When Sunrise United Methodist Church was chartered in 1980, the founders had big dreams! They envisioned a large-membership, regional church that would serve thousands of people. But they started in a day care center! As they grew, they moved to a larger center. Then on to the Zeider Zee Restaurant. Finally they were able to purchase the property on Briargate Boulevard. Then the first phase of the building was constructed. Then the second and the third! When the congregation moved into their new sanctuary, there were those who said they would never be able to fill it up. But they did! God responded to their faithfulness and fulfilled their dreams!

Now Sunrise is at another exciting point in its journey. Many have prayed and asked for God's direction in our future. They sense God calling us to become a world church with a world vision! What a call! It sounds just as impossible to us as that initial dream must have seemed in the day care center. But God is still faithful and God still fulfills dreams!

There is a great cathedral in Seville, Spain. It was begun in 1401 with the following resolve. “Let us build here a church so great that those who come after us will think us mad ever to have dreamed it.” While they saw the church as a building, we see it as something far greater. We see the church as God’s people. But the challenge to build something great for God still remains.

What follows is a compilation of work done by many individuals and groups. It brings together what binds us together as a community and what urges us ahead. It is a plan for fulfilling God's grand dreams for Sunrise.

Let us dream and build!

Grace and peace, Marv Vose
           

 

Mission (What God calls us to do)

Come, Celebrate, Grow, Go

 
Core Values (those values necessary to live out God's vision and mission)
           
God’s will-God has a purpose and a plan which we continually discern and make our ultimate aim.

Prayer-We understand, discern, and recognize God’s plan through persistent prayer. Our prayer is a necessary part of living our faith and implement God’s plan.

Worship-Worship at Sunrise is meant to be a place where we encounter the divine through celebration, Christian fellowship, prayer and relevant messages.

Outward Focus-We are called to take the message and, where possible, the experience of God’s love, hope, and purpose beyond the confines of the church building.

Acceptance-God calls us to accept and minister to all people as children of God in order to help them grow closer to God and more fully realize God’s purpose for their lives.

Growth-Growth is vital for both individuals and the church congregation and we are called to grow where God plants us.

Equipping the Saints-It is essential for us as a church to facilitate the growth of the individual, through small groups, in order to equip all to fully participate in God’s plan according to the gifts God has given them.

Stewardship-God calls us to share our personal and financial gifts with joy to sustain God’s ministry.
 

Who is God calling us to serve? The Unchurched Believer

Unchurched Believer: These are believers who, for various reasons, are not presently connected to a church family. These people may have had little exposure to the faith but still consider themselves "believers." Many from this group will be people who “tried” church in the past and found it had little relevance to their current life. Maybe they had a negative experience in a past church. They may be newly married and are working on finding a joint Catholic-Protestant perspective to their marriage. It also includes those people who have recently moved to our community and are seeking to find a church that will help them continue their spiritual growth. This group will be the primary target that our church will attempt to reach.
           

What does our Unchurched Believer look like?  Maybe like this!
Sam and Suzy Sunrise just got married! How exciting! When they were younger, they were both so active at church. He went to a Roman Catholic Church and she was a good Protestant. Now what do they do? Is there a place where they can both feel comfortable?
 
Steve and Stephanie Sunrise have just had their first baby. What an experience! But now they are parents and they want to do it right. That means they have to be responsible and they seem to remember something about their parents baptizing them when they were children. Maybe they should do the same thing?
 
OOPS! Their teenager just got into trouble! Big Trouble! What do they do? Where do they look for help? Didn’t their daughter say she had a friend who went to Sunrise? Maybe the church could help? The family hasn't been very active in church for a while--O.K. it has been a long time--so maybe now is the time to check it out again?
 
The marriage had been shaky for a long time and now it is over. How do you put your life back together? How do you heal the hurts? Are there other people like me out there? Maybe I could find some divine help (if that exists) at a church?
 

Can you Imagine?

Can you imagine a place where thousands of new people come every year and find an incredible blend of warmth, friendship and Spirit that touches their lives and helps them to know they have found a spiritual home?
 
