Are you planning for 2030? Our church is. Well, we are starting to. Over the last few years, we have become clearer on how God might work through Unley Park Baptist. We see Unley Park Baptist as a church where our life in Jesus helps others with faith, connection and belonging. In John 15:5 Jesus tells his followers their life in him will be fruitful. We want our church to be fruitful. 

“If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) 

Over 12 months the Council and staff have clarified 4 areas to grow a fruitful church: grow faith, create connections, build belonging, generously serve. You can see an overview of this plan here. We are now considering how we use our efforts and resources over the next 5 years. We want you to be involved with this. 

In many ways church life doesn’t need a 5 year plan. We know we need to disciple people, worship God together, care for one another, tell people about Jesus. We can keep working at these regular, vital rhythms that help us follow Jesus. But some things require a longer vision than week by week, month by month. Consider these efforts: evangelising family and friends, discipling Christians who disciple Christians, developing mature Christian leaders, discipling generations of children and young adults, strengthening local communities, growing and sending missionaries and pastors, strengthening the Iranian and Aboriginal church, developing our property to resource our ministry and mission. This takes time. It requires a leadership who are in agreement, clarity in our communication, a community to believe in it, people to contribute to it. At this stage it requires planning. 

Over the next few months we are going to engage our congregation to hear where God is leading us. We will have focus groups to help shape planning in 4 areas. What are you interested in? 

• Grow Faith – Focusing on evangelism, discipleship, and corporate worship. 
• Create Connections – Contributing to the local and wider community. 
• Build Belonging – Ensuring people are valued, connected, and cared for. 
• Generously Serve – Serving and resourcing others and the church. 

If you are interested, please let me know. If you are curious and would like to explore more. Let me know. We will be gathering focus groups in August. 

In Him, 

Jason