Forward With Faith | Vision Sunday 2026 | New North Elders | New North Church

Hey, welcome to the New North Church podcast.

It's great to have you listening in with us.

Our vision at our church is to be an authentic community of Jesus followers who love and serve people.

So if we can help you in any way at all, just reach out to us.

The email address is hello at newnorth.church.

With that, let's go right to this week's message.

Good morning, New North Church.

I'm Silvio Tavares.

I'm one of our elders here, and it's just a pleasure to be with you.

We're going to start out with scripture here from Matthew chapter 28, verse 18.

Matthew 28:18

And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.

What an amazing and holy assurance Jesus is with us.

Our elders and church body have heard God is calling us to become one church in multiple locations.

Did you know San Francisco and San Mateo counties have over a hundred nations represented?

And the reality is because of the work that we do here, all 195 nations on planet Earth, we impact them.

And so our call from Jesus is heartfelt.

We're called not for earthly reasons, like slogans, bigger is better.

We're not called because it is trendy and cool to have a multi-site church.

Our calling, our reason why is simple.

We care deeply about all people, all nations who are separated from Jesus Christ.

Did you know there are millions of brothers and sisters who don't know Jesus, who are disconnected from a Christian community, who are searching desperately for hope?

We New North Church, we've got something beautiful to offer them.

We've got a church centered on Jesus Christ, a church rooted in the Bible and Scripture, a church filled with grace, with truth, with joy, a church committed to worship and prayer, a church passionate about helping people find a real authentic relationship with Jesus Christ.

And so as we've grown roots here in San Francisco, we've been asking Jesus several simple questions.

How do we faithfully and authentically continue to serve you?

How do we continue creating space for people to connect with you?

How do we continue reaching new communities for you, Jesus Christ?

And importantly, how do we raise more disciples for you, Jesus Christ?

So after a lot of prayer, a lot of conversations, a lot of engagement with the New North Church body, we believe the next step is clear.

We will launch an additional campus on the peninsula for New North Church in 2027.

Woo! We're doing this together.

Now, right now we're we're targeting the Burlingame area, but we are remaining open to where God is going to plant our next campus.

It could be Millbrae, it could be another adjacent community.

But our goal is not simply to have another new North Church service in a nearby community.

For us, it's so much deeper than that.

An additional campus is about planting deep roots and creating a bountiful new harvest for Jesus Christ.

A new campus, it means more than just having our existing pastors, Pastor Rob, Pastor Zohari, Pastor Scott, continuing to teach at the new campus, but it also means new worship leaders, new kids leaders, new small group leaders, new pastors, new volunteers, and literally thousands of new opportunities for people to have a new and authentic connection to Jesus Christ.

And that's why as elders we're sharing this news right now, even though we're not launching the campus until 2027, because planting new roots for Jesus, it doesn't happen all at once overnight.

The Bible shows us how in the early church, how Jesus' church was built, it takes planning, it takes resources, it takes volunteers, it takes perseverance, it takes prayer, but most of all, it takes faith.

Campuses are not built overnight.

Now, I know what some of you might be thinking.

Um you might be thinking something like this you know, we've grown quite a bit as a church in the last few years.

Our services are actually now mostly full.

Um why don't we just focus on that?

Let's just hold on to what we have.

It's good.

But throughout the scripture, Jesus tells us not to do that, not to rest on our laurels.

He continues to challenge us to go outward.

And that is because Jesus wants every single human being, every man, every woman, every child to have the opportunity to be connected to him.

And that's why one of Jesus' last commandments that I just read for you from the scripture is the Great Commission, a call by Jesus to go and make disciples.

In fact, most of the book of Acts is all about the gospel moving forward.

And that's why we're actually going to be studying this book this fall.

Healthy churches go, healthy churches multiply.

Healthy churches make disciples and make room for others to encounter Jesus Christ.

And if you're here and you've been here for some time at New North Church, I want to please ask you to ask yourself this question.

Jesus, how do you want me to serve in this new campus?

Uh on a personal level, I actually remember uh asking myself this question about 10 years ago.

Uh me and my family, and they're here, me and my wife, uh, we were worshiping with our family at CPC in Foster City, and we heard about it, a new church being established uh up north.

And uh me and my wife's son, we prayed about it, and we were called.

