THRIVE to the Fullest

156 years ago, the seeds of what became Central Church of Christ were planted. There were faithful men and women of God who had a vision for a church that would not only live their lives centered on Jesus Christ, but also would take the opportunities that they had to spread the gospel to Streator, Illinois and beyond across the globe. And so those are some deep roots. 
Those are some deep roots that we live in today, obviously, a lot has changed over the last 150 plus years in our church, we’ve had, in our history, we had a building burned down from a coal furnace fire and they rebuilt from that. We’ve moved twice, once from the, I believe it was the north side of the city park, over to Park and Bridge, and then from there, out to here in the 1960s. And so a lot has changed. 
In those generations, generations of ministry leaders have come and gone 1000s of lives, have been changed because of the ministry of this church. 156 years, 156 years of legacy. And here we are today living in that legacy over 150 years of ministry later in the name of Jesus. A lot has changed, but some things remain constant and true. 
We are still striving to live with Christ at the center of all that we do as the church. And the mission to share the gospel in street and beyond is still the same, still making disciples of Jesus who change the world. That is still being accomplished. 
Every church needs a mission. Every ministry has a mission. In fact, the mission of the church didn’t start 150 years ago in Street of Illinois. 
It started over 2000 years ago, when Jesus commissioned his disciples, and the gospels, as Jesus accomplished his mission, he revealed to his followers, very clearly what that mission was. Jesus, the good shepherd led his sheep to a deeper understanding of who God, the Father is and what he longs on behalf of his children. Jesus in John 10.10 said, I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. 
And this declared mission of Jesus is where the roots of our church and the vision of our future have been firmly planted for the entire existence of central church Christ. Today, as we share the vision, It’s important that we not lose sight of the purpose of the church as a whole, to bring glory to God and to make disciples of Jesus. After Jesus endured the cross, was resurrected 3 days later, rose from the grave, he commissioned, passed on his mission to his disciples in what we call the great commission. 
The Great Commission is a transmission of sorts of the mission of Jesus, a passing on of that mission to his disciples. They were being sent out on a mission as Christ’s ambassadors in the same way that Jesus came, that we may have life, that people may have life and have it to the full, so too were his disciples called to share in that life of Christ, and we also are called to that same mission, to share it with everyone that we meet along the way. In Matthew 28, where we read the Great Commission, Jesus said to his disciples, all authority in heaven on earth has been given to me. 
Jesus is saying it all is centered on him. It’s all dependent on his power. He is the head of the church. 
And because of that authority because he’s passing that transmitting that mission onto his disciples. He said to them to them, verse 19, therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I’ve commanded you, and then at the end of verse 20, we’ve said this so many times before, Jesus gives them this promise. And surely, I am with you always to the very end of the age. 
So we turn the pages to the book of Acts. Jesus’ promise of his presence fulfilled to his disciples and is still being fulfilled today, to the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, in the life of every baptized believer. The apostles in the early church took the gospel from Jerusalem to all Judea, to Samaria, to the ends of the earth, they carried on that mission of Jesus. to the work of the kingdom of God, to the transformative power, the gospel, and the Holy Spirit, they became witnesses to the fullness of life that is found in Jesus Christ, from city to city. 
They saw redeemed lives changed by the gospel. communities changed from within, 1st within the church, and then also in the cities around them, beyond the walls of the church. Today, that kingdom work continues to make a difference wherever God’s servants are present working in his name and for his glory. And here’s here’s what we know. 
Every ministry has a mission and every community needs a vision. God’s vision for his church is that more and more people are becoming his sons and daughters through the preaching of the gospel through the training up of Jesus’ followers. For 1st of all, for the growth in their lives, within his word, and then also through the work of his kingdom. 
God’s people are called to be people of vision. Proverbs 29, verse 18. I love I love this in the King James. 
I know I don’t usually read from the King James, but I love the version of this and King James says this, where there is no vision, the people perish. where there is no vision, the people perish. Back in the New Testament, we see the early church thriving in God’s vision for his church. We see the multiplication of disciples who not only knew Jesus themselves, but knew God’s word, and they lived by it, including living out the love of God in their actions and in service and in generosity toward one another and in the surrounding communities as well. places like Jerusalem, Antioch, Crete, Philippi, Ephesus, were transformed by the work of the gospel. 
And so the church grew. It grew in devotion to God, not only as people were added to the church, but even more so by the multiplication of discipleship. The people of God lived out their faith, and were trained up in the work of his kingdom. 
Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus, and explained this multiplication, this equation of multiplication in the church in Ephesians chapter 4. Paul writes, Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers to equip his people for works of service. And there’s a purpose to that equipping, so that the reason why the leaders in the church equip God’s people for works of service is so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith in the knowledge of the Son of God. and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 
As we consider the legacy that we walk in, as the church today, We have to look back. We have to remember how we are called to unity around the mission of God. The mission of Jesus around God’s vision for his church, we too are called to works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up to reach unity and the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to become mature, attaining the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. 
We too are called to have life to the full. We too are called to thrive to the fullest in the church, today and for generations to come. The Thrive Generosity Initiative is that vision to live life in Jesus Christ, individually and as the church, together on that mission. 
To accomplish God’s mission, and his vision for the church, It’s how we will live out that mission for the next 2 years within the church. It’s a comprehensive plan for the growth of God’s church, through a vibrant and fully funded, fully staffed ministry equipped with the essential tools and resources to accomplish our mission for generations to come. And I’d love to unpack that vision for you. 
I’d love to start to unpack that for you today. I’ll give you a brief overview of that, but I want to invite you to come back over the next few weeks as we continue to unpack these goals of the thrive initiative. But this initiative over the next 2 years, we have 3 main goals in mind. through Thrive. 
Goal number one is to plant for today, specifically to take care of the plant for today. Here’s one thing that you can guarantee healthy plants bear fruit. And unhealthy plants don’t. 
Healthy plants bear fruit and unhealthy plants don’t. And so our 1st vision for Thrive, our 1st goal for Thrive is to maintain the plant for today, to make sure that we are a fruit bearing plant for the future of this church. And that 1st goal is $2000000 over the next 2 years to take care of the plant for today. 
What that means is $2000000 of ministry resources to modernize our ministry budget for a sustainable future. And this 1st $2000000 will help us staff for growth, as you heard our staff talk about. We will expand and use that multiplication problem to equip more and more saints that equation of multiplication and discipleship to make sure that we have more and more followers of Jesus who are doing the ministry of the church. $2000000 also helps us meet the needs of our ministry every single day. 
It helps us take care of the maintenance needs that we have in our aging building. It also helps us to put money into savings, into a rainy day fund, because here’s the thing. I don’t know if you’ve noticed this in your own finances when you have a rainy day fun. 
It’s going to rain. You can pretty much guarantee that. It’s going to rain. 
So you need a rainy day fund. And so we need to be putting money in a savings. We need to be able to live within a budget that is sustainable and also have money to put toward the future of the church. 
Now, you might be wondering, how does that compare to where we are with our budget right now. How does that compare to how things have been in the past? Well, the answer to that question actually helps us understand very clearly why this 1st goal is so important in the thrive initiative and why these challenges arise for us in the church today. 
I want to put some numbers up on the screen here. And there’s understand something I want to explain just briefly, and I’ll unpack this a little bit more over the next couple weeks so that we can understand what the what the challenges that we face today as a ministry are. Let’s take a look at some numbers on the screen here, and they kind of tell a story. 
In 2005 and 2006, the total ministry budget of our church was $605,000. In 2026, the total ministry budget of our church was about 713,800, roughly, right? The numbers up there, 8802, 713, 802. 
That was pretty close. Now, we look at those numbers and we say, hey, that’s great. That’s an increase. 
But if you were to take that same $605,000 in 2005 and 2006 and just through inflation, bring that $605,000 to today’s numbers to $2026, that $605,000 would be worth about almost a million dollars. And that kind of shows you where the issue is, right? That’s a pretty big gap from where our budget actually is today. 
Now, how have we survived then, how have we made this? Well, we are incredibly frugal as a church. In the last 20 years, there have been 2 years total that we have overspent our budget, and it’s been by less than $1000 both times. 
In 20 years. And so we are an incredibly frugal ministry. Incredibly frugal. 
So where have we made up the difference? Well, you heard us talk about that at the beginning. A lot of it’s been in our staffing. 
And so over the years, we’ve had a full-time youth minister leave and we’ve replaced them with a part-time youth minister or full-time children’s minister, and we replaced some of the part-time children’s minister. We’ve had some people leave a position and we’ve not through any ill intent or anything like that. We’ve just combined that. 
Well, maybe this person can take over that role for a little while and then a little while becomes a little longer while and then a little longer while it becomes a permanent thing. And so over the last 20 years, if you’ve been here for a while, you know that our staff is roughly 3 full-time equivalent positions less than it was historically in the last 20 years. We are incredibly understaffed as a church. 
