Netcast Church Vision and Mission

Netcast Church Mission and Vision

Mission:

Engaging the world with the hope of Jesus.

Vision:

A diverse community pursuing intimacy with Christ and influence in the city.

It is intentionally short and simple. Vision and Mission statements are not called to be theologically sound, the church is called to be theologically sound. The purpose for these are to quickly communicate what we are about and can be easily regurgitated by others.

The four things we wanted to get across are:

1. Diverse. The gospel is the most diverse message ever told.

2. Community. We are called to do life together in community and not alone.

3. Intimacy. We can intimately know the creator of the universe.

4. Influence. We are to be on mission at all times in all places for the glory of God.

Study Through Acts 1:6-11

"Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?"

As I am looking into this part of Acts, I am confronted with my own confusion. Here is the reality; even when are sure that we know what God is doing, we could be way off. Here we are in Acts, Jesus is with his people after the resurrection and they are confident that he has come back to restore Israel as the military and political powerhouse of the world. This thought didn't come out of left field somewhere because you see it being done over and over again in the OT. However, although everything looked as if that was the case, they couldn't have been more wrong. That was not the plan at all.

So, now that we know what the plan is not, we have to figure what the plan actually is. Jesus tells his people 2 very important things here. These two things are the essence of the Christian mission. Often, we think of the mission of God is to be a sanctified Holy people who are reverent and intimate with Christ. Although that is part of the Kingdom, that is not the mission. Here are the 2 things that Christ tells his people.

1. You will spread my message to the entire world.

2. I will be with you the entire time through God the Holy Spirit.

Note the purpose of Jesus sending God the Holy Spirit. Often times we think that the Holy Spirit is here for us and to do a mighty work in us. However, if we believe Acts 1, than we see that the Holy Spirit is not given to us for us at all. The Holy Spirit is given to us for the world. The purpose of Jesus sending us the Holy Spirit is so that God will spread his Gospel through his people.

The primary way that Jesus equipped his people was the promise of the Holy Spirit. The result of the Holy Spirit coming on them was propelling them into mission. If you have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, you are a christian missionary. No questions asked!!

Study Through Acts 1:1-5

As a believer and a pastor-to-be; I have been plagued with this question, "What makes you feel equipped to carry out Jesus' ministry on earth?" This is a big question, because your answer reveals a lot about yourself. If deep down you feel that you are equipped because you are gifted, smart, intelligent, or you have some other natural characteristic that has equipped you, than most likely you are driven from pride or arrogance that in the end will kill your personal ministry. Jesus is responsible for building his church, not our giftedness. I didn't always think this way, it probably wasn't until about 1 1/2 years ago that God began to put me around people who saw my gifts and realized that I relied on my own talents and not the Holy Spirit which is literally God inside us.

Lets dive into Acts 1:1-5 and learn more about this.

In what ways did Jesus prep and equip his apostles to continue his ministry and life on earth? The first thing to notice is that Christ was clear to go and wait for the Holy Spirit before beginning the process of carrying out the mission of God. This is vital to us today. How many pastors or Christians do we know today who have very little Holy Spirit power or authority when they speak or begin to carry out the mission of God. It is most necessary that we are spending time in prayer and solitude, waiting for the Holy Spirit to come upon us in order to continue Christ's ministry. Over the course of the last three years of Christs life, he walked, talked, taught, and modeled a Spirit filled life to the apostles. This was part of him prepping his people to carry out his mission.

So, if this text is true, we have to ask the question; "what is the significance of the fact that Jesus showed himself to the apostles and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive?" In the text we learn that Jesus presented himself alive to the apostles and many others after his sufferings and death. This is key to the Christian faith. Without the resurrection of Christ we do not have Christianity. Like Paul says, "if Christ did not rise from the dead, than there is no gospel (good news) because we are still stuck in our sin and have no atonement." Christ rose to claim victory over death, sin, and Satan. He then promises to send us the same Holy Spirit that rose him in order that we may one day rise in defeat of death. Christ showing himself alive builds our confidence in the fact that we serve a God who is alive and well and promises to never leave us or forsake us. In scripture, Christ promises that as we go to fulfill the mission of God, he will not only be with us as we go, but he has also gone ahead of us. We need to remember the resurrection as we engage people at work, on airplanes, in restaurants, as we preach, as we lead our families. Everything hinges on the resurrection.

