Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

Connecting. Growing. Serving. Say it out loud with me. Connecting Growing Serving.

When you heard that we are launching an exciting new vision from God this week, you probably expected more than that. You anticipated more than three words.

But here’s the deal. We’re done with long, complicated mission statements. They sound good, but they wind up being a slogan that no one remembers. And if you can’t even remember your mission, you can’t possibly carry out your mission.

So we have gone in the polar opposite direction. We are transitioning to a much more streamlined, simple approach to ministry. This vision is going to clarify why we do what we do. It’s going to point out things that we need to start doing and things we need to stop doing. It’s going to make the vision and mission of our church incredibly simple.

Thom Ranier and Eric Geiger did an extensive study on churches that are growing and thriving. And the results of that study show that the most effective churches are the ones that keep things incredibly simple.

Back in January, our leadership team started studying the work that these guys have done. We began praying for God to help us clarify our vision. We went to the Unleash Conference at NewSpring Church in Anderson, SC. And it was there that everything was solidified. At this conference, we experienced Simple Church firsthand. And God flipped on the light switch for us.

It’s taken the better part of a year to get to this point. I know that three words doesn’t appear to be a year’s worth of work. Andy Stanley said, “The simpler a vision is, the more time somebody has spent crafting it and boiling it down to the essential.” That is absolutely true. You have no idea how much time and meetings and prayer went into this. And now, we’re ready to launch this vision.

We are implementing a very simple vision here at Amelia because we don’t want an impressive slogan. We want an effective strategy.

This three step process is the vision that God has given us for how a person progresses through the stages of spiritual maturity. When someone comes to our church, we want to connect them to God and to other people. Then, we want to help them grow in God and grow with others. And then, we want to equip them to get off the bench and get into the game by finding a meaningful place of service and ministry.

From this point forward, that’s what we’re about. And that’s it. Nothing more. Nothing less. It’s so simple, and yet it is so Biblical. That’s why we know that God is going to bless this vision. It’s based completely on His Word.

Over the next three weeks, we’re going to go a lot more in depth as we explore each phase of our vision. This is going to be huge for our church, and it’s going to have an amazing impact on our community.

We sang a song that might be new to some of you called God of This City. We’ll be singing it every week of this series because it drills the heart of what we believe about this new vision. God has done great things in our church and through our church. We have a long and blessed history. God has done great things in us and through us, but we absolutely believe that our best days are still ahead of us. We know that God has greater things in store for us. There are greater things to be done in this city, and today is the day where we begin to see the greater things that God has planned. It’s going to be an unbelievable adventure. Let’s go.

Today we’re exploring the first step in our simple vision. Connecting. Let’s get into God’s Word. We’re in John 15, starting in verse 4.

This is Jesus speaking. Jesus said, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5, NIV)

Jesus tells us that He is the vine and we are the branches. The vine is the lifeline for the branches. The vine is what delivers the nutrients to the branches. Everything they need to be nourished and to grow strong they get from the vine. For the branches, the vine is life.

Jesus’ whole point is that, if we don’t have a constant connection to Him, we will miss out on so many things that we need for spiritual survival. If you’re not connected to Jesus, you are going to die spiritually.

We live in a super-charged spiritual culture. It seems like almost everyone claims to be a spiritual person. Spirituality dominates pop culture. But Jesus doesn’t.

One of the values of our culture is that it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you believe something. You can totally diss Jesus and still be a good, spiritual person. You can completely ignore Jesus and still have everything you need in your spiritual life.

That is a lie that the devil is selling and our culture is buying. But here’s the truth…if you’re not connected to Jesus, you are going to die spiritually.

In verse 1 of John 15, Jesus said that He is the “true vine.” If Jesus is the true vine, that also means that there are a lot of false vines out there.

Spirituality without Jesus is a false vine. If you hitch your branch to a false vine, you’re not going to make it. That’s why Jesus said, “apart from me you can do nothing.”

Connecting people to Jesus is the basis for the vision of our church. It is the first step in our simple, three step process. It absolutely has to be the first step, because if someone isn’t connected to Jesus, nothing else matters.

