Connect

Connecting at Vista may be significantly different than what you’re used to or than what you might expect. Think of it this way: You’ll be most fulfilled and connected to the church when you are connected with the mission of the Church. So, most importantly connect with Jesus, connect with family and friends, and stay connected and/or build connections with neighbors, friends and associates who don’t know God.

Ownership, Responsibility, Purpose It is our deeply held belief that a healthy church is the church whose people — everyone of them — embrace their God-given value and purpose, while increasingly owning and sharing the work of the church in their respective spheres of influence. To truly let ownership, responsibility, and purpose rest upon each member, it’s imperative that church be kept simple, reproducible and manageable in order to seamlessly flow with the normal course of life.

Four Key Areas Encouraging “everyone to be involved in everything in the church” works in this experiment since Vista asks everyone to be involved in only four ways that will likely add purpose and meaning to normal life rather than time to your schedule. In short, the four areas are: Missions, Sundays, Giving, and Groups.

1  Missions

We’re a Missional Community. That means many things, but above all else it is critical that Christians seek and build non-Christian relationships in the normal course of life. The church is unhealthy when it spends most of its time “indoors,” rather than outside where those who haven’t yet met Jesus are playing.

We gather on Sunday primarily to be refreshed, refueled and equipped for the real work Monday through Saturday. Expect to find fewer programs that pull you in, and more encouragement pressing you out to leverage all the normal activity and involvements of your life.

Missions is about Giving and Going.

• Give Monthly ($2–$200) to one of our Global Missions projects: Jen or the Orphanage or the School in Cambodia or annually to the next Church plant in Kenya.
• Go do Local and Global Missions. There are many options out there to participate in local, national and international missions…and we organize a few global missions every year to Cambodia and Africa.

For Local Missions we suggest that you check our list of local partnerships for ways that you can be involved with the needy and less fortunate in your community and in Central Ohio. Take the time to visit and learn and serve a few times a year, and anticipate God gripping your heart in some way that will lead to a fulfilling and rewarding more consistent involvement…maybe even something new, related to a need you see and can uniquely meet.

Who are the handful of unchurched friends you are praying for and investing time?
What will you give to missions?
What local partner could you serve this month, with your family or your group?

2  Sundays

Like a decentralized franchise, Vista is in search of innumerable “shareholders and owners,” rather than a small group of contributors and a large group of consumers. The healthy church understands and communicates not only the value, but the necessity and ownership of every person on the mission. Sundays are one of our most visible elements and the best arena to demonstrate massive co-ownership – shared vision, value and work.

Multigenerational
One of the most forgotten mission fields is the next generation. Parents will always carry the primary spiritual responsibility for their children, and the church pulls together to partner with parents in this profound process. It’s super important to us to keep our “generations” overlapped. We want young working with old, old serving young, kids knowing other parents, grandparents adding wisdom to the toddler room, etc. In our Kids Community classrooms on Sundays, we ask everyone to serve – parents serve once a month and everyone else only once per quarter. There are numerous ways to serve – some don’t even involve kids. : )

Ministry Teams
Consider serving in other key weekend areas, including set-up/tear-down, multimedia, worship, sound/tech, or Connections. Click on a link below to contact someone directly about Sunday morning service opportunities
> Kids Community  Click Here to volunteer
> Connections (Dublin: E-mail Chris Kelley | Worthington: E-mail Erin Shmidt)
> Set-up/Tear-down (Dublin: E-mail Tyler Pilkington | Worthington: E-mail Brandon Shmidt)
> Worship (Both sites: E-mail Justin Bradshaw)
> Multimedia (Both sites: E-mail Gil Borlaza)
> Tech (sound and lighting) (Both sites: E-mail Mark Harris)

3  Giving

Regular offering and Missions are two ways to give at Vista. A thorough explanation requires more space, but suffice it to say that if everybody faithfully and sacrificially gave financially to the church (or any fiscally responsible church), capital campaigns, debt-elimination campaigns, a building campaign or any sort of fundraisers would be unnecessary.

Giving at Vista is directed/invested into four main areas roughly like this: Staff (50%), Sundays (15%), Missions (20%), Equipping & Support (15%),

Prayerfully determine what you will give regularly this year, stay with it, and increase it next year. Read more about our giving value here.

4  Groups

Christianity is not an individual sport, instead it finds its safety, health and longevity in numbers…in community. It’s difficult to find a page in the New Testament that isn’t talking about what to do with, and how to live with, “one another.” We encourage everyone to gather regularly with a small group of people for gospel-rich and authentic community, mutual encouragement, support and challenge in the life of following Jesus.

Lifegroups meet every other week to study, rehash, dig into and to practically apply what has been preached on Sunday, opposing the Information Age obsession for more knowledge, breadth, and information rather than practical application, depth, and transformation.

Various other sorts of groups exist for your consideration and involvement, and occasionally we organize larger mixers and events to help create new connections with others.

Do you have a consistent and trusted group of Jesus-following friends that mutually challenges and encourages one another in the pursuit of God? Find out more about our groups here.