A PLAN OF MISSION, CALLING, AND VISION

The Celebration Seventh-day Adventist Church (CSDAC) Vision Team began its work in February 2008 with the deliberate goal of discerning God’s will for our church. Our work has been a corporate exercise of listening to three distinct voices: the voice of God, the voice of the congregation, and the voice of the community. As CSDAC continues to grow, we feel it necessary to clearly define a roadmap for the future—a plan of mission, calling, and vision. Toward the goal of reaching church status, we feel it important to develop this strategic plan which will establish church priorities, focus resources and energies, and enable scalable and sustainable growth.

OUR MISSION

To extend the healing ministry of Christ to the people of Celebration through church community.

OUR CALLING

CSDAC is a group of surrendered, transformed people who love God and others. We embrace the idea that this is not about us, but about Jesus. We believe in His promise of salvation and His love for the town of Celebration. We serve together, play together, worship together, and live life together. Our town will be changed because God has commissioned us. We believe small things done with love will change the world.

OUR NAME—CELEBRATION SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST CHURCH

The word “celebration” is incorporated in our church name for three deliberate reasons:

  1. To continually celebrate what Christ has done for us,
  2. To establish a community connection based on where we live and worship, and
  3. To promote healthy living and whole person care—mind, body, and spirit—while congregating at Florida Hospital Celebration Health.

The Seventh–day Adventist denomination provides the fundamental beliefs for us as a church. As Adventists, we have a passionate conviction in the soon return (Advent) of Jesus Christ, and we worship on Saturday, which we believe to be the biblical “seventh-day” Sabbath established at creation. As a church, we are fully committed to promoting the Advent message and ultimately hastening Christ’s return.

OUR HOME—FLORIDA HOSPITAL CELEBRATION HEALTH

CSDAC strives to continue our Adventist heritage by integrating physical, mental, and spiritual healing. We congregate in the hospital, which provides an opportunity to minister to church members, visitors, and hospital employees. In addition to leading its congregation, the pastoral staff serves as the Florida Hospital pastoral care department providing spiritual and emotional support to its employees making them better clinicians. The congregation also works to meet hospital needs by volunteering in various departments, patient visitation, music programs, and mission trips. Ministering to mind, body, and spirit has proven to develop actively engaged church members, a happy and proficient medical support staff, and improved medical outcomes. This unique collaboration between the pastoral staff and the congregation enables the church to be a bridge between the hospital and the community.

OUR VALUES

Our values system is driven by the realization that every person, regardless of circumstances, is of infinite value to God and deserves love and respect. Through God’s grace each individual is gifted and can contribute to the church and its ministry. Our core values include:

  1. Faith in Jesus Christ
  2. Passion for the Gospel truth
  3. Love for all people
  4. Kindness
  5. Honesty
  6. Spiritual growth
  7. Community worship
  8. Fellowship

Our respect for diversity, individuality, and freedom is balanced by a regard for our community. We are one—a worldwide family of faith engaged in representing God to the world through ethical conduct, mutual respect, and loving service. Our faithfulness to God involves commitment to and support of His body, the church.

Seventh-day Adventist values are rooted in the revelation of God provided through the Bible and the life of Jesus Christ. Our sense of identity and calling grows from an understanding of Bible prophecies, especially those concerning the time immediately preceding the return of Jesus. Consequently all of life becomes a growing experience and demonstration of involvement with God and His kingdom.

OUR VISION

We pursue our mission under the guidance of the Holy Spirit through the following outreach methods:

  1. Preaching
  2. Teaching
  3. Healing

PREACHING

Accepting Christ's commission found in Matthew 28:18-20, we proclaim to the world the message of a loving God, most fully revealed in His Son's reconciling ministry and atoning death. Recognizing the Bible as God's revelation of His will, we present its full message, including the second advent of Christ, the continuing authority of His Ten Commandment law, including the Sabbath, and the health message.

CSDAC will utilize Florida Hospital Celebration Health to reach out to the people of our community by promoting the Adventist health message. Emphasis will be placed on core health fundamentals such as: diet, exercise, self-control, and temperance. The church in conjunction with the hospital will sponsor and host various seminars/events designed to promote healthy living. These will include: healthy cooking (vegetarianism as an option), smoking cessation, alcoholism, fitness and weight control, stress, anxiety, finance, depression, abuse, adoption, family planning, divorce, suicide, and teen/tween issues. We are also able to provide childcare services to our community’s children while their parents are attending these sponsored seminars.

We live in an age of ever advancing technology and have the responsibility to provide state-of-the-art Christian programming to patients, physicians, nurses and support staff. This could be achieved by equipping patient rooms and staff lounges with interactive, topic-based menus promoting CREATION Health principles. Topics will include: nature, religion, and music all designed to uplift the spirit, which in turn facilitates healing and positive clinical outcomes. With minimal effort patients at Celebration Health can be provided with quality and uplifting Christian programming, which will include daily devotions, mid-week prayer meeting and song service, and weekly Sabbath School and church services, which can be piped into each patient’s room. In doing so we are promoting Christ to every patient and staff member, during their stay and extending an open invitation to come and worship with us.

TEACHING

Acknowledging that the development of mind and character is essential to God's redemptive plan, we promote the growth of a mature understanding of and relationship to God, His Word, and the created universe.

Small Groups

Small group ministry is an important part of having a healthy body of believers (Acts 2). Some groups meet consistently year round, while other groups have a more relaxed schedule. We encourage all church members to become involved in small group ministries. All of our small groups support our calling to foster and grow members. Small group emphasis covers topics such as: making friends, community involvement, opportunity and success, prayer, Steps-to-Christ, prophecy and last day events, young families, and young-at-heart.

Bible Studies

To appeal to the masses who embrace computers and technology, CSDAC offers on-line Bible study opportunities. This allows people to study the Bible in the privacy of their own home without feeling pressured. We are committed to praying for our on-line Bible study correspondents that they will join an established Seventh-day Adventist congregation. These studies are designed for busy people. There are 28 lessons that are done in sequence. After you complete one, the next one is available.

Celebration Seventh-day Adventist Church offers two different ways to take the Discover Bible Studies:

  1. The first way is the ever popular snail mail method.
  2. The second way is online! There will be teachers available for interaction (chat or email), if you choose.

Sabbath School

Sabbath School exists to teach and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. It communicates the good news with the objective to win, hold, and train men, women, youth, boys and girls for Jesus Christ. Every Sabbath morning there are groups that meet to study God's Word. In addition to regular classes, special classes meet occasionally. These classes deal with topics of interest and have included a new believer’s class, different Bible study techniques, the Making Friends for God series, and other special interest items.

Children's classes are led by teachers who love and treasure our children. There is singing, prayer, stories, activities and, most importantly, study of God's Word. These classes are designed and geared toward children in specific age groups.

HEALING

Affirming the biblical emphasis on the well-being of the whole person, we make the preservation of health and healing a priority and through our ministry to all people, cooperate with the Creator in His compassionate work of restoration.

Social Events

An important aspect of health and healing is a balanced social life. CSDAC prides itself on providing wholesome social opportunities for its congregation. CSDAC currently offers established social events, which have proven fruitful for strengthening and growing our church. Events include monthly gym night, fellowship dinners/potlucks, and seasonal celebrations (Valentine’s, Independence Day, Fall Festival, and Christmas).

Recognizing the importance of healthy fellowship, CSDAC is committed to utilizing its member’s talents to develop community awareness and involvement. Proposed examples of community involvement include: Celebration Founder’s Day, Independence Day parade, weekly farmers market health fairs, parent’s night out, corporate sponsored events (CSDAC/Kilwins Ice Cream family night, Market Street Café teen night, Starbucks youth outing). These events are a means of establishing Seventh-day Adventist awareness in our community while creating long–lasting personal and corporate friendships.

Hospital Ministry

CSDAC is committed to extending the healing ministry of Christ to the patients in the hospital in which we worship. The hospital volunteer program provides the opportunity for volunteer church members to interact with hospital patients. This hospital/church collaboration is a win/win for all parties involved, especially the patients. In addition, this volunteer program helps to ensure a positive reception of our proposed television initiative.

Youth Ministry

The Youth of CSDAC have proposed volunteering with the following community organizations: Give Kids the World, Healthy Earth Initiative and Osceola County SPCA. Utilizing Celebration Health’s corporate charity sponsorship to Give Kids the World, CSDAC is dedicated to providing time, energy, and resources to this deserving foundation. The CSDAC Youth have a burden and desire to volunteer on a monthly basis with Give Kids the World.

Public Relations and Marketing

CSDAC has a passion for finding ways in which the church can communicate with the public through various media and is constantly seeking opportunities for Christianity to be relevant to the world. The core of public relations and marketing is relationship management. The way CSDAC is growing tells a unique story. Each member of our congregation has the ability to tell a positive story.

The public relations/marketing department helps develop positive relationships within our community including local businesses, sister churches, civic organizations, Walt Disney Area Network, media, and the church family. CSDAC intends to increase community awareness by creating a media kit targeting various demographics. A unique selling point for CSDAC is a privilege to worship within a hospital with a fitness center. This unique worship environment provides ample opportunity to connect with non-members in a non-traditional manner, allowing us to reach certain demographics with our CREATION Health principles.

The public relations/marketing department is dedicated to supporting and enabling the church’s fundamentals of preaching, teaching, and healing by providing CSDAC and its members with resources, collateral materials, event planning, and inreach/outreach programs. Inreach programming is defined as edifying the body of Christ (i.e., CSDAC members) and can be accomplished through church events planning, group leadership alignment, developing a church directory, and birthday calendar. Outreach programming is defined as evangelism and growing membership through baptism and can be accomplished through facilitating volunteer opportunities, fundraising events within the Celebration community (farmer’s market, Kilwin’s, Starbucks, Market Street Cafe, seasonal events), word-of-mouth participation, and collaborative local and civic functions.

Building and Finance

A good stewardship campaign is always a by-product of a deeper understanding of God's loving plan. "For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation, and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish'." (Luke 14:28-30) Done right, a stewardship campaign can bring a church together and unite the congregation with a common vision.

CSDAC has a unique financial profile in that we gather and worship inside of the Florida Hospital Celebration Health. CSDAC, in collaboration with the hospital, needs to analyze the situation and develop a sound financial plan for a church building campaign. Analysis will include savings capability, options for fundraising, and understanding the advantages and disadvantages of the various programs and campaigns.

The Lord requires us to have a good financial plan before beginning to build. CSDAC will establish sound financial structure to support the expected costs of the building campaign. The plan will include the following:

  • Develop appropriate financial information for stewardship and financing.
  • Develop a project budget and cash flow needs analysis.
  • Negotiate and secure funds for construction.
  • Develop self-financing programs.
  • Maintain a working budget for expansion.
  • Facility design and layout.
  • Support spaces for offices, Sabbath School rooms, kitchen, and storage.

SUMMARY

In discerning a plan of mission, calling, and vision for the Celebration Seventh-day Adventist Church, the team spent considerable time with church members and community leaders discussing the unmet needs of the Celebration community. We were also very deliberate in seeking to identify the church’s core values. We understand that a strategic plan that is not based on our core values would be worthless. As we studied our core values, we discerned that they can be condensed into three principles central to the teaching of Jesus—mind, body, and spirit. We believe that if we show people how to love with all their heart they will be inclusive in their welcome and care for all people. If we invite people to love God with all their spirit, worship will be a needed, necessary, and integral part of their lives. If we teach people to love God with their entire mind, they will be unwilling to settle for anything but truth. If we instruct people to love God with all their strength, service will be a natural product of their life in faith—an intersection of their own giftedness and the opportunities that life in a community of faith makes available. It is our prayer that this plan will make us participants with God and lead us toward a spiritual awakening for the town of Celebration.