Mission Statement
Our Mission:
“TO KNOW JESUS DEEPLY AND TO MAKE HIM KNOWN WIDELY”
Our mission is given to us by Jesus. Before he went to heaven his last words were:
“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (Mt 28:18–20). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
Making disciples or students of Jesus is our primary work. That assumes that we ourselves at our three local churches are students of Jesus. It means that we know him deeply. It is not just knowing lots of facts and historical information about Jesus – which can be found easily – but it goes further: knowing Jesus personally and intimately. I guess this is what Bear Grylls the adventurer meant when he said, “my faith isn’t very churchy, it’s a pretty personal, an intimate thing and has been a huge source of strength in moments of life and death. At the heart of Christianity is the belief that we are loved and held and forgiven, and I try not to complicate my faith beyond that.”
Whether it is a podcast, tweet, newspaper, TV or radio you get your news from, one can hardly miss what a broken world we have, even with all the advancement of humanity. Jesus came to the world to fix that brokenness by fixing each person. We have this broken world because of our separation from God – what the Bible calls sin. We experience forgiveness when we trust that Jesus died on the Cross for each person. Acceptance of what Jesus did on the Cross by faith is what Christians call “getting to know Jesus” – it is deeply personal and life changing, one is never the same if one meant it.
Another aspect of getting know Jesus is getting to know Jesus continuously. One can know someone for a lifetime and yet still get to know new things about that person. We get to know Jesus better by spending time reading and studying the Bible – like spending time with friends. We also listen to sermons, attend Sunday School and special teaching sessions.
As we have seen in the bible verse above, we are also commanded to share this knowledge about Jesus with those around us and help them to know Jesus personally. We do this by living the way Jesus wants us to live and explaining to others why we put our trust in Jesus. It is not just about living but also about sharing the knowledge of Jesus in words.