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But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. ~ Acts 1:8 ~ |
Imagine a church with a dream bigger than itself; a dream that is bigger than any individual, any family, or any community. Imagine what happens when this dream is given by God and entrusted to that church to fulfill and become His witnesses both near and far. The dream that we are speaking of has become a reality for Cicero Christian Church.
On the second Sunday of April in 1837, men and women that were inspired by God gathered together to carry out the dream that God had given them. It was on this Sunday that Cicero Congregation was established and that congregation would eventually develop into the body of Cicero Christian Church. In these early days, we can be sure that there were many obstacles before the people. Obstacles that would have ranged from finances to land to man-made opposition; yet the men and women of God pushed forward because they understood that God had given them a vision much bigger than themselves. During the course of the years that followed, this Body of Christ has grown and impacted the community and the world bringing thousands of souls to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Our great desire as a church is to continue to pursue the vision and the dreams that God has given us as His witnesses right here in Cicero, Indiana and throughout the world. Over ten years ago God laid upon the heart of the leadership of Cicero Christian Church a grand vision that would encompass the church for the next 20 years. We have seen parts of that vision come to fruition. Over the last few years we have revisited that vision and felt compelled by the Lord to reshape and expand it into what we know today as Mission 2020.
The purpose of Mission 2020 is to equip and empower the people of God to carry out the vision of Cicero Christian Church in four areas of the world based on the Scriptural mandate of Acts 1:8. We have been called to be witnesses for Jesus Christ in:
About a year ago, God placed upon the hearts of the people of Cicero Christian Church an aggressive vision to serve Him as the body of Christ in Cicero, Indiana. The threefold vision is summarized in the following phrase: Reach, Teach, and Serve.
We understand that we have been called to “Reach” out to our community in order to win the lost to Christ. We also understand that we have been given a divine mandate to “Teach” the Gospel message in practical and relevant ways that will help people grow deeper in their faith. Finally, we understand that we have been given the privilege of following the footsteps of Jesus Christ as we strive to “Serve” our community in order to share the love of Christ in practical ways.
We have spent one whole year establishing the foundation of our vision. Now God has moved us to take our vision to the next level through Mission 2020. The question that some people may have on their mind may be the following.
It is imperative for us to understand that Mission 2020 does not do away with the vision that God has given us. Rather, it helps us focus our resources and efforts on carrying out the vision; it becomes the vehicle the drives us to accomplish our goals over the next ten years.
Mission 2020 will help us focus our efforts on reaching the lost with the authentic Gospel of Christ. We have observed that the world around us is drifting farther from Christ and the inspired Word
of God than ever before. Our objective is to bring people to the knowledge of the risen Savior Jesus Christ so that they can place their faith, trust, and hope into the one and only true God and receive genuine redemption. One of our main objectives over the next ten years is to witness at least 500 souls won for Christ.
Mission 2020 will also help us focus on teaching the authentic Gospel and practical nature of the Word of God for every day living. We have observed over the past decade a rampant increase of Godlessness and false doctrines being taught (even in pulpits) all across the world. We will respond by equipping and sending out more ministers and missionaries firmly grounded in the Word of God who will boldly proclaim the authenticity and truth of the Word of God. The world is in desperate need of people who demonstrate their knowledge of how to live a moral, righteous, and Godly lifestyle. We will teach people about how they can live out the Biblical truths in their own lives and become light to a world that is consumed by darkness.
Mission 2020 will help us create and maintain a servant attitude of humility. We understand that we have been sent into this world not to be served by others but to serve others. We desire to share the love of Jesus Christ within our families and our community by serving those that are hurting, wounded, broken, and in need of restoration. Through these efforts true life transformation can be experienced.
Cicero Christian Church desires to pursue and honor God in every aspect of Mission 2020 and has sought to confirm the Biblical foundation in the Word of God. This mission is not original with Cicero Christian Church. We see the pattern within the heart, soul, mind, and life of the earliest Christians who established the first church. Once again we draw our attention to Acts 1:8 and observe this foundation being established.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. ~ Acts 1:8
The observations made in Acts 1:8 applied not only to the first Christians but also to modern day Christians.
Mission 2020 has other foundational passages of Scripture that
important to examine. These passages give it a firm foundation that
is rooted in the Word of God. Read the following passages in order
to understand more of our Biblical mandate for Mission 2020.
Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained…
~ Proverbs 29:18a NASB ~
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.
~ Matthew 28:19-20 ~
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
~ Matthew 6:33 ~
Every mission has a basic structure or “roadmap” which seeks to give greater clarity. Our Mission 2020 map helps us visualize the Biblical mandate by personalizing Acts 1:8 for Cicero Christian Church.
Imagine a subway station map that connects—through reaching, teaching and serving—the targets of Jerusalem (Cicero), Judea (Hamilton County), Samaria (Indiana and the United States) and the Ends of the Earth (the World). Each destination is connected to the others and focused upon carrying the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
Examine the Mission 2020 map in more detail. The following pages examine the four areas of Mission 2020 which help us carry out the Reach, Teach, and Serve vision. Setting focused efforts toward these goals will bring more lost souls to Christ and restore more wayward souls than at any other time in the history of our church.
In order to effectively carry out Reach, Teach, and Serve, we are concentrating our efforts into carrying out evangelism in the following areas. Several specific short- and long-term goals are outlined. As we grow spiritually and numerically, and as Mission 2020 becomes an integral part of our church, certainly more areas will be identified.
