Elder's Vision Statement
	April 2, 2006

Joel spoke of a time when “your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions” (Joel 2:28).  The elders want to do that with you now.  We want to “see the visions of God and dream the dreams of life everlasting with Him.”  While on this side of heaven, we want to: Look Up to Jesus for our inspiration and guidance, Bow Down in worship with gratitude for His mighty work of salvation, and Reach Out to each other and to those who do not yet know Him. This is our vision of what God desires for us and is the path where we feel God is leading us in these areas: 1.   Identity. We fully intend for Denbigh to remain loyal to the very best things in our heritage as a Church of Christ.  We are committed to maintaining many traditional views and practices that have long been part of our heritage such as a cappella music in worship, weekly observance of communion, and the practice of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins.  At the same time, we are determined to be a church OF Christ.  That is, a church that belongs only to Christ.  We want to define ourselves only by our connection to Jesus and our desire to follow Him. 2.  Worship. Our vision for Denbigh is of a praying, worshipping church that is focused on what God has done for us through His Son Jesus Christ.  We feel that we are truly blessed by God with the freedom to present our worship to Him in forms that may speak to the hearts of people in different ways.  While we intend to honor the best traditions of our worship heritage, we will not be bound by them.  Therefore, we will look for our corporate worship to: Express our adoration, love, and thanksgiving to our Creator and Savior Maintain a focus on the cross Exhibit an attitude of total humility and reverence for His perfection Acknowledge our own imperfection and total dependence on Him Inspire us to continuing personal worship during the rest of the week. 3.  Unity. The components of our unity are found in the 4th chapter of Ephesians.  Our vision is that Denbigh will be a church committed to: “Patience with each other, bearing with one another in love” (v 2) “Maintaining the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”  (v 3) The truth of “One body, One Spirit, One Hope, One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, and One Father of us all” (v 4-5) Accepting each other in the knowledge that “to each one of us grace has been given as Christ has apportioned it”  (v 7) The body of Christ at Denbigh will be strengthened when His people use the talents the Lord has given them for works of service.  In doing this, we will reach the whole measure of the fullness of Christ (v 12-13).  Love will produce the unity we need to grow into the church He wants us to be.  “All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another”.  We want everyone in this community to know us for our love and be drawn closer to God because of it.   Recognizing that many of our number come to us with different traditions, practices, and views depending on their church heritage, we will still love each other as part of His family. 4.  Evangelism. We want the body at Denbigh to bring “those who would see Jesus” to the Lord.  We will continue to show hospitality and love to guests who attend our worship services.  We will know no stranger only a friend we have not met.  We will have compassion on those who are hurting and assist their material needs through our benevolence program as we minister to their spiritual needs.  To help seekers “see Jesus” we will pursue three levels of evangelism: Activities that attract and keep our guests coming. Activities that help lead them to faith. Activities that equip believers to reach out to those looking for God.  We will constantly pray that God brings seekers into our lives and that He uses us to help bring them to a saving relationship with Him.   We want our members to be more actively engaged in support of our missions.  We want to reach out to God seekers both locally and abroad and look for ways to encourage them through calls, cards, letters, E-Mails, visits, and other means that become available.  Our goal is for every Christian to realize the "Great Commission" and share with others what God’s Son has done for us all.  5.  Families.   We believe that strengthening and involving families is an important function of the church.  We will have ongoing programs in marriage enrichment and parenting.  At the same time we must reach out to singles, single parents, blended families, and the elderly in order to have a healthy church family.  To achieve this, we need all of the family to be involved.    6.  Fellowship of Believers.  Our connection to Jesus gives us the freedom to search out common ground with other Christian groups that also seek to do His will.  We believe that we can work with them toward common causes and that doing so is pleasing to God.  We want to continue to love and honor those who share our Christian heritage in Churches of Christ in our area.  We will seek opportunities to encourage other congregations and to interact with them in fellowship activities.  7.      Spiritual Maturity  We want all of us to walk more closely with God and hear His voice leading us; taking us from where we are to where He wants us to be.  From our youngest in cradle role to our oldest member, we want our relationship with God and with each other to grow ever stronger.   Study, prayer, fellowship, involvement: our vision is that we will do all things in love until that day arrives; the day when we come face to face with Jesus and He gives each of us our crown of life…and we continue in love for eternity.