Vision and Mission

Vision and Mission Statement of Safe Harbor Christian Church

"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30, NIV)

In keeping with the maritime tradition of the State of Michigan, especially in eastern Macomb County, we read the above teaching of Jesus in Matthew and concluded that what Jesus is offering to people is a place of rest, a safe harbor. Thus was born the name of our church. Just as a harbor is a place for a ship to come out of the stormy waters to be refitted, repaired and re-provisioned, we want for church to be a place to let people know that in the midst of the troubles and turmoil of the world they can find a safe place to rest, a place where they can be in the presence of Jesus to feel the love and mercy of God so they will be renewed, refreshed and strengthened to face the cares of the world around them.

Our vision and mission statement define who we are as a local church and outlines how we will bring that vision to life in Macomb County, Michigan and the surrounding area.

We believe that the church works as a catalyst in maturing a person. The church should strive to move people to higher, not lower levels, of maturity. The four levels of spiritual maturity, as we see them, are:

Level #1 - I love myself for my sake - true of every child born into this world
Level #2 - I love God for my sake - belief that God exists to make me happy
Level #3 - I love God for God's sake - I love God because of who He is and what He has done
Level #4 - I love myself for God's sake - I exist to bring pleasure to God, I become missional

Missional does not necessarily mean going to Africa. Missional to us means finding out where God is moving and jump on board with Him. It could mean anything from doing something nice for a neighbor, mentoring a child, visiting the sick, being a good spouse and parent and yes even starting a continent wide missions organization. We want to be the voice and hands and feet of Jesus to a lost and hurting world.

We believe that the church is called to be salt and light to the world, we are to be an influence on the world for God's Kingdom. We want to bring a Biblical worldview into life in the lives of believers so they can influence the world; we don't want a secular worldview to define us as a church.

We want to be known as a church where Biblical truth is evident; where people will encounter God's mercy, love and grace; where legalism will have no place. Our theology will be traditional, conservative and based on the Bible.

Our style of worship is not as important as the theology of our worship. It will be a blend of traditional and contemporary music.

We will grow people so they can go out into the world to reach others because we believe that the Great Commission was given to maturing disciples of Christ. Because of the way we view the Great Commission we do not have a target audience but want to go out into ALL the world teaching ALL people and making disciples of ALL nations.

There are 7 questions that come to mind when reading the Bible. These 7 questions will define the purpose of the church:

1 - Who is God? - The person and personality of our Lord
2 - What is He up to? - God's plan for now and later.
3 - Who are we? - Our nature as image bearers, both male and female.
4 - What has gone wrong? - Defining sin and its influence in the world.
5 - What has God done about it? - Undeserved rescue, grace-based salvation.
6 - What is the Spirit doing now? - Mysterious movement and influence of heaven on earth.
7 - How can we join in? - What the church, the body of believers, is called to do.

We desire to be a Spirit-filled, truth-teaching, and relational church. Acts chapter 2 gives us a picture of the early church. To us this is a picture of a Level 4 church!

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47, NIV)

We want to be a church that is bathed in prayer. From the first thought through the plant and into the future we want to be sure we are in God's will, following His direction and His guidance.

We want to invest in a cause that makes us distinctive in the community. Many churches have a cause that is associated with them and we need to find or create such a cause for our church.

In order to fulfill our vision we adopt the following as our mission statement.

We exist as a church to know God personally so we can go out to make Him known to others.

Or to put our mission statement in fewer words:

KNOW GOD - SHOW GOD

As a body of believers, we must first know God personally before we can teach others about Him. Therefore, we exist as a church to bring God's people near to Him. As God's people draw near to Him through the ministry of worship, the ministry of fellowship and the ministry of God's Word, we can get to know Him more closely then ever before.

We bring our living relationship with God out of the church and into this lost and dying world so that all may have a chance to know God as their Father and to know Jesus as Lord and Savior and to know the Holy Spirit as the guiding force and power in their lives.

To be sure that we are always able to reach out to the world around us we must remember that a church is a living organism, constantly changing, never the same. Because the church is alive there is need for constant change, changing to adjust and adapt to the people we are called to serve.

But even as much as the church changes, it remains the same. Our purpose is the same, to tell a lost and dying world about Jesus Christ and to encourage believers to grow in their walk with the Lord. Our methods may change but our message never will for it is timeless.