Our Mission Together

What is the mission of the church? One expert on this topic has declared that everything the church does and can do is mission. While another has lamented that if everything is mission, nothing is mission. Recently, pastor-authors Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert asked this question in a book by the same title. I trust you will be encouraged by the conclusion they came to based on Jesus’ “Great Commission” in Matthew 28:

The mission of the church is to go into the world and make disciples by declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit and gather these disciples into churches, that they might worship the Lord and obey his commands now and in eternity to the glory of God the Father.

I can hear someone responding, “Duh! Isn’t that obvious?” The reality is that in today’s church culture it is not always clear what the primary mission of the church is. DeYoung and Gilbert put it this way, “Christians today define mission more broadly and variably than ever before.” If you polled ten Christians, you might get ten different answers to the question. Some would say that acts of kindness like caring for poor is the mission of the church. Others would say that working for social justice and transforming culture is the mission of the church. Still others might say that personal holiness and remaining unstained by the world is our primary call.

We who serve in church leadership feel the tension of this pointed question on a regular basis. We wholeheartedly affirm that our central mission as a church is to make disciples as Jesus commanded us. However, sometimes in the flurry of church activity, the connection of a given ministry task to discipleship does not look like a straight line. Our desire is to make the connections clear and direct so that everything we do together as God’s people at New Covenant brings glory to God as His Spirit transforms lives by the beautiful and powerful gospel of Jesus. We want our church to filled with disciples who are actively making disciples.

Toward that end, I want to make you aware of two new disciple-making initiatives and ask you to consider how you might participate. First, in April and May, New Covenant will be hosting a gospel outreach called Exploring Christianity. The goal of Exploring Christianity is to create a relaxed and informative atmosphere for people from all walks of life to find out more about the Christian faith. It's an opportunity to gather with others over five weeks to explore what the Bible says about who God is, who we are, and what Jesus has done. Exploring Christianity intentionally creates a setting where it is easy to ask difficult questions about big issues.

We want to encourage you to begin to pray about who you can invite to this course. Keep in mind that Exploring Christianity is for those who: have questions about God, are searching for the meaning of life; want to know more about God's plan of salvation, have recently returned to church, want to know more about the Christian faith, want to know the basic message of the Bible, or have recently become Christians.

The first night of the course (April 12, first Thursday after Easter) is called the Preview Dinner. This gives our guests an opportunity to hear more about Exploring Christianity before registering for the next four weeks (Thursdays , 6:30-8:30 pm). Each evening begins with dinner together, followed by a brief talk (e.g. How Good Is Good Enough?), and concludes with an opportunity to discuss and ask questions about life, God, and our relationship with God.

Making this outreach happen will require an investment of time and energy by our congregation. In addition to inviting a friend and attending with them, there are a number of ways you could serve, such as, committing this event to prayer, hosting a table by being a discussion leader, preparing and serving food, setting up and tearing down, and helping with childcare.

It is my earnest hope and prayer that God will use Exploring Christianity as means for making new disciples of Jesus. Please stop by the table in the church foyer this Sunday to find out more and to sign up to serve.

The second disciple-making initiative is one you already participate in regularly: our Sunday morning worship services.

It is with great joy that we have observed more and more people beholding our God in corporate worship each Sunday. For those who are disciples, these services teach us to observe all that Jesus commanded us as we sing songs of praise, offer prayers of thanksgiving and supplication, and receive the ministry of God’s Word. For those attending who are not yet disciples, the gospel message sung, prayed, and preached calls them to become disciples through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

The joy of seeing God grow our church family is tempered with the challenge of serving every worshipper on a Sunday morning. Those of you who attend the second service know how full we have been the last several weeks. Those of you who attend the first service know how much seating is available at the earlier hour. I think you all know where I am headed with this...

Though having a full second service is not a problem (It’s a blessing that we thank God for!), it does present a challenge -- especially for visitors. Since we went to two worship services (8/29/10), we have consistently had more visitors at the later service. As a church we want to communicate the welcome of the gospel by providing ample seating for our guests. The elders have discussed several measures we could take to make room in the second service by encouraging those who can to switch their attendance to the first service. Here is the plan we are calling you to join us in beginning March 11:

1) The Friendship Class has graciously offered to switch their attendance to first service. Please thank these dear ones and their leadership for serving in this way. They are a valued part of our body!

2) The start times of both services will be pushed back 15 minutes to 9:00 a.m. and 10:45 a.m. We hope that this will draw in a few of you who may be scared away by the 8 o’clock hour.

3) We are looking for a few good men and women to join Club 9. This will be an elite, special-ops force who will commit to switching their attendance from second service to the first service from now until July (or longer if they choose). We would like at least ten households to make this commitment. [NOTE: Families with school age children are exempt from this call to duty as switching to the first service would prevent their children from attending Sunday school.]

4) Our usher team will continue to gently remind worshippers in the second service to move to the center to free up seats on the end of the aisles. Thank you in advance for helping them do their job.

We trust that these changes to our Sunday morning ministry will serve both our guests and will be a means of God’s grace for each of us as we consider how to out do one another in showing honor (Romans 12:10). Please feel free to contact any of the elders if you any questions.

On Jesus’ mission with you,

Dave DeHaan