Now, we do a lot of ministry with the staff that we have, and we have an amazing staff, an incredible staff, and you should know that you are absolutely blessed with the staff in this church that we have. And I’m honored to be able to work with all of them, but we need more. We need more people to love working in this church to add to that multiplication equation, to be able to equip the saints for the ministry of the church so that we can continue, to grow sustainably in the future. 
So what’s that look like? Goal, number one, allows us, 1st of all, to sustainably staff for growth. It allows us to fully fund the ministries of the church, the missions of the church, the serve opportunities of the church. 
For example, every year, we host 3 main serve opportunities, night to shine, Operation Christmas child and lifeline meal packing. Those 3 ministry opportunities throughout each year cost us just over $50,000 a year, about $55,000 a year combined between the three. And as you’ve probably noticed, over the years, many times, I’ve come to this stage and said, hey, everybody, night to shine is coming up in a few weeks and we’re really excited for it. 
And by the way, we’re a couple $1000 short of being able to fund it. So we really need everybody to chip in and be able to make that a reality. And the reality is, is our congregation every single time, y’all have stepped up, and we have met those needs, and we have made those serve opportunities, an integral and crucial part of the ministry of our church. to where so much of the growth of our church is coming from night to shine, an Operation Christmas child, and lifeline meal packing, people coming from the community, getting involved in those serve opportunities before they’re even a part of our church, and then they see the love of Jesus through those opportunities to serve, and then they join our church because of them. 
I’m sure some of you, you started your journey with Central Church of Christ. through night to shine, or Operation Christmas child, or lifeline meal packing. I’m sure that’s where some of your stories with Jesus began for many of you. And so we have a vision to fully fund those ministries of the church, to make sure that at the beginning of the year, we’re saying, yep, we already know that we have the resources to make those a reality. 
It’s not even a question. They become so important as a part of the ministry of the church that we’re just going to make sure that we have the funding for them. Planning for today also helps us perform crucial facility maintenance and updates. 
Right now, we have coming up, we have an incredibly expensive sewer project that’s right on our doorstep. We have flooring that needs to be addressed. We have about 15 HVAC systems in the church, and almost just about every single one of them, I’ve told by our HVAC text that almost every single one of them needs to be scheduled to be replaced. as soon as we can. 
And that those costs add up over time. And of course, planning for today also helps us begin to save 10%. Right now our savings is about 7%. 
As leaders in the church, we believe it should be 10% as we’ve found in our many of you found in your own wisdom in your own household budgets. We need to have savings for the future and be able to live within our means. Now I want to add some clarity. 
Taking care of the plant for today is not focused on increasing the ministry footprint. Because the ministry footprint is already, the reach of our ministry is already increasing. And that’s just going to exponentially continue. 
But what it’s about is being able to sustainably fund our current goals so that we can bear fruit more and more in the future. Once we’ve accomplished that fully funded, fully staffed, sustainable thriving ministry, our next goal, goal number two, for the thrive initiative, is to bear fruit for tomorrow. Goal number 2 is $2 million to update our children’s in ministry space and fellowship hall. 
And this $2000000 to bear fruit for the future is over and above our budgetary needs for the next two years. It’s over and above the 1st $2 million. I want to make one thing abundantly clear as well. 
The Thrive Initiative is not a traditional building campaign. This is not a typical capital campaign. What we must do first is we have to fully fund the operational cost of the church. 
We have to be able to sustainably staff for growth. We have to be able to sustainably meet our maintenance needs. Once we accomplish that. 
We already have a need over and above those operational needs of staffing and maintenance to update our children’s and our youth ministry areas. What we call, what you’ve probably heard us call our next generational ministry spaces or our next gen spaces. We have spaces that need that we meet in every week. that we need to overcome some challenges to fix some maintenance issues. 
We have windows that need to be replaced in the children’s area, the ice over in the winter. I mentioned some of the HVAC things that need to happen. Fruit for tomorrow allows us to remodel that south hallway to do a good job of making sure that our future ministry needs are met sustainably through that space. 
We have a vision to meet those needs and to reconfigure some spaces so we can do so efficiently and make our ministry even more effective. We also have a vision to remodel our gym and fellowship hall in our garage area down on the west end of the west hallway to have a stage edition on the end, the west side of the gym and some additional storage area so we can open up some classroom space in that west hallway. That’ll make these areas more useful, more functional space for next gen ministries and more. 