Lets think through this thought together; How would the apostles ministry be affected by the fact that Jesus chose, commissioned, and instructed them? How will our lives be affected if we believe the same about ourselves? I cant even imagine what it would be like to have a moment with Christ like these apostles had. Can you imagine Christ showing up at your house and telling you that you are responsible for taking his message to your city and beyond? A real life encounter with the living Christ.....God, I want that. Imagine the confidence and brotherhood that these apostles would have had. Imagine the desire that they would have to carry out the mission with Christ. I couldn't think of anything that could stop them. Not sufferings, persecutions, not even death itself would have the power to get in the way of them carrying out the mission. Paul put it like this when thinking about his personal encounter and walk with Christ, "to live is Christ and to die is gain." These are the type of crazy things we say when we believe that we have encountered the living Messiah, Christ the Lord. I am begging God to have an encounter with him like this.

clarification of last email and blog

My wording was not clear and after you're response, I noticed how it would be taken from someone reading my email. What I was specifically talking about was not that there are no evangelical churches who are being faithful in spreading the incredible news of Jesus Christ, but instead that evangelicalism from a percentage standpoint, is lower in this region of the country than any other. This information was given to me from the BCNE last week. Less than 1% of the population attends an evangelical church, thus there is virtually no evangelical presence. In no way do I desire to diminish the laboring of those faithful saints in the North Shore area. I am extremely grateful for their service to the Kingdom and am humbled that Christ is calling me to serve along side of them.

In my next email blast, I hope to clear that up. In the mean time, I pray that these men know how grateful I am for their lives.

I pray that I can repent well, look to the cross and beg Christ to humble me.

Matt

We're Getting Close. Netcast Church Update

So here is the latest.

The past couple of weeks have been extremely exciting in our journey to plant Netcast Church. Every day is a day closer to moving and bringing the gospel to the greater Boston area.

Last week I was in Orlando and met a group from New England. They were at a church plant conference that Beth and I were attending. After meeting them, they were blown away that we were moving to the North Shore to plant, specifically the Beverly, Danvers, Peabody area. They had been praying for a year that God would send someone to that area. There is virtually no evangelical presence in that area of New England. They asked me if I would be willing to visit with them in Boston and learn about what they are doing with the possibility of partnering with them and allowing them to help fund us. Next thing I know, I was on a plane to Boston for 4 days. I learned so much about the culture, networked with like minded pastors, saw 5 students come to faith in Christ and explained the Gospel to a couple people on the plane ride home. In all, it was an incredible trip.

We have nailed down where we are looking to move. Danvers, MA is bout 15 miles north of the city of Boston and is at the center of 5 surrounding cities. It is an extremely diverse area of the North Shore which fits right in to our desire to build a diverse community. There is just about no evangelical presence in this area. According to the BCNE, missiologists show this region to be the 3rd hardest area to plant a church behind a region in China and Russia. Christ help us. We find our hope in the promise given to us through John and Matthew; that Christ has gone before us and will be with us wherever we go.

The progression with the Acts 29 Network is moving along as well. 1.21 Church, which is our sending church, is a part of the Acts 29 Network and is confident about planting us. We are extremely grateful to this church and love our family there.
Please be praying for us about the following things.

1. We are looking to build our core group team. Pray that God would send us passionate people to partner withs as we seek to plant the gospel in Danvers, MA.

2. Pray that our family would be protected from all who want to lead us astray and destroy the plans that God has for us. We firmly believe that this journey is spiritual and ungodly forces are seeking to stop it.

3. Pray for our funding. We have to raise about $80K for our first year. So far we raised enough to finish my internship at 1.21 Church but now need to raise the funding for Boston. Pray that God would be generous to us and people would not just give of their excess but also of their poverty.

4. Please pray that God sells our home. We are excited to leave but have to wait for the house to sell. Pray that God sells the home quickly and with no problems.

Its all for Christ and his Kingdom. Thank you for being a part of what God is doing and reading our updates.

Matt
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Matt Chewning

Netcast Church / Pastor

4604 Ridgefall Rd Greensboro, NC 27410

http://www.netcastchurch.org/ matt@netcastchurch.org

336-362-5662