And God called us to serve at New North Church.

I started out as an usher.

Um, then I got a chance to be a table leader at Men's Fraternity Bible study.

Uh, then I got promoted, I got to be uh a teacher at Men's Fraternity, and uh for the last several years I've been an elder here at our church.

And so for me personally, and I know my fellow brothers in Christ, the fellow elders, um, that's part of what's most exciting about this.

This new campus won't just create more disciples, it's gonna create more shepherds, more disciple makers, more of us stepping into ministry.

So pray about it.

Ask Jesus, are you calling me?

God is transforming us from disciples to disciple makers.

Please pray about this new campus and see what Jesus has in store for you.

Thank you, Silvio.

Um, well, I get to talk about a second thing, a major update we want to share with you.

It's really, it's really about our understanding of the biblical role of eldership.

Now, if you didn't grow up in church or new to church, you're like, what in the world is an elder?

Um, do you have to have like gray hair like Rob starting to get?

Kind of.

But elders are really spiritually mature leaders, called to care for, shepherd the church, teach the scriptures, and give oversight to the church as a whole.

That's what you see in scripture.

But years ago, before we had these connect dinners, we would have we had this class called Next Steps, and at next steps, we would teach about one of our values of eldership.

And the question we would always get, you could bet on it, is someone who was paying attention would ask, oh, well, why don't women serve as elders?

And we would, you know, give our biblical reasons for that, and so, but our board decided, you know what, we got to get on the same page because we would answer that in different ways, and and and we decided to embark on a study of what does the Bible actually say about that and to relook at it with fresh eyes.

I had no idea how long this journey was gonna take us.

We spent, I'm not joking, over two and a half years deep in the study of the scriptures.

We would meet every meeting, and we would the first hour and a half to two hours was studying the different passages.

We um we brought in several different pastors and theologians, three different ones on different sides of the issue to help us think with us.

We've read through several different books.

Um we prayed, we discussed, we fought each other.

No, we didn't do that.

Um, and and here's where we came up out.

After all of this, the elders unanimously agreed and believe that opening the role of elder to women is both biblically faithful and consistent with our mission and values of our church.

Yes, we can thank God for that.

Now, I get it.

Some of you are cheering.

Some of you are like, I don't understand this.

Like one person already texted me, like, is this really a big issue in the church?

I go, oh yeah.

Um, and some of you maybe even feel a little uncomfortable about it.

And so I just want to acknowledge where you may be, uh what how you might might be feeling right now.

I get it.

And we know, let me just say this, we know this is an important conversation, and faithful Christians in churches have landed in different places on that.

So we approach this with humility and with grace.

Um, and so let me be crystal clear.

This is not about us becoming less committed to scripture.

It's actually because we are deeply committed to the scripture where we've arrived here.

And so uh, for example, we believe the Bible consistently shows God's gifting, empowering, and calling of women into significant spiritual authority and leadership from the beginning all the way to the end.

We see women, for example, prophesying, speaking for God, teaching, leading the church, serving, shepherding, strengthening not only the early church, but also you see that throughout the Old Testament.

As we step back and look at the overall arch of the testament, from old to new, we believe that biblical leadership or biblical eldership is based primarily on spiritual maturity, character, gifting, and calling, and not gender.

Now, I get it.

I've been a pastor for 26 years.

We know, I know, we know, not everyone agrees with that interpretation.

And so while we are holding this conviction strongly, we also know that there are faithful churches who are equally committed to the Bible and have formed different conclusions.

And so we want to be gracious toward our brothers and sisters who see it differently.

We don't think this is a reason why anyone should leave our church.

Why?

Because we believe that not every theological issue carries the same weight.

There are some beliefs that are absolutely essential to our faith.

We're not messing with any of those.

There are even other important theological issues where faithful Christians can agree to disagree.

We believe this is more one of those.

So, given our convictions about what the scriptures say and don't say, we have come to believe that we are unnecessarily limiting ourselves as a church where half of the body has a limit on how God can use them.

Like, let me be clear.

We have incredible women at our church.

They lead, they disciple, they shepherd, they have wisdom, and uh they make me nervous, but um, no.

Only when they get together.

Um, uh, but and I just walk away.

But uh, and so opening room for them to serve with us as elders, we believe, will make our church healthier, stronger, and allow their gifts to serve the entire church.

Now, some of you are like, why are you guys doing this now?

Because just like the campus conversation, this isn't ultimately about structure, it's about vision, it's about mission.

Because when more people are empowered to lead, more ministry happens, more disciples are formed, more people are cared for, and more lives are changed.

So, why are we doing this together?

Why are we doing this today?

Because both, hear me well, require maturity, trust, and unity.

Both require us to think bigger than ourselves and our own preferences, and both require faith, real faith.

And so, a couple things.

If you want to dive in more with us, I've actually written two papers on this issue.

One's short, you can read it, you know, um on a bathroom break.

The other is longer, um, and you could take either of those home with you today.

They're on the table right when you leave.

If you want to go even deeper, I highly recommend this book by Dr.

Preston Sprinkle.

Um, there's a lot of books on this topic.

This is very approachable, very easy to read.

This Thursday night, in addition to all this, we're hosting a town hall meeting for anyone who wants to dialogue more about anything you've seen or heard today.

But I know our church, you need to RSVP, and you need to RSVP before Wednesday night because I am not showing up and two people are here.

Um, and so RSVP, we'll have kid care if you need it.

And also you can send your questions in and anytime.

And by the way, you can talk to any of our pastors, any of our elders at any time, and our email is always up there.

Now, I really believe that the next few years at New North will be incredibly significant for the gospel in the Bay Area, not just because of our church, but because of what God is doing.

And it's not because of strategy or growth metrics or buildings or campuses or organizational charts.

No.

I believe God's moving because God wants us to raise up a church full of humble, spirit-filled, mission-minded disciples who are willing to say yes to whatever God is doing and wherever Jesus wants to send us.

And that starts with you and me today.

So today, please hear me.

This is not just about information, and we've given you a lot.

Please hear this as an invitation to come alongside us to build his church together because I am not, this is not my church.

This is our church.

Jesus is ahead, this is your church.

It's an invitation to build that church together.

All right, Matthew.

Hello, my name is Matt Robinson.

I have the privilege of being your newest elder here at New North.

I wanted to give you a quick update on what we're calling our HQ building, for those of you that haven't had a chance to look at it or hear about it.

So back in March, New North purchased a building at 2488 Uniparo Sarah Boulevard in Daly City for about 2.1 million.

And if you're trying to picture where that is, it's right there on Unipero Serra, not far from here, between In N Out Krispy Kreme Complex and the McDonald's a few blocks down.

As you know, we're already running out of space here, midweek ministry space on Brotherhood Way.

And then with the Peninsula campus starting up, they're gonna need spots as well.

So we definitely need more space.

So this office building will give our staff a place to meet together, but it'll be much more than just an office.

We're also planning on having a prayer room, a kitchen, ministry, and classroom space.

We will also give us opportunities to host other Bay Area ministries like Bassum and provide new ways for us to serve our community here in San Francisco and on the peninsula.

We know that many of you have generously given to the Now More Than Ever Fund, hoping that we would find a permanent worship home.

This isn't that permanent home, and we're still praying and seeking for that.

But we've always tried to hold our plans with loose hands, and we believe that this building is one of the unexpected ways God is providing and giving things to New North to use for Him.

This will be our first place where we can actually put down our roots.

We can serve and equip on the peninsula in San Francisco through this building.

I've been thinking about 1 Peter 4.10, where Peter calls us to use whatever God has given us to serve others as faithful stewards of his grace.

And I think that's a good way to look at this building.

Our property team has been working very hard to get it ready, being very thoughtful, thinking about what needs to be done now and what could wait for later.

And it's a good to remind ourselves that the building is not a mission, or is is not the mission.

It is a tool for the mission that God's given us.

We're hoping to begin using the building in the spring of 2027.

Our hope is that years from now we'll be able to look back and see people discipled, leaders developed, people cared for, other ministries in the barrier strengthened, and our neighbors served.

We firmly believe God has put this property in our hands at this time.

We want to prepare it well, we want to spend wisely, open the doors, and use it to love and serve people.

At this time, I'd like to call up Hubert.

Thank you, Matt.

Well, good morning, everyone.

My name is Hubert, one of the elders here, and um this morning you received a packet, uh, a new North Vision packet, and inside, if you open it up, you'll see one of these little cards.

And this card is a commitment card.

And what this is gonna show you, and we're gonna walk you through this this morning, uh, is ways that you can practically engage in how you think how we want God to uh use you in helping in this vision that we have that God is leading our church through.

Now, before we talk about these opportunities, I like to read how God envisions a healthy church.

We heard the word healthy sprinkled in different parts of our my brother's uh talks, and we want to do that in a healthy manner.

And so we want to go and and be rooted in the scripture and how we were gonna do this together.

So let me read from Ephesians chapter 4, 11, and I'm gonna skip a verse and go to 15 and 16.

Ephesians 4 · chapter mention

So let me hear let me start here.

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers uh in to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

Let me skip down to verse 15.

And so instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the head, that is Christ.

So from Him, the whole body, that's all of you, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love as each part, as each part does its work.

So I love this last part of what Paul says in the passage that the whole body, that's all of you, you grow and build each other up.

And as we do that, we're doing each our own part in contributing to God's plan and vision for our church.

So that means our vision isn't just for our pastors, our elders, and our staff to accomplish, but it's all of us together.

Doing this.

And so you may be asking, what is your part to play?

And so Michael Chester and I are going to quickly go through some of those practical ways.

And let me start with three: pray, worship, and give.

First, pray.

Over the past year, and you heard the video testimony of many people in our church body who have just gone through this journey of prayer, learning how to enrich their prayer life and how they commune, how they speak with and listen to God.

So let's put this into practice first today, and in the days and weeks and months ahead.

Asking Jesus, what are you asking me, Jesus, to play?

What part in Jesus in New North's vision?

And there are some very specific ways we'd like you to pray.

Because we want you to pray that we have when we find our new campus pastor, it's the right person, and that for God to provide the right peninsula campus location for us and to help raise up many of you to be a part of that team to help serve this next community and our next campus.

So, what are some ways that you can pray?

Well, you heard some testimonies of how people have done that individually and corporately.

You can do this corporately with us on Monday afternoons.

Uh I'm sorry, yeah, Mondays at noon.

Uh you can pray with your midweek groups uh starting up in a few days, or simply pause during your day of busyness and bring these things before Jesus.

And so, second worship, thank you for being here today and worshiping with us.

If you call New North your church home, please just gather and make a priority of that gathering for you and your schedule.

Because God uses corporate worship, his word, and his spirit to shape and build us up.

And lastly, to give.

If you haven't begun to give to New North, I encourage you to start.

And if you already give, thank you so much for your generosity.

Because your giving supports what God is doing here at New North and all the many different uh local and global outreaches that you'll hear a little bit more about uh shortly.

And you may also consider setting up a recurring gift as your intentional commitment.

So again, pray, worship, and give.

And as you consider commitment card that I talked about here, ask God, what is your way, God, that you want me to play a part in this vision?

So please, uh, thank you again for listening.

And next up is Michael, and he will share the next exciting part of our vision, our our Peninsula campus.

Good morning.

There's been a lot happening already.

I mean, really, it's incredible.

Um but I get to highlight the fourth little box to check on this card that you have, and that is the word go.

Go and be part of a group of people that commit to being part of this peninsula plant.

And we're looking for a hundred people to make that commitment because that's the kind of girth and momentum we'd love to bring into this new campus so that you know it can flourish and there'll be plenty of volunteers and all the kinds of things you need.

It would be wonderful to have a hundred commitments made.

You may ask, well, how soon do I need to make that commitment?

Do I have to make this box and check it and turn it in today, right now?

No.

Um, we don't even have our campus uh located yet.

We were close and now we were this you know, I'm taking a little pivot, but we haven't figured that out, but it's gonna happen.

We thought it would be after Easter, but it looks like it's gonna be in the fall, which is a great time to start a campus as a new school year starts.

So that's what we're aiming for.

You know, give some thought and prayer and all the things that you do to make these kinds of decisions, and maybe within the next 90 days, let us know how you've landed, and we'll figure out a way to communicate that.

I think we'll have to put it on the website or maybe save this and turn it in on a Sunday, just drop it in the box.

But be power about that commitment.

Now I know you probably have a lot of questions, maybe more than we can even answer this morning, but there's gonna be things like, well, what's it gonna look like?

Is it gonna be a completely new campus, new people, new everything?

No.

We're gonna be one church on two campuses.

We have one pastoral staff, we're gonna have a campus pastor committed to that location, but we're also gonna share our teaching faculty.

We'll be studying the same things, we'll have the same calendar, we'll have shared midweek ministries.

There'll be a lot of synchrony and working together as we launch that new campus, but it'll be different too, right?

It'll be a startup.

And for any of you that ever gone through that whole process, it it's a unique environment where you're committing together to plant yourself in a community.

It's a wonderful time.

So, why should you go?

Geography is going to be a part of that, right?

Where you live, where is your community, your neighbors, your school, all those things that make a community.

I think having your church in your community is a good thing.

It's not a must, but it's a good thing and something that on a way is part of your decision.

But it's also about your calling, it's about your gifting.

I know there are some of you out there that have that startup mentality, and you can't wait to get in on the ground floor.

Or maybe you're someone that wants to have influence, that wants to have a role to play, and that's a real thing.

The wonderful thing about new campuses is it causes people to rise up.

We're taking a risk.

We're actually splitting our numbers, but God will provide, and that can be through you.

So be prayerful about it.

And I want to add one more thing is that for those of you that choose to stay here, that doesn't mean you know you're the old guard.

We're all in a startup.

We never want to lose that enthusiasm for being mindful of how Jesus is calling us, how we can be creative, how we can use our gifts.

And Chester's gonna talk a little bit more about that.

Thank you.

Thanks, Michael.

It's so exciting to hear about what's ahead with the peninsula launch and how God is expanding our reach down the bay.

But I also want to turn our eyes to what he is actively doing right now at our San Francisco campus.

For those who do not know, we currently lease our church building here from Lake Merced Church of Christ.

We are so grateful for them.

God has blessed us with a good, wonderful relationship with their leadership and congregation as partners in the gospel.

God willing, we will continue to be in this location for years to come.

As Zahari and Lauren has already highlighted this past year, we have so much to celebrate because God has been moving in powerful ways through New North Church.

Week after week, he is using this church family as a place where people can encounter Jesus and commit their lives to him.

We've seen life-changing fruit.

So many baptisms, decisions for Christ, and people rededicating their lives to walk closely with him.

It's incredible to witness what God is doing in people's hearts.

To keep this momentum going and continue building up the church here in San Francisco, we need your help.

We're asking you to consider stepping up to serve on our San Francisco campus teams, not just on Sunday mornings, but in building up the community and ministering throughout the week.

And finally, keep inviting.

Keep praying for your friends, your neighbors, family, classmates, and co-workers, and keep bringing them along.

God is on a move in San Francisco, and we get to be part of what he's doing next.

Michael.

Come on, don't be afraid.

Join hands.

Let's go before the Lord.

This is a wonderful moment.

Heavenly Father, we are so grateful for how you've blessed this body.

We are so grateful for this year of prayer, Lord, this year of abundance in people coming through these doors in resources, both financial and volunteers, and your spirit, Lord, more than anything.

You have been so generous with us.

And we want to be faithful with what you've given us, Lord.

We ask that you bless these plans that we've laid before you.

We ask that you give discernment to each of us, Lord, in what we should do and how we should play a part in our prayers, in our commitments, in our giving, in our decisions on where to go.

We pray for discernment, Lord, in matters of scripture, in matters of calling, in manners of how we interact in our families, in our workplaces, and in our neighborhoods.

We pray for perseverance, Lord.

That we not run away, but that we dig in.

You are faithful, Lord.

We praise you.

You are the risen Savior, Lord.

You are the God who has proved Himself through the ages.

Over and over again, Lord, you are the power, you are the you are worthy, you are who we glorify and who we praise.

The risen Savior, the Lord Jesus, in whose name we pray.

Amen.

Hey, thanks for being with us, and we really pray that God spoke to you through his word today.

And we want to stay connected, so don't forget to subscribe to this podcast, and that way you'll be notified the moment we have new content go live.

And if you'd like more resources or to donate to our ministry, just simply go to newnorth.church.

Thanks again for joining us.

God bless you, and we'll see you right here next time.