Our Mission:
Love God.
Love People.
Change the world!
The central focus of our fellowship is our shared, common mission to help people become followers of Jesus Christ. Christ followers are people who are growing in three vital relationships in their lives:
- Love for God
- Love for People
- Connection with God's mission in the world
Jesus made it very clear that when our lives reflect the Great Commandments (Matthew 22:36-40) and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) lifestyle, we are fulfilling the heart of what it means to follow Him.
The Great Commandments:
Jesus said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." Matthew 22:36-40
Wow. Jesus very clearly teaches us that the entire Jewish Bible (our Old Testament) can be summed up by two commandments. There are two passions that God desires that His people have: to love God & to love people! Loving God and loving your neighbor is what following Jesus is all about!
Then after the Lord's resurrection and just before His ascension, Jesus repeatedly told His followers what they were to do. The Great Commandments teach Christ followers how to live with a passion to love God and to love people. The Great Commission is part of Christ's four Missional Mandates, which teach what Christ followers are to do:
Mandate #1
Matthew 28:18-20
"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."
Mandate #2
Luke 24: 46-49
Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that the repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with the power from on high."
Mandate #3
John 20:21
"Peace be with you." When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you."
Mandate #4
Acts 1:8
"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."
In giving these four Missional Mandates, Jesus once and for all established for His followers what their core mission and purpose is to be! Mainly to continue the mission He had begun, to be His hands and feet in the world, and to help people become His followers. When fulfilling the mission of Jesus becomes the driving aim of a fellowship, that church has become a Missional Church.