.

I have some good friends who would never attend RPC because it’s not for them, and some who used to attend but left for the same reason.  I’m fine with that, and don’t take it personally.  We’re still brothers and sisters in Christ.  And, to paraphrase something I heard years ago, ultimately we believe that when we get to heaven we’ll discover that God was right and the rest of us were just guessing.