Our Mission, Values, & Vision

We exist to MAKE, MATURE, and MULTIPLY disciples of Jesus Christ, one life at a time, in the Midlands and Beyond.

Vision 2040

As we look ahead to the next 15 years, we are committed to faithfully pursuing God’s calling for our church, our community, and the world. Vision 2040 is our roadmap for growth, impact, and transformation—fueled by prayer, guided by Scripture, and empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Plant 5+ Churches in the midlands and beyond

As we are now a well-resourced church, we want to do for other churches what a well-resourced church did for us.

100+ sent ones into the field full-time

We believe that we are supposed to raise up and send our best. Whether across the street or across the world, we want to support the mission of God by sending over 100 sent ones from Shandon.

Deploy 50% of our congregation on a short-term mission trip each year outside of the midlands

We believe that short-term trips ignite a lifetime love for missions.

Partner with other international baptist congregations

We have seen God bless our church by getting to partner with other international Baptist congregations through the Generations Property and other opportunities and we hope to continue to see that grow.

Generations Pipeline

God has resourced our church to raise up ministry leaders. We believe that we have developed a pipeline to raise up the next generation of church leaders and church planters. The pipeline will consist of 1) Internship, 2) Residency, and 3) Associate Staff Member.

Shandon Counseling Center

We believe that Christian counseling is a valuable asset, and we want to support a ministry that can offer it as a resource to people.

Average as many attendees in groups as in worship services

Every Christian needs community and we believe that the best way to do that is by joining a group. Groups are for all ages.

Reduce Spiritual Lostness in the midlands by 1%

As we baptize more people and see more people come to know Christ, we believe that God can make a significant impact on lostness through what He's doing here at Shandon.

Baptize 10% of shandon average worship attendance each year

As God continues to grow our church, we believe that more and more people will take their next step in baptism.

Shandon sports outreach

Sports are a tool that many in our church are already involved in, and we see it as an opportunity to engage with and reach those in our community.

Our Mission

What Does It Mean to Make, Mature, and Multiply Disciples?

Disciple-making is intentionally sharing the gospel in word and deed, empowered by the Holy Spirit using the Word of God, so that the sinner repents, believes, and receives Jesus as Lord; and upon salvation, the newly converted sinner is baptized and intentionally taught, through accountable relationships in the church, how to live an obedient life to Christ, both devotionally and missionally.

Our Mission In Action

At the heart of our church's identity lies a transformative value—discipleship. We wholeheartedly embrace the mission to see transformation one life at a time in the realization of our core value: making, maturing, and multiplying disciples. This shared commitment fosters intentional community, spiritual growth, and a collective journey of faith, aligning our values with the mission to impact lives through love, faith, and positive transformation.

We will be a

church centered on Bible-focused worship

We believe that the Bible is the authoritative, inspired, innerant, imperishable Word of God. Therefore, we will teach, study, and sing the Bible in all gatherings, services, and ministries at our church.

We will be a

church creating a culture of disciple-making

We believe that we are called to be disciples of Jesus that make disciples. We will prioritize relationships over events, growth of others over our convenience, and will train disciple-making in the home, church, and around the world.

We will be a

Church called to Missions

We believe that we are called to "go into the world and preach the Gospel to every person.” Every member is a Missionary and advancing the mission around us is more important than preserving the tradition among us.

We will be a

Church connected by prayer

Prayer starts with listening to God through His Word and is the source to His power. We will be a church that prays for God’s presence, each other, and the lost in our homes and corporate gatherings.

We will be a

church committed to Sacrificial generosity

We believe that God uses the resources of the church to further His Mission, both here in the Midlands and beyond. We will be a generous church that gives sacrificially for the Kingdom.

Our Vision

The Discipleship Pathway

As disciples of Jesus, we never stop growing in our faith and in our actions. As a part of our vision for the future, we have a Discipleship Pathway that sums up every aspect of both our church life corporately and our church life individually. Click a tab below to learn more about each of the four pillars of our Discipleship Pathway.

We GATHER to Worship

The first step in our discipleship pathway falls under the word “GATHER.”

