Vision Night Recap

Nov 29, 2017 | by Brad Sumner

For the first few years of our marriage, Meg and I lived in a condo in Langley City.  The people were wonderfully pleasant UNTIL it came time for the strata AGM.  All of a sudden, the place degenerated into an agenda-driven, power-hungry oligarchy ruled over by people who wanted to propose crazy stuff like forcing everyone to use only white lights on their personal Christmas trees (under the auspices of promoting visual continuity for pedestrians as they walked past the exterior of our building).  Things got a little crazy! 

If that’s your mental image of a church AGM, then likely you’ve never been to any of our bi-annual AGM’s at Jericho Ridge (so I guess we have BAGM’s, then?!?).  The spirit in the room is always warm and there is a great sense of giving thanks to God for His faithfulness and generosity to us. 

Our meeting in November is called Vision Night because we use it to look forward into the future and to seek to discern together what God has on His heart for Jericho for the coming season.  If you missed it, here are a few highlights of things we discussed together as we gathered for a meal upstairs in Room B at the LEC this past Sunday evening...

Stories of Prayer and Care: We celebrated growth in two key areas around Jericho in 2017
Pastor Wally told the story about how God provided a house for them in Willoughby that never went on the market (see photo below).  He encouraged us to trust in God’s direction and provision, even when things are not unfolding as we imagine or expect.  We shared stories around tables of how we saw or experienced care from others this past year at Jericho. 

Financial Update: 2017 has been a great year for our Core Value of Generous Living
Tyler Schacter, our elder over finance, shared that while our 2017 approved budget anticipated a deficit of $25,000, through end of October, revenue is up over $320,000!  In addition to this, over $30,000 was given towards Guatemala 2017 and our Benevolence Fund!  Thanks for your generous support of the ministry and mission God has called us to. 

Missions Updates: We want to do more to Impact our World in 2018
Curtis reminded us about our Christmas Blessing Project designed to provide additional support to our 5 missionaries.  Our goal is to raise $5,000 by December 15 which will be distributed to our under-funded long-term global partners.    

Lindsey Schacter shared about our plans to increase local and global missions giving in 2018…

  1. A strong, 13-member team is going to Guatemala this March break.
  2. The Workmans will be commissioned and sent out with Wycliffe in 2018.
  3. Brad & Meg are going to Tanzania with Under The Same Sun this February.
  4. We are increasing our giving to Church Planting, Camps BC & Columbia Bible College.
  5. We are exploring some form of local outreach for kids this summer

2018 Budget: Our Theme in 2018 is “Growing and Overflowing”
Our 2018 revenue projection has been set at $345,000 with expenses at $355,000.  We plan to cover the $10,000 difference between expenses & revenue from 2017 giving.  We also plan to cover any moving expenses ($5,000) out of an anticipated revenue surplus from 2017 giving.  So strong year-end giving will allow our reserves to remain untouched & potentially grow, putting us in a stronger position for long-term facility exploration.

Facility Update: We are exploring moving our Sunday Gathering times to 4 PM effective Fall 2018
Ron and Brad shared how we are moving out of the LEC at the end of August of 2018 (due to their desire to maximize weekend revenues).  We have explored multiple venue possibilities that would meet our needs & budget for the short-term but many doors are closed.  We are currently exploring moving our gathering time to later on Sunday afternoons to create better facility options for us.  We will update you on a location and time once we have confirmation.

Long Term Security of Tenure for Jericho: We continue to explore land & building options
The elders team is actively exploring two potential building and land partnerships that would create a strong ministry platform for Jericho Ridge for our long-term future.  We desire to do this in a way that doesn’t compromise our “people-over-property” focus (for example, we need to think wisely about how much debt Jericho can take on & how much could be raised in a capital campaign or via facility partners).  We will keep you updated on the process and progress on these ventures as we progress into 2018.

A few months ago, I was journaling in 1 Thessalonians 3:12 where Paul says “may the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow and overflow”. When I think about our themes for the past few years (2016 was a theme of stability; 2017 was focused on getting Rooted and Reaching), this stands in a kind of continuity. Once you have roots and you begin to reach out, the natural result is growth. This also picks up on the theme that we sensed at the Elders retreat this spring that God was inviting us to prepare and begin to think about what it would mean to grow. So as we step together into 2018, I am excited to see how God will lead us to places where we are “Growing and Overflowing” in love for each other, but also love for our city and our world.

Walking the journey together,

Pastor Brad

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