“For with God nothing will be impossible.”
–Luke 1:37
ARISE 2033 is the vision driving the International Pentecostal Holiness Church to the year 2033. 2033 is of course the 2000th anniversary of the resurrection and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. In these coming years we desire to present unparalleled growth and harvest of our churches and members as a gift to Christ. To realize this mission, we are setting audacicous goals for planting new churches in America and around the world. Evangelism USA (EVUSA) has shared that each conference needs to double their number of churches. Lord, cause it be so in the Heartland!
If you have been in church leadership for any length of time, you know that it is easy for denominations and faith groups to set goals than it is to accomplish them. In my lifetime I have seen many such programs announced with great fanfare, but unreached without acknowledgement later. Looking at ARISE 2033 through the lens of unreached past goals could cause us to say — “sounds great, but it’ll never happen."
But…
With God all things are possible! And there is a big difference between a vision from God and a vision from man. A vision from man is a hope, while a vision from God is a sure thing. I am seeing widespread belief among IPHC leaders and pastors across the U.S. that ARISE 2033 is indeed a vision from God.
The biggest obstacle to fulfilling the mandate of 2033 is our leader pipeline. Simply put, the IPHC (and most Christian groups) do not have even a fraction of the needed emerging leaders to see our goals come to fruition. Raising up leaders from within and recruiting leaders from outside must become our heartbeat.
I believe there is a great harvest still to be reached in America and around the world. Jesus told us to “pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:38). He can and will provide those laborers if we faithfully ask Him to do so!
I want to ask all Heartland ministers and leaders to join me in two things.
First, pray for these things daily (this is the prayer of EVUSA):
- Laborers,
- Open doors,
- Supernatural resources, and
- Lasting fruit.
Second, in addition to how many people you minister to, gauge your effectiveness in ministry by whether or not you are raising up leaders and ministers. My pastor, Sterling Miller, raised up at least 28 ministers — men and women under his ministry who became ministers themselves. In the Heartland Conference, many of my friends and fellow ministers point to Rev. Floyd Been as the man who helped launch them into ministry. May you and I do the same in the coming years!
Much love in Christ,
Stuart
(Read more about ARISE 2033 at the iphc.org website)
