We desire to be a church for Greeley - in order to bring the rich resources of our historic Christian faith to bear on the city making a visible difference in the quality of its life - spiritually, socially, economically and culturally.
Significant Question... "When the righteous prosper, the city rejoices." - Proverbs 11:10
What kind of church would we have to be so that virtually the entire city rejoices over our success?
In light of that question, our vision is to...
...connect people to God by a fresh retelling of the historic Gospel.
We want to the number of Christians greatly multiplied in Greeley. We want these believers to be involved in every segment of the social fabric of Greeley. We want to foster a new breed of believers who “dream dreams for Greeley” rather than figuring out the best way to build our own empire.
- Through a variety of large worship celebrations which both builds up believers and helps the spiritually skeptical, curious, and uncommitted. We want to aim at worship services that bring believers to say: “This helps me better understand what I believe and gives me the desire to bring my friends here to see the beauty of Christ.” To stimulate this kind of thinking is the most critical event in St. Patrick’s ministry. We want every St. Patrick member to have a spiritual incubator of non-believing friends whom they are loving, praying, and serving toward the kingdom of God.
...to become a church that not only equips believers but is also continually engaging the spiritually skeptical, curious, and uncommitted.
- Through a network of small groups meeting in homes and businesses throughout the week. Small groups are the main way St. Patrick nurtures growth, identifies gifts, communicates vision, and equips believers for ministry. St. Patrick is committed to a “radical small group” model in which lay ministers are developed and trained at such a rate that there are enough leaders to have a group for every ten persons attending our worship services. Then, no matter what size the congregation is, everyone is cared for, no one “falls through the cracks,” community and unity are in place. Due to the fact that St. Patrick will have its beginning by small groups, we must begin here and then proceed to a large group worship service when we can feasibly pull it off. When will we begin public worship? I don’t know. One thing is for certain, we want some minimum standard of expertise in the worship arts and a good number of mature leaders able to engage and handle growth, represented in our small groups before we launch a public worship service. So we will intentionally grow through small groups for some time.
...to have every member of St. Patrick and many regular attendees of our worship services to participate in small groups.
- Through ministries that penetrate the marketplace with Christ’s values. We want to support and equip thousands of Christian professionals for work that is both excellent and distinctively Biblical, so the very direction of Greeley is affected in the areas of arts, media, government and politics, education, business, medicine, and law. We also want to encourage Christians to engage the people they work with for Christ.
...to begin lunch-time meetings that will network and equip Christian professionals to work with Biblical excellence in their fields. In five years, to begin “marketplace” events that communicate Christian truth in ways that are winsome, exciting, and ways that continue to make Greeley a better place to live.
- Through ministries that heal broken social conditions with Christ’s compassion and justice. We want to tackle very directly the social and personal needs that plague the people of Greeley. These ministries will range from providing meals for the hungry to community development programs for whole neighborhoods. We want to both a) channel Christians through volunteer work into the needs of the hurting, and b) move Christians into the very communities of poverty and brokenness to minister Christ in both word and deed.
...to eventually develop a separate foundation for the development of scores of ministries targeting the “felt needs” of specific constituencies. To make a major impact on the quality of life in specific needy neighborhoods in the city. To eventually be known for the quality of our social concern and programs for the poor that we are respected for them even by those deeply skeptical of the Christian faith.
- Ministries that multiply new churches throughout the rapidly growing Front Range area. We want to be part of a movement of churches. Therefore, we will plant daughter churches in growing areas in and around Greeley.
...within five years to have identified a location and have begun mobilizing the resources necessary to begin a daughter congregation.