What’s our purpose? Why do we exist?
On what road are we headed?

 

 Our Mission: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Our aim is to be a people transformed by the Gospel, empowered by God’s Spirit, reaching our world.

What does that mean?

Transformed by the Gospel

To be transformed by the Gospel – is to be transformed by the Gospel message. The Gospel is the Good News of what Jesus Christ accomplished, on our behalf, through His birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension and rule.
When saying that we aim to be a people transformed by the Gospel – we are simply saying that we desire that the Gospel would mold us, that it would shape us and that it would cause us to grow.

We are including this phrase in our mission statement for a number of reasons.

First we can easily assume that we have mastered the subject of the gospel, or have matured beyond our need for it. Paul says in Ephesians that the riches we have in Christ are “unsearchable”. He also says 1 Cor.15 that this gospel is of first importance. I hope it is evident to you that we must remain focused on the gospel our whole lives. That’s part of the reason behind the inclusion of this little phrase, “transformed by the Gospel,” Its there to remind us of what is of first importance

We’ve also included this phrase because apart from the Gospel, there is no transformation; there is no change! I am not saying that apart from the Gospel, people can’t develop new and better habits or grow in various ways. What I am saying is that true and lasting heart change that motivates us to live for God’s glory is hopeless and impossible apart from the Gospel.

The deep change we need could never arise from self-improvement; it could never spring from better thinking about oneself or about the past; and it can never come from doing less of this or more of that. “Do this and live” is weak. The imposition of the Law, religious or otherwise, produces, at best, superficial temporary change. Legalism is incapable of revolutionizing the heart!

But the gospel — well that’s a different matter! The gospel is the power of God! In the gospel, God, regenerates us. He gives us a new HEART. In the gospel, the old man full of sinful desires, dies with Christ and a new creation is raised in union with him!

I like the way Tim Keller emphasizes the importance of believers actually believing the gospel every day. He writes

“We believe the gospel at one level, but at deeper levels we do not. Human approval, professional success, power and influence, family and clan identity—all of these things serve as our heart’s ‘functional trust’ rather than what Christ has done, and as a result we continue to be driven to a great degree by fear, anger, and a lack of self-control. You cannot change such things through mere willpower, through learning Biblical principles and trying to carry them out. We can only change more permanently as we take the gospel more deeply into our understanding and into our hearts. We must feed on the gospel, as it were, digesting it and making it part of ourselves. That is how we grow.”

John Piper says similarly,

“The gospel is central not only in conversion but also in the ongoing transformation of believers.”

Empowered by God’s Spirit

We’ve included the phrase, “empowered by God’s Spirit” intentionally. In order to be a people transformed by the Gospel and in order to reach our world with the Gospel, we urgently need the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore we want to insure that we maintain and pursue a vibrant, healthy and functional pneumatology – or theology of the Holy Spirit.

Now, just to be clear: the ministry of the Spirit, and the Spirit filled life, must never eclipse the ministry of the gospel and the gospel-centered life! The gospel is the central theme of the Bible and consequently, all ministry must keep the gospel as its focal point.  However, because the Bible is breathed by the Holy Spirit, because the gospel comes in the power of the Holy Spirit and because the gospel age is the age of the Spirit poured out – all ministry proceeding from the Bible and from the gospel must be infused with the Spirit in ways actually experienced in the life of the local church.

Our need for the Spirit’s empowering presence in connection with the other two aspects of our mission statement are clear.  We need the Spirit’s power for the purpose of transformed lives.

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. 2 Cor. 3:18

We are progressively transformed as the Holy Spirit helps us to fix our gaze on Christ. Commenting on this verse, John Piper says,

“The work of the Holy Spirit in changing us is not to work directly on our bad habits but to make us admire Christ so much that sinful habits feel foreign and distasteful.”

The point here is this: Gospel-transformation is the fruit of the power of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. And for this reason, we regularly pray and ask God to fill us with His Spirit in order that we might, with each passing day, admire Christ more and thereby be transformed “from one degree of glory to another.

We also need the Spirit’s power for the purpose of effective witness.  Jesus has always intended for the mission of the gospel and the mission of the church to go forward in the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said to His disciples just prior to ascension:

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

And not just once in Acts 2, but repeatedly we see disciples receiving power as the Holy Spirit comes on them again and again and again. Empowered by the Spirit, they testified boldly of Christ! Like them, we need the power of the Holy Spirit.

Our Doctrinal statement says:

In addition to effecting regeneration and sanctification, the Holy Spirit also empowers believers for Christian witness and service. While all genuine believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit at conversion, the New Testament indicates the importance of an ongoing, empowering work of the Spirit subsequent to conversion as well. Being indwelt by the Spirit and being filled with the Spirit are theologically distinct experiences. The Holy Spirit desires to fill each believer continually with increased power for Christian life and witness, and imparts his supernatural gifts for the edification of the Body and for various works of ministry in the world. All the gifts of the Holy Spirit at work in the church of the first-century are available today, are vital for the mission of the church, and are to be earnestly desired and practiced.

Our mission requires all of the resources that the Spirit gives. And that brings us to the last point in our mission statement.

Reaching our world

In Matthew 28:18 we read:
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.”

So what is our mission? It’s to go and make disciples. It’s to reach the lost with this glorious Gospel and to see them added the church and to become committed disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the mission of every authentic local church.

David Womack writes,

“There is only one way the Great Commission can be fulfilled, and that is by establishing gospel-preaching congregations in every community on the face of the earth.”

Charles Spurgeon once said:

“The Holy Spirit will move them by first moving you. If you can rest without their being saved, they will rest too. But if you are filled with an agony for them, if you cannot bear that they should be lost, you will soon find that they are uneasy too. I hope you will get into such a state that you will dream about your child or your hearer perishing for lack of Christ, and start up at once and begin to cry, ‘God, give me converts or I die.’ Then you will have converts.”

CONCLUSION

We hope you understand more fully what our mission is a local church. Our aim is to be a people transformed by the gospel, empowered by God’s Spirit, reaching our world.

Will you consider helping us fulfill the mission God has given us?