We GATHER around the Word of God. The depth of a church’s discipleship rarely rises above the depth of its corporate worship.

We want members to gather for corporate worship each week and to connect guests to what we are calling our “front door” ministry opportunities. We identified the following front door opportunities in each of our ministries:

Preschool: Guest services, Spring/Fall events, Weekday Preschool Ministry

Kids: Guest services, Kids Summer Blast, Midweek, Sunday morning, Mosaic

Students: Guest services, Summer camp, Midweek, Sunday morning, One Night, campus events

College: Welcome Week, Thrive, Sunday Group, Fall Retreat

Young Adults: Sunday Groups, Family Groups, Young Adult Worship Night, need based classes

Median Age: Sunday Groups, Midweek

65+: Sunday Groups, Social & Encouragement Events

Men’s Ministry: Men’s Breakfast, work projects, Sunday Groups, & Family Ministry

Worship: Choir orchestra, events

Sunday Groups Events

We GROW in Biblical Community

A healthy and advancing church that GROWS in a culture of disciple-making has attendees moving from worship attendance to groups, begins new groups regularly, and trains and deploys disciple-makers.

Step 1: Baptism

Step 2: Join a group! (Read about our available groups below).

Sunday Groups/Family Groups

This is the foundation for discipleship at Shandon. These are groups of 20-50 people that meet weekly. The objectives for these groups are Bible teaching, community, and fellowship.

Family Groups meet in homes during the week and are tailored to college and young adults due to their unique life stage.
Sunday Groups, both age-graded and intergenerational, meet on Sunday mornings and are available for every life stage.

Men's and Women's Grow Groups

These are complimentary and in addition to Sunday Groups/Family Groups. These groups consist of 4-8 people that meet weekly. The objectives of these groups are Bible journaling, daily Bible reading, scripture memorization, trusted accountability, and deeper spiritual growth for growing believers.

Equip Groups

These classes are supplementary to Sunday Groups/Family Groups. These are topic, theme, and need based classes and Bible studies that are offered during the week. This includes Midweek at Shandon and Shandon U. The objective of these classes is to give focused studies offered through Shandon.

We GIVE our time, talents, and treasures in ministry. We GIVE back to the Lord in service.

"A disciple is someone who moves from being a recipient of the church’s mission to becoming responsible for the church’s mission.”

This includes increased volunteer participation and increased participation in the mission of the church.

A healthy and advancing church that GIVES will be a service-oriented church that increases volunteer participation in the mission, grows in giving percentage, grows in new giving members, and sees members move from becoming periodic givers to consistent tithers.

We GO on mission.

A healthy and advancing church that is going on mission builds relationships with those who are far from God, prays for the lost by name, regularly initiates gospel conversations, increases in total baptisms, sends members on short-term trips, sees members called into vocational ministry, and invests in church plants and church planting leaders.

"When you build a church around events, you get participants; when you build a church around teaching, you get learners; but when you build around missions, you get missionaries."

Life on Mission (personal evangelism)

Every Member is a Missionary—intentional relational evangelism in your spheres of influence.

Church on Mission

Ministries and events that are evangelistically focused, for the good of our community.

Go on Mission (short term trips)

More short-term trips to ignite lifetime love for missions.

Sent on Mission

Supporting missionaries, church plants, and aiming to plant and revitalize churches through a Shandon residency program.

We Value Prayer and Evangelism

We are a church connected by prayer. At Shandon, we see prayer as the defining mark of the church’s ministry. We believe God’s word teaches that a church rises when dependent believers lower themselves in prayer. Through teaching and example, we encourage everyone at Shandon to dedicate themselves to obedient prayer.

Corporately, we prioritize prayer through four primary gatherings:

The Preparation
Stand in the Gap
Congregational Fasts
21 Days of Prayer

We are a Great Commission church because Jesus loves the Great Commission. Proclaiming the Gospel, sharing biblical truth, and investing in others is God’s plan for the church. We are disciples making disciples, equipping the saints for the work of the ministry, sharing the Gospel in word and deed in our daily lives.

Our church’s evangelism strategies include:

Reach Events
Relational Evangelism
Evangelism Training Workshops
Shandon Plus Podcast