We have spent the last four weeks speaking about our ABLE strategy, and this message is an outflow of that strategy. Every church has a unique expression of the heart of God, and Carmel’s elders prayed and sought God’s heart for this decade in 2019. The outcome was 3 gospel driven goals that will guide our focus for this decade. Romans 1:16 says, ” For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” When God sees a church that is all about His heart, He will make it successful for His renown.

Gospel Generation

Why? This matters because God uses His people to make disciples now and for the generations to come! Your part of the story matters greatly! In Acts 13:36, we see that David had served God’s purpose. We also see Paul compare the believers to Hupereteo, the under-rowers at the bottom of the ships that sailed across bodies of water. They had no windows, didn’t make the decisions on where they were going, and had to listen and row to the beat of the drum and the leader who told them to row faster or slower. As followers of Christ, we need to keep our eyes on Jesus, listen to the power of the Holy Spirit, and do what He says when He says. Then we will have great joy in Him!

Gospel Generation Habits:

Gospel Multiplication

Why? Acts 8:6-8 shows us that that when the church multiplied, “there was much joy in that city.” The gospel changes a whole culture! Tim Keller would make the argument that through the Great Commission’s command to baptize, planting churches is the primary New Testament strategy for fulfilling the Great Commission. We know through research that church planting is 6-8x’s more effective at reaching new people than an established church.

Why do we need more? (Lifeway research)

In the next 7 years, 55,000 churches in America with close.

Only 20% of churches in America are growing.

Only 1% of churches in America are reaching the lost.

We need to plant 7200 churches a year just to keep up with population growth.

We have a goal of planting 25 churches this decade. Our strategy includes:

Gospel Multiplication Habits:

Gospel Proclamation (to the unreached people and Bible translation)

Why? Psalm 67:1-3 says, “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us- so that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. May the peoples praise you, God; may all the peoples praise you.”

Unreached People Group – a people group among which there is no indigenous community of believing Christians with adequate numbers and resources to evangelize this people group without outside assistance. A group is considered unreached is less than 2% of its population is Christian.

Of the 11, 730 people groups on earth, 7000+ are considered unreached.

Bible Translation – Of the 7000+ languages in the world, 3902 do not have the Bible in their native tongue. Praise God for the Illuminations group that consists of 10 Bible translation organizations that have come together to collaborate for the good of the gospel. They believe that every people group can have the Bible by 2033 (which is sooner than the original date of 2067). It takes roughly $1M to translate an entire Bible, which is about $32/verse. As a church, we have raised right at $670,000 towards our goal.

Gospel Proclamation habits:

Questions to Consider: