Vision Casting - Our local thoughts

Finally found a document today, outlining some brainstorming and visioning we were doing early in the year for our local Salvation Army Corps. Here's some of the words we started with (in no particular order):

* Belief
* Outreach
* Active/Dynamic
* Vibrant
* Welcoming/Accepting
* Faith
* Forgiving
* Teaching
* Love
* Inclusive
* Holistic
* Spiritually hungry

Then some phrases/thoughts about our church:

* Invading the city
* LOVE of God -> Love Revolution
* Expanding our ministries
* Signing up for the cause of the Gospel
* Refuge, Fortress, Haven

Then some important people groups:

* Families
* The needy
* Prisoners
* The broken
* Migrants
* Indigenous
* General Relationships
* Sick
* Elderly
* Children/Youth
* Street people

Then we attempted to put this vision in writing... This still needs to be edited, shortened and reworked, but here's what we came up with on that hot, humid night earlier in the year:

* We aim to be a dynamic Army of Salvation, at work helping the lost & spiritually hungry to find real love, acceptance & belonging in Jesus. We see a haven for the broken-hearted, a centre of growth equipping people for mission, a place to teach families to live holistically, a light of hope for future generations, and a revolution of God's love impacting the City of Palmerston.

Throw your thoughts our way. God bless you.


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What is Spiritual Mapping?

What is Spiritual Mapping? Find out below.
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Thanks James for your stories on ministry at the Mind, Body & Soul Festival. Check it out at: http://www.woetome.wordpress.com/
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Feeling anxious or stressed? Paul says in Phillipians - don't be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petetion makes your requests known to God... Then what? Then the peace of God will guard your mind and hearts in Christ Jesus. This is something to hold on to.
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Someone convince me Twitter is worth it. I have lost interest recently!
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God is stirring up his people. We have been talking, within our Palmerston Minister's Fellowship about Spiritual Mapping. So what is Spiritual Mapping? Here's some excerpts from the Australian Prayer Network (www.ausprayernet.org.au/teaching ):
Spiritual Mapping, "is an attempt to see our region as it really is and not as it appears to be....it is the discipline of diagnosing the obstacles to revival in a given community through fervent prayer and diligent research. Cindy Jacobs says it is the researching of a city to discern any inroads Satan has made, which prevent the spread of the gospel and its evangelization for Christ.
Victor Lorenzo is an experienced mapper in Argentine. He believes that spiritual mapping combines research, divine revelation, and confirmatory evidence in order to provide complete and exact data concerning the identity, strategies and methods employed by spiritual forces of darkness to influence the people and the churches in a given region"

It makes me think about the 12 that went out to check on this 'promised land' and what was ahead of them. What did the enemy look like? What were the obstacles? What was God saying to them? Remember Caleb and Joshua's response compared with the other 10? Let's go!! Let's do it!
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There's more to life than work, rest and play. What about prayer, worship and ministry?

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