Practically speaking, this connection happens in our Sunday morning worship experience. When someone visits ACC for the first time, the visit happens on Sunday morning. They don’t drop in as a first-time visitor anywhere but our Sunday morning services.

So in our vision of connecting people to Jesus, here’s what our services are going to look like. Every service is planned with the unbeliever or the new believer in mind. Every single element, every single thing we do, is done with them in mind.

Now, that doesn’t mean that everything we do on Sunday is for them. For example, the Lord’s Supper isn’t for an unbeliever. It’s for followers of Jesus. And we will never, ever, ever diminish the centrality of communion in our worship services…ever.

But here’s where our vision is taking us…think about communion through the eyes of someone who has never darkened the door of a church. What is it? What’s it all about? Is this some kind of halftime snack? If so, it’s a pretty sad snack. Couldn’t you spring for some chips or something like that? Someone who has never been plugged into a local church cannot possibly understand the significance of the Lord’s Supper.

We want to be very intentional is how we present communion. It’s not for the unbeliever, but the unbeliever deserves to understand why we’re doing it. It’s an open door to begin connecting them to Jesus.

In our simple vision, we will be carefully crafting worship experiences designed to connect people to Jesus for the first time, and deepen the connection of people who have been following Christ for a while.

But the point is, it’s all about Jesus.

That means that we won’t get caught up in addressing political issues unless they are also spiritual issues. You won’t hear a Republican or a Democrat agenda pushed here at Amelia. You will hear God’s agenda proclaimed with passion and power.

We won’t preach environmentalism here. Even though it’s very hip to go green, you won’t hear it here. If you recycle…if you don’t recycle…we don’t care. I’m not going to preach about the environment because I’m care too much about the people living in the environment. I care way more about your eternal destination than your carbon footprint. You just won’t hear it here.

We won’t fall into the trap of badmouthing and bashing other churches just because they don’t do church like we do. There is room for a great diversity of styles in the church and we will celebrate it, not trash it. If people trash us in their churches, they’ll be accountable for that. But that will never happen here.

We will never preach a self-help, I’m-ok-you’re-ok message here at ACC. We don’t preach introspective psychoanalysis. We preach Jesus.

This stage will never be used to forward anyone’s personal agenda or pet projects. We’re too busy preaching Jesus to have time for any of that.

This series is called Simple Church because the vision God has given our church is incredibly simple. And that means that our services will be simple. We focus on Jesus. That’s it.

If you’re looking for a preacher to confuse you with big, theological terms, look somewhere else. If you’re looking for a worship leader to incorporate all kinds of weird, confusing, mystical elements, look somewhere else. Our services will be purposefully simple. You will never have to wonder what’s going on. What’s going on is we are doing whatever it takes to connect people to Jesus. Simple.

Jesus is the true vine. If we connect people to anything other than Jesus, we have connected them to a false vine. And there are a lot of well-intentioned people in churches all over the world who are doing that. They are connecting people to good things, but not God things. And being connected to good things but not God things leads to hell.

In verse 6 of John 15, Jesus said, “If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.” (John 15:6, NIV)

Apart from the true vine, the branch can do nothing. It will wither and die.

Now, that doesn’t happen immediately. These branches aren’t connected to their source of life anymore. But at this moment, they still appear to be alive. The leaves are still green. It still feels alive.

When you lose your connection to Jesus, you can fake it for a while. You can still appear to be vibrant and alive. You can fake it…for a while.

But you can’t fake it forever. I cut this branch off a week ago. It doesn’t look alive. It doesn’t feel alive. Because it’s not alive. It’s been cut off from its source of life, and just like Jesus said, it has withered and died.

Churches who get caught up in connecting people to causes, and initiatives, and programs, but not Jesus, can fake it for a while. They can appear to be healthy and alive. But it’s not going to last. They are connecting people a false vine, and this is the result.

If we connect people to anything other than Jesus, we are responsible for handing them their spiritual death certificate. They will wither and die. And what’s worse, they will be thrown into the fire and burned.

