Our Great Goal

January 25, 2015

God said in Psalm 2:8, “Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.” Therefore, we believe God has promised a great harvest both in Chicago and in the nations. Chicagoland has over 9 million residents and needs a strong discipleship church in each of its fifty wards and beyond. Also, today with almost 3 billion unreached people around the globe living mostly in the “10/40? window we sense God calling us to partner with the locals to plant churches that make disciples! Please prayerfully consider joining with us on this exciting mission to fulfill our goal!

SERIES SCRIPTURE

Psalm 48:1-2,9-10,14; “1 Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain. 2 Beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth, like the heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King. 9 Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love. 10 Like your name, O God, your praise reaches to the ends of the earth; your right hand is filled with righteousness. 14 For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end.”

REVIEW

OUR GREAT CITY: The New Jerusalem, also known as Mt. Zion, will be the 1,400 square mile city that Jesus will reign from for all eternity with His people. Until that time, God’s chosen people (i.e., “the church”) are the temple of God and are preparing the nations to become citizens of that great city. Hence the name for our church being, “Metro Praise International,” which stands for, “New Jerusalem, a city of praise unto God in all the nations,” Jeremiah 33:9.
OUR GREAT VISION: MPI’s vision is, “Loving God and Loving People,” Mark 12:28-31. We believe we should love God by (1) Worshipping Him in spirit and truth, John 4:23 and (2) By obeying all of His commands, John 14:15. We believe we should love people by, (1) Helping them in their time of need, 1 John 3:17 and (2) By proclaiming the Gospel to them, Romans 1:16.
OUR GREAT COMMISSION: According to Jesus in Matthew 28:18-20 the disciples’ great commission (duty) is to be, “a disciple that makes disciples.” Specifically, MPI’s discipleship strategy (method) for fulfilling Jesus’ Great Commission is, “Connect, Mentor, & Send.”

SERMON SCRIPTURE

Psalm 2:8, “Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.”

TERMS

GOAL: The object of a person’s ambition or effort; an aim or desired result. MPI’s goal is to, “Make 100,000 disciples in Chicago with 50 campuses and plant 500 churches around the world.”
MEANS: An action or system by which a result is brought about; a method. Our means (method) of accomplishing our goal is discipleship (“Connect, Mentor, & Send).

THE THREE FOLD GOAL OF MPI CHURCH

100,000 Disciples

To understand what a 100,000 people look like gathered together in Chicago, consider Billy Graham’s crusade in Soldier Stadium in 1962 that had 116,000 in attendance. This would be like our annual gathering and big city wide event.

50 Campuses in Chicago

To achieve 50 campuses, we first want to spread out from Diversey, like a bull’s eye and begin to cover the city with mid-size campuses (150-200 people). After achieving the goal of 50 sites, we then will grow each site to collectively reach 100,000. To reach 100,000 the average campus will need to serve around 2,000 people- plus we want to include in each campus social services (food programs, doctors, etc.), a pre-k through 12th grade private school, Bible college, and a vibrant community center (indoor/outdoor sports, bowling, food court, etc). Below is a rendering by Elliot Schwarz of what each of our 50 campuses could look like.

Plant 500 Churches Around the World

We desire to use our same name, vision, and discipleship strategy around the world to start and oversee 500 churches. Our primary target will be the unreached people groups living in the 10/40 window. Below are the main nations that need discipleship based churches.