Mobilised for Mission!

This week our staff team headed off for a two-day retreat to prayerfully reflect on the ministry of our church and our mission for the future.

We considered together a ‘Biblical Theology of Edification,’ that helped us think about how Jesus is building his church (Matthew 16:16) and the role that we are to take.

Then, we reflected on our vision statement, and from this, we began work on an accompanying mission statement to help us think about how we should seek “to see each person in our village, valley and region know how to follow Jesus and why it matters.”

From this we drafted this mission statement, for your reflection and comment:

Our mission is to:
Pray to our sovereign Lord;
Equip people for ministry, and;
Proclaim Christ faithfully.

It’s still a draft, and we’d love your feedback and thoughts as we consider what God expects us to be doing as we take our part in the building of Christ’s church.

But these are the reasons we chose these three words to summarise our role.

Firstly, we want to genuinely depend on the Holy Spirit as we pray to our sovereign Lord about all things… and especially for our vision of our village, valley and region.

Secondly, we’ll focus on equipping every person in our church and beyond to take their part in the ministry that will work together towards the vision becoming a reality.

Thirdly, we’ll devote ourselves to using ‘the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God’, as we proclaim Christ faithfully to all.

Over the next three weeks I look forward to sharing a short reflection on why these are the three things we should focus on as we seek to see our vision become a reality, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to the glory of God.

What do you think of the mission statement? How will it challenge how you think about our church?

JODIE McNEILL

(Photo credit: Kentucky National Guard via Flickr.com)