Can you imagine a place where thousands of people celebrate and worship in a style and a manner that is comfortable to them? A style that reminds them of the traditions of the church, but is so alive and vital that it moves their spirit and draws them to authentic worship? Can you imagine a variety of worship settings from semi-traditional to contemporary with something for everyone? Can you imagine different services at different times with a huge spectrum of music ranging from choir and orchestra to praise team to rock?
 
Can you imagine a church with hundreds of small groups, meeting at church and all over Colorado Springs, where people can experience authentic Christian community and enjoy the love of God up close and personal? Can you imagine those groups touching a variety of subjects from the mundane to the deeply spiritual?
 
Can you imagine a church that cares enough about the community to invite it onto its campus? A place on the cutting edge of the performing arts and using those arts to invite the community into sacred space? A place with room for theater, a recording studio, concerts, multi-media worship and worshipful dance?
 
Can you imagine a campus of 40 acres of land, on which is built a church to minister to the entire community of Colorado Springs and the world? A facility that is simple and yet beautiful. A facility with a variety of worship venues to encompass the varieties of worship styles, including a chapel, informal worship space and the phased development of a sanctuary for seating 2000 or more? Can you imagine full-scale theatrical productions designed for families and Christian outreach.
 
Can you imagine classrooms for Bible studies of all ages, a beautifully equipped nursery and children’s area, offices for a counseling center, a prayer center, wonderful recreational facilities (gym, softball, soccer and more) as well as kitchen, dining and fellowship space to encourage the development of community.
 
Can you imagine a space for youth where they can be themselves and more--what God wants them to be? A space that is so inviting they want to bring their friends? A space that is flexible and allows for small groups and also for the large, energetic gatherings? A space that has a full complement of audio and video components to allow them to express their creativity?
 
Can you imagine a children's area that is so bright and colorful that children drag their parents to church because it is just too great to miss? A place where children are safe and loved and cared for and can come to know Jesus as their best friend?
 
Can you imagine a community that reaches out to the Colorado Springs community in vital and meaningful ways? Ways that make the love of Christ real and present in concrete settings like the Medical Mission Clinic?
 
Can you imagine a community that authentically cares about the world beyond Colorado Springs and lives that out with mission projects that touch the world in major ways?
 
Can you imagine? God can!
 

 

Our Strategies

(how we plan to live out God's mission and fulfill God's vision)

 
Come
1. Create a welcoming congregation where guests and visitors experience the love of Christ from the moment they enter the church campus.
2. Train and encourage all the congregation to invite people who have no church home.
3. Purchase additional property to provide attractive and welcoming spaces for the entire family without parking hassles. Establish worship services and other ministries at the Woodmen Road site but operate one church at two sites until we can relocate all of our ministries to their new home.
4. Continue to use the media as a way of inviting new people to Sunrise.
5. Invite the community to use the Sunrise campus through multiple events, such as scouts, seminars, plays and music concerts.
6. Continue to develop new and inviting ways to invite the community to experience Sunrise.  
 
Celebrate
1. Create worship experiences where people can experience the love, power and presence of God and respond in worship.
2. Continue to develop a variety of worship experiences that meet the needs of a variety of people. Services would be provided in multiple venues at a variety of times.     
 
Grow
1.Provide adult, small groups experiences that transform individuals into fully alive followers of Jesus.
2. Provide children's ministry that educates and inspires children in such a way that they come to know Jesus and develop a Biblical world-view.
3. Provide youth ministries that provide a foundation for navigating the struggles of adolescence and come out the other side fervent believers and functional Christians.
4. Provide singles ministries that meet the needs of this special group.
5. Provide counseling, mentoring and spiritual direction services to help individuals grow and heal through all of life's experiences.
6. Provide mission opportunities that transform the lives of those sent as well as the lives of those who receive them.
             
Go
1. Help individuals recognize their God-given gifts and passions and begin to apply them to ministry.
2. Help individuals develop their ministry within the church.
3. Help individuals develop their ministry to organizations and individuals outside the church.
4. Sponsor and support, with money and people, a limited number of international missions that significantly impact the globe for Jesus.
5. Sponsor and support, with money and people, local mission projects that makes a significant difference in our community. (Such as Mission Medical Clinic.)
6. Start two daughter congregations in communities reasonably close to Colorado Springs
7. When God calls a member to another community, we send them out as our missionary to their new home.
8. Continue to train and nurture those God calls to ordained ministry.