Just like people, God calls churches to different seasons throughout time. Often the season and call will focus us something He wants to accomplish through us. We believe we are entering into a new season of impact as a church.

And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Acts 2:47b

Acts 2:47b is our vision verse. We want to see people find Jesus and begin a personal relationship with him, every day, every year, everywhere.

When considering how God might combine our call in this season and our vision verse to create a goal for us, we used our current attendance and added it the number of people who would find Jesus if decisions were made daily for the next seven years. The result was approximately 5,000 people. Reaching this number of people would lessen the percentage of unchurched people in our community by 0.5%.

People help people find Jesus.
Mark Weigt

Our vision verse (Acts 2:47b) shows us that Jesus’s earliest followers counted numbers of people following Him. We do it too, because each number represents someone who Jesus died for and who matters to God. Their stories matter to us.

The heart of our goal is life change, not growth of The Ridge. Whether people end up at another great local church, a new church we help plant, or a campus of The Ridge, the outcome is the growth of God’s Kingdom. That is what we want to see!

Research shows people are less happy, less fulfilled, and more disillusioned than ever. Families are falling apart, individuals are feeling isolated, and kids and students are struggling with mental health issues at record high levels. Having the hope of Jesus in our lives is the only solution. Our vision goal aims to bring this hope to as many people as possible.

This is where it gets exciting. For us to help 5,000 people find Jesus by the end of 2030, we will need to adjust our strategy to focus on reaching people who do not know Jesus.

Our strategy has three parts to it, and there are multiple objectives under each part. We are listing a few of the highlights here, but if you have additional questions, we invite you to connect with your campus pastor. These new priorities will mean new ways to be involved and new reasons to share your thoughts on how we can activate!

We will go to the spaces and places of people who don’t know Jesus.
Mark Weigt

We will reach people who don’t know Jesus.
1. Create and implement a digital strategy to reach those who have not heard of Jesus or considered faith before.
2. Baptize 10-15% of our in-person attendance every year.
3. Create more opportunities for people to decide to follow Jesus in all of our ministries.

We will train people to love, look, and live like Jesus.
1. Build a culture within The Ridge that values reaching people who don’t know Jesus yet.
2. Train at least 60% of our people on how to effectively reach people who don’t know Jesus yet. (Your One training and more.)
3. Increase our investment in Alpha so that we eventually see 500 people completing Alpha annually.
4. Strengthen our culture of prayer within the people of The Ridge.

We will send people to transform communities.
1. Develop a long-term budget plan that can fund our vision goal.
2. Develop and implement a residency program to train and send future church planters and leaders into additional communities.
3. Clarify and implement a more robust international missions strategy.
4. Multiply churches and campuses in southeast Wisconsin.

Now that you have prayed about the Vision Goal, you can reflect on it with fresh eyes.

1. Watch Mark’s Vision Goal Message 2. Watch the Vision Goal Q&A podcast

As you watch these videos, spend time praying and reflecting and ask yourself,  What is my personal ownership of the Vision Goal?

These are things we can do, but if God doesn’t move, it won’t happen. Knowing this, we want to create a movement of prayer in our church where we are both seeking and pleading with God to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine.
-Mark Weigt