As we read through Scripture, we observe that we have been called to be the light to the world and the salt of the earth. Continuing to walk in the footsteps of Jesus is an effective way to achieve the goal to serve our community, not to be served by our community. Our objective in this area is to establish a true team of outreach at Cicero Christian Church that will help expand our ability and effectiveness of carrying out the more KIP projects over the next ten years.
One of our newest and most well received outreach projects that began in the spring of 2009 is the Reach Teach Serve Community Garden. Our desire is to see the garden expand over the next ten years to the point of being able to support a local mission or food bank in order to help feed the hungry.
We are a family-focused church that desires to minister to more families outside of our church walls. One of being able to do this is to build a shelter house on the church property that would enable us to hold special events outside the church walls but still on the property. The shelter house would also have a storage facility on one end of the structure allowing us to store outdoor equipment to be used for our expanding Recreational Ministry. CONSTRUCTION COMPLETED FALL 2010.
One of the most heartfelt pleas in all of Scripture is witnessed in Matthew 9 as we read the account of Jesus making this statement: The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. This challenge leads us to pray that God will convict more of us to become workers in the harvest field. Over the next ten years we want to be more intentional than ever before in training up and sending out missionaries and ministers all over the world.
The Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these…Words uttered by Jesus Christ that tell us of the great importance of training up our children in the ways of Godliness so that they will have hope for a future. Over the next ten years, our Children’s Minister is leading his team to develop an amazing children’s center that will provide space dedicated to minister to our children. This resource will sharpen the focus on strengthening the family and increasing the growing faith of our treasured children.
One of our aggressive goals for the next ten years is to be focused on reaching more of the lost in our county and community. Our objective over the next ten years is to win 500 souls who have not accepted the gift of Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Scripture declares that the borrower is a slave to the lender. Debt hinders our outreach capacity as a church and your effectiveness in ministering to the wounded because of a lack of funds. Our main objective over the next ten years is to become completely debt free.
Area #2: Judea equals Hamilton County Imagine a community center where people from all over the county and throughout the community could receive physical, mental, and spiritual training and exercise that they need to be healthy. The community center would be a facility that could house the lay counseling network, Hope Family Care Center, Mephibosheth Ministries, as well as a state-of-the-art exercise facility.
The objective in this ministry is to help bring about unity in the body of Christ as we strive to worship and work alongside of other churches in the communities from which our church families reside. We will strive to have unified outreach projects to the community.
Churches all across our country are in desperate need of more solid Biblical leaders. Over the next ten years we desire development of a Biblical Leadership program that will follow in the example of the Apostle Paul in training of Titus for leadership. This primary
objective of this ministry is to train Christian Leaders for the future.
While reading through Scripture, we come across the themes of
discipleship, mentoring, and training of young Christians. Jesus Christ emphasized the importance of discipleship through His ministry and set the example for each Christian that would follow Him. One of the most important investments we can make is investing into others and helping them grow in their faith. Our great desire is to see each Christian in our church have a mentor that will help them grow in their faith as “iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” This is a ministry in which we desire to see men, women, children, couples mentored by others.
Area #3: Samaria equals Indiana and the United States This is one of the most exciting and daunting parts of Mission 2020. We feel lead to partner with other churches or church planting organizations to help plant churches in areas that are in need of the Gospel in the United States as well as around the world. Our goal is to help plant
2-4 churches in the next ten years.
As we read Isaiah 58, we observe that one area of the fasting that God desires is to feed the hungry. Even in Cicero, Indiana we have hungry families that are in need of being fed. The objective of this ministry would be to have one day per week where free meal would be served at our church to those that are hungry.
It is a fact that churches all across our country are in need of a true revival. Revival Ministries is a new and developing concept to carry the message of the Gospel with the purpose of empowering and equipping God’s people to reach the lost in their own communities. Our desire is to see this become a nationwide plan in ten years.
The first ReStart Ministries Revival is March 7-10, 2010
at Shaker Prairie Christian Church in Carlisle, Indiana.
We observe throughout Scripture that Jesus cared for the entire being of a person, enabling service to Him with their heart, soul, and mind. Our objective in this ministry is to establish a free Lay Counseling network which can examine thinking and behaviors against Biblical principles and develop personal plans to encourage growth and change for those that are wounded and hurting.
Area #4: Ends of the Earth equals the WorldThe fastest growing religion in the world is Islam. We understand this to be a false
religion and we have a great responsibility to make an effort to evangelize followers of Islam over the next 10 years.
We are a mission-minded church. We dedicate a minimum of 11.5% of our general fund giving to support efforts in the United States as well as across the world. In addition to giving financially, our desire is to see more of our church family experience first-hand the blessing of being able to physically help through participation in short-term, church-organized trip to the missions we support. Our goal is to have about 5 such trips over the next 10 years.
God cares that there is a lot of injustice being carried out in this world. There is a lot of injustice being carried out right here in Indiana. Our objective with this ministry is to partner with groups such as Advance America or International Justice Ministries to help fight for worldwide justice.
The year 2010 is a year of preparation and anticipation – themed “Passionately Pursing God.” As we witness God moving among His people at Cicero Christian Church, we also feel a sense of urgency to carry the Gospel to the furthest corners of our community, our country, our states, and the world. We look forward to seeing more people come to Christ, and making decisions for Christ. We look forward to seeing more people enter into ministry and the mission field. We look forward to beginning a ten-year journey together with Mission 2020. We ask you to join us by carrying out the following tasks.
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Cicero Christian Church |
The Future Vision of 
1715 Stringtown Pike