I mentioned, in particular, south hallway, or we host our children’s ministry, and that is in real need of a renovation. But you might have noticed that we’ve already begun some of those updates. For example, we have we’ve added a preschool playground on the east side of the building. 
We’ve already beautiful playground. If you haven’t seen it, I encourage you to go out there after the service to check that area out. We’ve also, if you notice, you can walk down the sidewalk without tripping on it. 
Right? It’s wonderful. We’ve made that safer by doing some concrete repairs out there already. 
But the needs list is still growing. Like I mentioned, we have a vision to expand the footprint of our gym and fellowship hall to renovate that space that’s used for so many purposes. So many activities, including our youth ministry, our children’s ministry, the cafeteria for night to shine, lifeline meal packing, graduations, weddings, funeral meals, blood dries, banquets, and so much more. 
We have a vision to add a stage edition while not losing any of the current floor space in that room, and that will make that fellowship hall a more multifunctional youth ministry, next generation space, and as well as a multi-ministry space for years to come. Here’s what we know for sure. The time to finish this process to move forward is already here, because tomorrow is already here. 
We’re already seeing growth, exponential growth in our children’s and youth ministries and among our young people. And so these changes to our next 10 ministry spaces will help us address those ministry needs that we already have and to go beyond them. And finally, goal number 3 is to sow seeds for the future. 
Goal number 3 is an additional $1000000 set aside for capital investment funds for the future growth of the church. We know that our church is going to continue to grow. We know that we’ll need new spaces, that will need more space in the future. 
We want to make wise investments today with kingdom funds that are going to be available when those needs arise. We have to be wise in any future growth, and that wise preparation begins now with investment in that future. We know that we need to have a vision for the future where we expand the rest of the church to hold more people, and we can’t do that unless we make a plan for the future now. 
So if you’re doing the math at home. Right? $2 million, plus $2 million, plus $1 million, the 3 goals combined over the next 2 years is a $5 million, two-year campaign over the next 2 years, 2027, and 2028. 
But we’re starting with this today so that we can gain some full steam momentum, to go into the new year, full steam ahead, to accomplish our ministry goals, to be able to budget accordingly. Here’s the thing. Let me ask you this. 
When’s the best time to plant a tree? 30 years ago. When’s the 2nd best time to plan a tree? 
Today. The 2nd best time to plant a tree is today. That’s the 2nd best time, and I wonder, what will future generations of the church, 50 or a hundred, 150 years from now, when they look back and they think, what will they see? 
Well, they see those deep roots, those deep roots of the church. Will they see the continuation of the ministry of Jesus passed on from generation to generation? Will they see? 
Will they be able to live in a legacy that was started at Central Church of Christ over 150 years before them, just like we see we’re able to do today? Here’s another thing we know every generation leaves a legacy. And it’s our generation’s turn to leave a legacy for the church. 
Will our legacy be roots planted deep? Will our legacy be a beacon of light, of inspiration for future generations to follow in our footsteps? Maybe you’re wondering with all this, all these goals, this vision, is it worth my time? 
Is it worth your treasure, your talents? Remember the words of Jesus to his disciples in Matthew five? He said, you are the light of the world. 
Jesus used the same the same words for us as he did for himself when he said, you are the light of the world. You are called to share the light of the gospel by Jesus himself. And I can’t think of a better way for us to do that here in Street or Illinois than together in this church. 
I can’t think of a better way to share the light of the gospel, to continue that mission of Jesus, to meet the vision of God for his church, than to do so together at Central Church of Christ. Jesus continues in verse 16 in Matthew chapter 5 in the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. How many generations of people will indeed see our good deeds and glorify our Father in heaven because of the seeds that we sow for the future of the church today. 
So what do you see? What I see, what we see as a thriving church in our future. And we’re going to plant those seeds today in our church. 
I see a generation in our church deciding that now it’s our turn. to lay the groundwork for the way forward for the future of central church of Christ and beyond. And know this, if we do this together, then we never have to be on our own in this. We have each other. 
We have God’s vision for his church. Ephesians 2, Paul writes to the church in Ephesus, we are God’s handiwork, created in Jesus, Christ Jesus, to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do. We have the mission of Jesus carried out by those who have been challenged, who have been changed by the gospel. and are setting out to change the world by his name and for his glory. 
Our savior, Jesus, the good shepherd, said, I’ve come that they may have life. and have it to the full. So my question is, will you embrace the fullness of the life of Jesus? How is God calling you to respond to the vision of thrive? 
