Discipleship in Community for the World
Life is about relationships. In fact, when we look at the Bible one of the surest things we can say is that God is big into relationships! That’s why our church’s statement of mission is “Discipleship in Community for the World”.
We believe that the calling on every believer and every church is to be faithful on three levels of relationship. First and foremost, we are called to be disciples of Jesus Christ. He is the source of our redemption and life, and it is through our relationship with him that we become like him. Second, we are called to participate in the community of faith. The church is the body of Christ, and God intends for each of us to find our place of belonging and proper functioning so that the whole grows up into maturity. Third, we are called to be agents of God’s kingdom in the world.
This statement of relational priorities – to God, the Church, and the World – is nothing less than the two great commandments and the great commission! Once this framework for understanding our lives as believers is embraced, it’s easy to begin spotting it throughout the Scriptures…
In John 15, Jesus repeats several times for his disciples the necessity of “abiding” in him just as a branch must abide in the vine. This is the place of life-giving nourishment! Apart from the vine, a branch becomes barren and dies. Next, Jesus gives these same disciples the command “to love one another.” In fact, this command summons every believer to sacrificial self-giving on behalf of other believers according to the model of Jesus who “laid down his life for his friends”. And finally, Jesus sends them out into the world to “go and bear fruit.” We were chosen and appointed for this very purpose, to be Jesus’ ministers of reconciliation in a broken and alienated world. So in John 15, we see our mission statement of “Discipleship in Community for the World” expressed in Jesus’ commands to “abide” in him, to “love one another”, and to “go and bear fruit”.
In Ephesians, Paul uses three main verbs that correspond to our threefold relational calling. First, Paul declares that God has “raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms” (2:6). Our salvation is more than just the forgiveness of sins. We have been established together with Christ in the place of spiritual authority. Second, Paul exhorts us to “walk worthily of the calling” to which we have been called (4:1). In this instance, “walk” means the way in which we conduct our lives, and Paul’s concern in the following verses is particularly on the unity and purity of the church. So Paul is concerned that we walk in “oneness” with other believers. Third, Paul finishes up his letter asserting that our foes are not other human beings. Rather, we are opposed by the “spiritual forces of evil” at work in this world (6:12). It is against this enemy that we are to “stand” and fight so that our declaration of the gospel is effective. So again we see the Biblical priorities of relationships as being seated with Christ, walking with other believers in holiness and unity, and standing for the gospel in the world.
It is in the midst of these relationships that we find life, our true self, belonging, and fruitfulness. This is what we are pursuing as a church, and we invite you to join us as we grow together in Christ!