On Sunday 17th March, Adam shared our mission and vision with us as a church. Here is a bit of info from the day…
Following Jesus Together – these three words sum up the wonderful and exciting adventure of what it means to be a Christian!
Following – Jesus gets to set the direction of travel for my life – he leads, we follow! (see Matt 4:18-20; Phil 1:19-26)
Jesus – the God-man, whose death on a Roman cross changed the world forever (see Gal 6:14), is the very centre of my affection. (see Matt 13:44-45; Matt 10:37)
Together – the Christian life is never meant to be something we do on our own (see 1 Cor 12; John 13:34). We’ve been called to live together in church communities which show through our lives and commitment to one another, the radical unifying power of the cross. (see Eph 2:11-22)
For the last 18 months, we’ve been praying, talking, preaching, and discussing how this universal reality of “Following Jesus Together” applies specifically to us as a local church here in Great Yarmouth. We’ve pulled together a mission and vision statement (see below) that we hope will help all of us understand what this is going to look like over the coming years:
MISSION
This is the unchanging passion and mission of the church:
“We exist to make much of Jesus”
“May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Gal 6:14
John Piper said, “Life is wasted if we do not grasp the glory of the cross, cherish it for the treasure that it is, and cleave to it as the highest price of every pleasure and the deepest comfort in every pain. What was once foolishness to us – a crucified God – must become our wisdom and our power and our only boast in this world”
To make much of Jesus is to see his work on the cross and to recognise that nothing else in all of history, and certainly nothing that I can muster, comes anywhere near deserving the fame and praise that he does! As a result, our aim is to help all of us to have one central and all-consuming passion – to glorify and exalt, to magnify and make much of Jesus in every nook and cranny of our lives!
VISION
This is the direction of travel for the next season:
Our vision is to raise a 300-strong church community, that is devoted to gospel-shaped:
Witness
Discipleship
Compassion
It is important that we note the phrase “gospel-shaped”. We’re looking for everything that we are and what we say and do, to be a pointer and reflection of the message of the cross (see 1 Cor 1:18-31). As a result, there may be some good things that we could do, but if it isn’t a stepping stone to people seeing and savouring the work of Jesus on the cross, we may choose not to do it, so that we can invest our time and energy into the things that are more gospel-shaped.
Witness: Together we will pursue the goal of every single person who lives in the borough of Great Yarmouth knowing for themselves that Jesus changes lives.
Discipleship: Together we will encourage and challenge each other to allow the gospel to shape and conform every aspect of our lives into the likeness of Christ
Compassion: Together we will pursue the power and presence of Christ to change the brokenness and pain we see around us. This will be through prayer and pastoral care and social action.
You can find a PDF version of the Mission & Vision here
and you can listen to Adam’s talk below