It’s going to take all of us working together with that mission, in our hearts, God’s vision, for his church, in our minds, to create a thriving future for central’s generations to come. So my question for you is this. After hearing the thrive vision for this initiative, for God’s vision for the future of the church, how is he calling you to respond? 
Will you invest your time in prayer for the thrive initiative and for the future of our congregation? Maybe you want to increase your service to the Lord by using your talents and your time to get involved in a new ministry role or with the campaign by telling others or hosting a thrive gathering. In the coming weeks, we’re going to invite all of you to consider how you and your family can contribute your treasure to the future of the church specifically. 
I want to invite you on October 11th, which is our commitment Sunday. We invite you to make a commitment to the Thrive Initiative using the folded cards that are in the seatbacks in front of you. If you want, You can take those and take those with you today, or if you want to consider it. 
You can come back and get one another week for today. Here’s the step that I want to ask all of you to do right now. If you look, you’ll see some of these cards clipped to the seatbacks in front of you. 
I want everybody to go ahead and grab one of these and make sure everybody in your row has one too. May have to pass some around if you have more than people in your row than cards, but make sure everybody has one of these. And we’re gonna use this as an opportunity to respond to this thrive vision. 
As you grab those, if you have any extras, you can go ahead and put those back, make sure the folks attending the 11 o’clock service, have some as well. And as you can see, on the front side of this card with the Thrive logo, There’s a place for you to put your name and your email and your phone number. Fill that out so we know that this is your card. 
So we know who’s committing to what? That would be really helpful. So we ask you to fill this out. 
And after you do that on the back of that card, there’s 5 options. And that card says this. After hearing God’s vision for Central’s future, I believe he’s calling me too, and it says, check all that apply. 
And here’s the 5 options that are on this card. Pray for the Thrive Initiative and Central’s future, volunteer for the Thrive Initiative, or one ministry, new ministry role in the next year, contribute financially to the Thrive Initiative and Central’s future. Schedule a one on one meet up with Pastor Paul with me. 
So we can talk about the thrive goals and answer any questions. Tell others about the thrive vision or host a gathering or thrive as well. I’m going to pray for our response. 
Tony and the band are going to continue to play. We’ll give you a minute or two here to prayerfully consider how God is calling you to respond to the vision for the future of our church. And then we have a box out in the foyer. 
There’s a white box on the foyer by a thrive backdrop, where we normally have our photo booths. We ask you after you fill this out with your name and your contact information, your response, that you drop that in that box, and that’s a way to let us know what you’re thinking. And also, after the service, Simon will be out there. 
He has a camera set up out there. If you’d like to respond, if you’d like to answer with, what do you think about Thrive? How do you see this vision being accomplished? 
What are your responses to God’s vision for the church? We’d love to capture those from the congregation today as well, if that’s something you’re brave enough to do with us today. Like I said, I’m going to pray, I’ll explain more what to do with these at the end of the service, but we want to give you an opportunity to fill them out right now, and so I’m going to pray for us. 
Let’s pray. By the God, we thank you for the opportunity to worship you together as your church today. Lord, we thank you for these words, and we can sing that you, to you that come straight from our hearts, that we can praise you, that we can know you and walk with you individually as your sons and daughters. 
Lord, we also are so grateful for how much love you’ve poured out on your church and how we can be unified in the name of Jesus. God, as we wrap our minds and we consolidate our efforts around the vision of your church, we pray that you would strengthen us. that you would prepare our hearts for the future that we believe that you have laid before us. This continued legacy of your church as we walk in it. 
May we sow the seeds for the future, that others can walk in our legacy as well in the name of Jesus. God, we know that there’s gonna be so many more worshipful moments. So many moments to trust you and turn to you as our heavenly Father. 
We know that we can’t do any of this unless you do it through us. And so God, we turn this all over to you. Your will be done. 
On earth, in our church, as it is in heaven. Thank you for the legacy of generations, in your church, through central church of Christ, and may the name of Jesus continue to be lifted high through us, because we know that now it’s our turn to carry the light of Jesus. The gospel to the world that so desperately needs to know you. 
God, we love you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. 
Every ministry has a mission. Every community needs a vision, every generation leaves a legacy. And we see a thriving church in our future. 
We invite you to join on that journey on that adventure that starts today. We hope you’ll see God working you weaving you into the fabric of this body as we work together for His glory for generations to come.