Our mission statement isn't just pretty words to put in
the weekly bulletin or post on the church walls. It's a guideline or a
filter for everything we do as a church. Each meeting, class, activity,
event, and service project should be in support of this mission in some
way. If it's not, well, then we need to carefully consider whether or not
that thing should be done at all.
"Our mission at Lifeway Chapel is to be a Spirit-filled body of
believers, ordinary people serving an extraordinary God, meeting people at
the point of their need in Post Falls and
beyond. We do this through worship,
prayer, fellowship,
discipleship, and
evangelism; fulfilling the Lord's commission with compassion."
There are five key aspects to our mission statement,
qualities that need to be balanced in our individual lives as well as in
our church. Let's take a closer look at each of these five elements...
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Worship tops the list of what we do as a church because it
is the foundation for all that we do as individual Christian believers. Until we are
in touch with God we cannot effectively minister to one another.
Jesus prioritized the importance of worship in our lives when He 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 22:37-40 NKJV)
Worship is more than just singing in church on Sunday
mornings, it is all that we do with respect to the Lord. It is our act of
surrender to him, and can take many other outward forms, such as:
Worship of the Lord builds a firm foundation from which
we are able to extend ourselves through different areas.
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Just as worship is the foundation of our relationship
with God, prayer is an extension of that foundation. Jesus said,
"without Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). Prayer is our lifeline to
God. It is our source for the miraculous. Prayer changes lives, our own
and those around us. Jesus also said that God's
"house to to be called a house of prayer" (Matthew 21:13).
Although prayer should be a continual personal conversion with God (Matthew 6:6
and
1 Thessalonians 5:17), we also pray together in small groups and as
a congregation for following the example of the New Testament church
(Acts 2:42, Acts 4:31, Acts 12:12).
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Once we have established the vertical relationship with
the Lord through worship and prayer, we can begin to develop the
horizontal relationship of fellowship, reaching out to one another.
It's all too easy to become isolated these days. In
search of better jobs, we often move far from established friends and
family. Television gives us hundreds of options to substitute for social
interaction. We drive through restaurants for lunch. Many spend hours
each evening, addicted to the wealth of information and entertainment
available on the internet. Why, some grocery stores even have
self-service checkout stands, so you don't even have to talk to the
cashier at all!
God has created the church to be a place where people
can grow closer to him and also to one another. After all, very early in
the Bible we learn that "the LORD God said, 'It is not good that man
should be alone'" (Genesis 2:18).
Everyone one of us has a desire to have contact with
other people. We have a desire to care for and be cared for by others.
For some, it is this desire that drew them to a relationship with God in
the first place. Fellowship is more than just “small talk” over
coffee and pastries in the church basement; it is opening our hearts to
one another, sharing our hurts as well as our joys with those around us
(Philippians 2:1).
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As we begin to develop relationships with one another we
realize that we don’t know it all. There are areas in our life that could
use a little development. That is where discipleship comes in. Our model for discipleship is Christ.
"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me" (Matthew 11:29a),
he said. When Jesus began his ministry, he chose disciples to teach, so
that they would be able to carry on his message. Our goal in discipleship
is much the same; we "pass on" the truth of God's word (2 Timothy 2:2).
In this way we help each other mature so that we will be able to
effectively serve God.
Author
Richard Krejcir says:
Humbleness is characterized by the
willingness to grow in Christ, and receive learning and experience
growth. Peter [one of Christ's apostles] tells us we ought to be humble toward one other so that we
can know the grace of God and not be in opposition to God. Then
secondly, he says, we had better be humble, not only toward one another,
but toward God. This is so straightforward. This is so essential to be
a blessed church, to be a growing church, not in numbers, but in
discipleship!
Discipleship is not the same as "hitting the books;" it's
a lifelong learning process that requires action, not just learning from one another.
but applying what we learn. It is both our privilege and our duty (Matthew 28:18-20).
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Finally, as we have been in the presence of God through
worship and prayer, as we have grown in fellowship with one another, and
have developed a hunger for his word through discipleship, the natural
result of this is that we would want to share it with others. (See Acts 1:8 and Matthew 28:18.)
The word
evangel means "the good news of the revelation of God in Jesus
Christ."
This doesn't mean you have to stand on the street corner
shouting the Lord’s message to those passing by. It can be as simple as
sharing what God has done in your life with those you care about. It might
be done through service to others, helping your neighbor in the name of
the Lord. Evangelism is sharing the good
news of God’s love, grace, and power as it has been revealed in Jesus
Christ in ways that draw others into a life of faith and a community of
believers. It is the message, the messenger, and the means of sharing the
good news... the fulfillment of the Lord's Great Commission.
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