Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord.
Psalm 22:30
VISION
100 years of renewal in and through Vancouver.
We want to reach our grandchildren’s grandchildren. In other words, our prayer is that four generations from now, children in Vancouver will be born into a city marked by the kingdom of God. This century-long vision is one of determined, sacrificial, and persistent faith in Jesus of Nazareth. A few simple convictions call us specifically into Vancouver:
We think that Vancouver is the most significant city in Western Canada.
We think that reaching Western Canada will require reaching Vancouver.
We think that reaching Vancouver means entering the cultural centre of the Downtown Core.
We think that consistent church planting is the most effective way to pursue long-term renewal.
Where are we planting?
Downtown Peninsula
The largest business centre in British Columbia. Home to ~130,000 people. In particular, the presence of evangelical Christianity in the West End is severely limited.
Broadway Corridor
The second largest business centre in British Columbia. Home to ~78,000 people, with 63,000 more expected in the next 30 years. While evangelical Christianity is more represented here, the influx of thousands of newcomers will create new missional urgency.
MISSION
Calling those who are far from God to become those who are sent by God.
Why church planting?
The vigorous, continual planting of new congregations is the single most crucial strategy for (1) the numerical growth of the body of Christ in a city and (2) the continual corporate renewal and revival of the existing churches in a city. Nothing else—not crusades, outreach programs, parachurch ministries, growing megachurches, congregational consulting, nor church renewal processes—will have the consistent impact of dynamic, extensive church planting. This is an eyebrow-raising statement, but to those who have done any study at all, it is not even controversial.
Timothy Keller, “Why Plant Churches”