GATEWAY RESTORATION NETWORK
Vision / Statement of Faith / Who We Are / Core Values / Why Gateway /
VISION (initial very rough draft for us to prayerfully consider)
Scripture tells us:
Habbakuk 2:2 "Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald [b] may run with it. 3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it [c] will certainly come and will not delay..." (New Int'l Version)
Matthew 28:18-20 (New Int'l Version) "18Then Jesus
came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been
given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples
of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching
them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with
you always, to the very end of the age.”
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This leads to the following
INITIAL ROUGH DRAFT of the VISION STATEMENT
"By the power and leading of the Holy Spirit, we seek to see the Body of Christ WORKING TOGETHER in order to see God's intentions for the Gateway region coming into being in His timing and way. We desire to be Christ-centered disciples of Jesus living out every aspect of our lives in the marketplace in order to see God's Kingdom come and His will being done in this region as we work together with families, businesses, ministries, churches, educators, professionals, politicians, artists, etc. and those in all influential sectors of society that share similar vision. We desire to see the love and power of God flowing through us to see whole-hearted-total-life worshippers of Jesus raised up, becoming true disciples of His, whom He uses to transform this region and beyond, for His glory."
...will be added after we have had our first networking meeting...(Lord willing)..
There are many reasons why Gateway / Whalley has become a focus.
More will be added to this at a later date, but for now several initial reasons are:
1) As in the book of Nehemiah, his heart began to break as he became aware of the devastation and disrepair of the Jerusalem wall. This led him to pray and intercede for the region. Through this God led him to action to lead the people to work together to see the wall rebuilt.
So with this region of Surrey, the GATEWAY to Surrey has been in disrepair for decades and God has been increasingly been putting this region of the city onto the hearts of growing numbers of His people and intercessors, many of which are beginning to network to prayerfully discuss ways of working together to see God's vision and purposes for this region coming into being.
The words come to mind: "...the last shall be first...", "...he who humbles himself shall be exalted...", ...you shall be the head and not the tail...
2) Surrey is central to the Lower Mainland and so is strategically situated geographically.
3) The Gateway / Whalley region of Surrey is the birthplace of Surrey and has not only historical but spiritual roots which affect her current state both positively and negatively and which also affect surrounding regions.
4) The Gateway / Whalley / New Westminster region is the Gateway to the west coast of Canada and whatever happens here affects the nation.
5) As growing numbers have been praying for this region the past several years, especially, it seems that not only in the spiritual is God in the process of beginning to lay foundations to see forward movement in seeing restoration taking place, but the City of Surrey is also in the process of seeing development taking place in the same region. It seems to be God's timing to see His Church be a light in the marketplace as we seek to work together with the City as the Holy Spirit leads us in order to see His glory arising over the Gateway / Whalley region.
6) The larger context of this region is the Greater Vancouver / Lower Mainland region which is also strategic as it is an area where there is a growing missions focus in Canada and some very encouraging developments are in the works in that regard.
Many local missions, ministries, missionary training facilities and Christian educators, business people and political people are also interested in working together to see the Lower Mainland (and beyond) transformed by the power of God and bringing healing to the nations - which many understand to be the prophetic, God-ordained destiny of the nation of Canada.
7) Another reason is the multitude of ethnic and religious diversity that exists here.
8) Yet another reason is the growing media, music and the arts center that Vancouver is becoming. It is also becoming increasingly known as one of the 'world music' capitals in the world. In addition, many of the local worship & arts ministries share similar vision (as the Great Commission Worship & Arts Center) and are excited about networking and partnering together as the Holy Spirit leads.
9) This is also a region of the country where many local pastors and many in the Body of Christ are longing to see united prayer in the ‘city church’ in order to see TRANSFORMATIONS coming about as our city/nation are discipled!
We believe that God has some significant things that He wants to do in this region as we seek to love Him with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength, love our neighbours as ourselves and work TOGETHER with His Body to seeing His heart and purposes accomplished in this region as we prayerfully follow and obey Him step by step.
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Intro |
Networking |
Discipling the Nations - seven influential sectors of society