That’s why we simply will not get sidetracked. That’s why we won’t allow ourselves to get caught up in the minutiae that so many churches fall into. Because any branch that is not connected to Jesus withers, dies, and is burned.

And if that kind of wording makes you think about hell, good. That’s Jesus’ point. Hell is real. It is just as real as Heaven is. If you truly understand the reality of hell, then these words from Jesus should mess you up. We are surrounded by people who really will spend all eternity in a very real place called hell unless something changes.

There are people in this room who will spend an eternity in hell unless something changes. The change is that they have to get connected to the true vine: Jesus. Jesus is the one who gives life. Jesus is the one who changes our eternity.

If you haven’t given your life to Christ, I want you to hear this…this church is focused like a laser on Jesus for a reason. He’s the only hope that we have. And He’s the only hope that you have. And we will lovingly, but directly, tell you that anything else is a false vine. Anything else leads to destruction.

A fellow named Charlie Browning was baptized here at ACC in June. Charlie sent me this card after his baptism.

“Michael (that’s what he called me), Thank you for baptizing me. You were very instrumental in bringing me to accept Jesus Christ on this special day. I can now face tomorrow because He lives in me now. In God’s Name, Charlie Browning.”

Charlie was in the later stages of cancer when he was baptized. He passed away in September, just three months after he gave his life to Christ.

Here’s the card I received from Pam Gosset and her family. “Mike, I am so grateful that you have been a part of Charlie’s life. Charlie is in heaven today because of the support and guidance you gave him.”

That’s what our church is all about. Those cards aren’t just about me…they’re about us as the Amelia Church of Christ. This is what our new, God-given vision is all about. Our church is all about connecting people to Jesus. We will never get sidetracked, we will never veer off course. Our church is all about this: “Charlie is in heaven today because of the support and guidance you gave him.”

We will connect people to Jesus. People will experience Him, accept His grace, learn to live for Him, and go to heaven to be with Him…all because we won’t lose sight of our simple vision. Connecting people to Jesus.

And as we connect people to Jesus, we have one more connection to make. We want to help people connect with others.

We talked a few weeks ago that having a connection to Jesus but not to the church is a false dichotomy. You can’t have one without the other. Jesus is the head, the church is the body. What happens when the head is disconnected from the body? You die. That’s why the success rate of the guillotine is 100%. Head but no body, you’re dead.

As people come into our church and we connect them to Jesus, it’s imperative that they also begin a connection with people here in the church.

We’re going to go a lot deeper into this next week as we talk about our strategy for growing. We’ve got a HUGE announcement next week. If you still think this new vision isn’t big, you need to be here next week. We’re going to blow you away with our vision for helping people grow in God and grow with others.

But this week, we’re talking about the initial connection people will experience. That initial connection happens here on a Sunday morning.

Later on in John 15, Jesus said, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:12-13, NIV)

Jesus just finished talking about how important it is that we stay connected with Him. He is the true vine and our connection to Him is our life. But now, He reminds us that another connection is needed. Our connection to each other.

Jesus commands us to, “Love each other as I have loved you.” And he reminds us that the greatest love is to lay down your life for your friends.

Jesus’ vision for His church is love that is so deep that we’re willing to die for each other. That’s harsh. Surely Jesus is just exaggerating to make His point, right? Um…no. He said it. He meant it.

Love means that I don’t give a single thought to what’s in it for me. It’s complete self-sacrifice.

If Jesus has called us to be willing to give up our lives for each other, then there are a lot of lesser sacrifices that should be second nature.

If you’re called to die for someone, then how hard should it be to give up your money for someone? Or to give up your time for someone? Or to give up your personal preferences for someone?

We who are already part of God’s church should be willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to connect with those who are still outside of Christ. If that means giving up something in my church that I like, I should be ok with that if it helps our vision of connecting people to God and His church.

