POWER – The Greek word for power is where we get our English word dynamite, and this is exactly the kind of explosive power that we need as a church.  However, we are not the primary key to explosive power.  The Holy Spirit must be our power source.  One thing that has consistently marked our church (in a good way) is our willingness to roll up our sleeves and get dirty with hard work.  Now it is time for our church to roll up our sleeves in prayer and humbly ask for a demonstration of the Spirit’s power in our pursuit of the mission.  This inclusion of the Holy Spirit in our Mission Statement is where concept and obedience meet.  We know what our mission is, now will we answer the call to live it?  If we know to love but doeth it not, it is sin.  If we say we love God but hate our neighbor, the love of God is not in us and we are liars.  We need Holy Spirit power to obey the call of God to become lovers…lovers of God, lovers of one another and lovers of the world.

NAME – In light of the current state of the culture, it became imperative that we identify very clearly where our allegiances lie.  It’s easy to say that we believe in God but God can be anything from an unknown higher power to our own concocted deity to any of many universal gods.  We clearly identify with the God of the Bible and with Jesus Christ, God’s Son, who himself is the fullness of God.  It is for, in and through the name of Jesus that we seek to fulfill our mission of loving God, loving each other and loving the world.

WORLD – This is as simple as looking at the most famous verse in the Bible.  John 3:16 says that “God so loved the world that he…”  If we love God, then we begin to love what God loves…and that includes the world.  God loves the world so much that he did something as a result of his love.  Now let’s finish the verse.  “He gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  The most important word in that verse is “love”, however another very powerful word is “that.”  God’s “that” was that he loved actively and sacrificially.  What’s your “that”?  What about your love for the world is both active and sacrificial?

EACH OTHER – We are the each other, or as the New Testament puts it, the “one anothers.”  Though we were created as individuals and are each unique in so many ways, in Christ we form one body.  We belong to each other in a bond made strong by the blood of Christ.  The Bible is clear that if we love God then we obviously love one another as well.  If not, then the Bible says we are liars and our relationship with God is a fraud.  And this love for one another is all-encompassing.  We are to love all that belong to the body of Christ and to love them with a deep love.  In Romans 12 alone we are commanded to prefer one another, be devoted to one another, rejoice with one another, weep with one another, be of the same mind with one another, contribute to the needs of one another and be at peace with one another…and that’s just from one chapter in Romans.

GOD – He, our Creator, is our first love and primary relationship.  In fact, we were made to know and love God.  Worship is the expression of our love to God, and we believe in a holistic approach to worship.  We worship together, and we worship alone.  We worship in word, thought, song and deed.  We worship through artistic expression and intellectual impression.  We worship when we give, when we serve, when we teach and when we listen.  All of our worship is laced with obedience, for in the observance of God’s instruction in our life it becomes clear that we care more about Him than we care about ourselves.  In our worship we are lovers…lovers of God.  God loves to be loved and we love him.

LOVES – We’ve already acknowledged that relationships are important to us and drive us as a church.  But it is Love that defines the type of relationship we choose to have.  In fact, “choose’ is the right word here to further define our love.  Love is a choice.  We could relate to God, one another and the world with jealousy, fear, shame, lust, arrogance or even hatred; but we choose love.  Why?  Because a holy, righteous and just God chose to love us first.  We embrace this love, both receiving and giving this love.  We acknowledge that this love is characterized by sacrifice, and we desire this love to be our defining mark as a church.

COMMUNITY – a social, religious or occupational group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived as being unique in some respect from society at large.  Our mission is our commonality.  We choose to love in community and as a community.  Spirituality is too individualized anymore…no one wants anyone else to know how well or how unwell their relationship is with the Lord.  We defy that, and choose community.  God worked in and with groups whether those groups be families, disciples or churches.  The building of community is something special that God is doing with our local church, and the stronger our community is the stronger our mission will be.

CREATE – To create is to produce through artistic or imaginative effort.  When we create…every time we create, we reflect the image of God…thee Ultimate Creator of the Universe.  Our mission to create is essentially an invitation for all of us to pursue our mission together in artistic and imaginative ways…to bring to life that which God has called us to do.  Together, we are painting a living picture of God’s grace.  His redemptive love story for humanity is written in His word and displayed in our interaction as a body.  So let’s get creative in the pursuit of our mission so that the world may see Jesus in the way we love God, each other and the world.

 MISSION – A mission statement justifies a church’s reason for existence.  If this mission statement remains only a statement of ideas and not a reality of experience, then we remain unjustified in significance as a body.  If we want to matter…make a difference…whether that be to God, each other or our community then we must embrace our mission together.  Our mission is our “Must Do.”  No Exceptions.  We love or we cease to matter.  We love as Christ has loved or we cease to exist.

This is our Mission Statement at the church.  Each week, I am going to highlight one word of our mission statement.  My objective is to add some depth of meaning to our understanding of what we’ve been called by God to become as a church body.  Feel free to comment along the way.  I’m interested in the conversation that can surround the living out of our mission statement.

Our is a possessive word…meaning that we own this mission. It belongs to us and we must take responsibility for the mission. Webster’s Dictionary describes our as being “agents of an object or an action”. We are agents of the mission given us by God. Our is obviously a plural word. You are not made to do this alone…The mission is yours, but it is ultimately OURS – together we make a bigger impact.