And that is going to be part of this vision. It’s going to be a process as we implement this vision, but once it’s fully up and running, we are going to make some changes…and some eliminations. In our effort to keep things simple, we have to bring every single thing we do into alignment with our vision. And, if something doesn’t fit into our vision of Connecting, Growing, Serving…even if it’s a good thing…we’ll have to change it.

And that might mean changing or eliminating something that you really like. But if it helps us simplify things so we can connect more people to God and our church, then those of us who are spiritually mature should see it as a sacrifice worth making. Jesus told us to be willing to die for each other. You can’t honestly claim that you’d die for someone if you won’t give up a program at church for them.

We’ve already cut some things that I really enjoyed. For example, we used to have a coffeehouse program here that I loved. I love coffee. I loved the atmosphere and the conversations. But it doesn’t fit our vision, so we cut the program. And I didn’t like that one bit. But it’s not about what I like or what I want. It’s about following where God is leading.

And the coffeehouse is just one small example. I want you to know that, as your pastor, I’m willing to give up anything to do what God is calling us to do. I’ll give up my personal preferences. I’ll sacrifice things that I dearly love. If we ever got the point where I didn’t like anything that we’re doing, but we were doing what God has called us to do, I would be good with that. Seriously. That would be fine with me. Because it’s not about my preferences. It’s not about what I want or don’t want. It’s about us as a church going where God has called us to go.

And this vision is where God is calling us to go. How do we know that? First of all, you can’t get a more Biblical vision than this. And if something aligns with God’s Word, then you know it’s God’s will.

Secondly, this vision wasn’t a quick-trigger, split-second decision. Your leaders have been studying, discussing, and praying over this vision since January. No, we weren’t trying to keep anyone in the dark. But we also weren’t going to launch this vision until we were absolutely positive that this is where God is leading us.

And now, we are positive. 100% convinced. I can tell you personally that I know this is where God is leading our church. As sure as I’m standing here right now, this is from God, of God, and all for God.

And that absolutely pumps me up! Sure, I might not like every transition required in this vision. You might not either.

But Jesus’ answer to that is simple. Love each other. Be willing to make sacrifices so we can focus all our energy and resources to connecting people to God and to others.

The first step of our vision is to focus on others instead of ourselves. It’s not about you and it’s not about me. We even communicated that truth through the songs in our worship set today. Every song we sang today talked about “us,” and “we, “ and “our.” There was no “me,” “I,” or “my.” That’s because our vision isn’t about you or me.

It’s about focusing on others instead of ourselves. Loving them and serving them the way Jesus would. Doing whatever it takes, going to any extreme, to connect them to the true vine and to God’s church. That’s what we’re about.

You don’t have to be a history buff to know about the Battle of Gettysburg. It was the bloodiest battle of the Civil War, but part of the reason so many people died was that there was a great shortage of medical personnel on hand.

Neither the North nor the South had ample field doctors in that theater because they didn't expect this battle. They expected a big battle to happen elsewhere, so the vast majority of their medical personnel was moved out of Gettysburg. Many soldiers lost their lives because of this mistake.

The church can never forget its role. We are a hospital for people who have been bloodied in life's battles. We are a M.A.S.H. unit on the front line. The problem is that we often forget this mission. We become complacent, not really remembering that there is a battle raging. And so we move our resources somewhere else.

We spend our energy somewhere other than the frontline. We move our resources to fund things that we think are “nice.” Our attention is diverted away from the main mission. We begin to focus on all kinds of little, trivial things and lose sight of the main thing.

And when churches do this, lives are lost. When churches lose their focus, people get connected to false vines. They connect to church programs, and initiatives, and causes…but not Jesus.

Our simple vision is all about bringing everything we have back to the main thing. All our energy, and money, and ministries, and programming…it’s all coming into alignment and we’re going to focus on one thing. Jesus.

There are greater things to be done in our church and in our city. Our very best days are ahead of us. As we strip away all the extra stuff and focus on the simple mission of the gospel, God is going to open up the floodgates of His blessing on us. It’s that simple.

Mike Edmisten

Tags: Connecting, Connecting Growing Serving, Jesus, John 15, Simple Church, vision