The Church on Mission
Missio Dei: Exploring our Vision, Mission and Values • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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When I was driving in to the church on Wednesday last week, I did what I often do. I checked my Apple Map to see how bad the traffic is to get here. From where I live in Surrey, I usually go over the Port Mann Bridge. Every day, I have to make a choice though - do I go in the left lane and take HWY 1, or do I go in the right lane and take HWY 7? Without traffic, it’s without a doubt, faster to take HWY 1. But on Wednesday, my maps said to take HWY 7. And so I obeyed.
But every time I do this, there is a part of me that doubts. Because the entrance to HWY 7 over the Port Mann gets more backed up than the entrance to HWY 1, I sit there, not moving much, watching cars zip along beside me taking the route I usually take. But I trusted the map and slowly made my way across the bridge.
And then, as the bridge ended, our traffic on the HWY 7 side sped up and began to move like normal and I noticed that all the people who zipped past me to take HWY 1, were now stopped. It turns out, the map gave me the right directions to help me get where I wanted to go. Who knew?
We are in a series called Missio Dei. It’s a Latin phrase that means the Mission of God and we are examining our new vision, mission and values statements.
The first section was about the vision statement, which is, - and say it with me if you know it - to see all people fully alive in Jesus and sharing his love with others.
Last week, we set up our conversation about mission by looking at the great commission. Today, we are going to do a deep dive into our mission statement. If our vision is our destination - if its where we ultimately want to end up, then our mission is the gps that guides us on how to get there.
Let’s look at our mission statement:
Our mission is to empower people to grow in a relationship with Jesus through Biblical Teaching, Passionate Worship, Community Service, and Intentional Relationships.
This mission is designed to help us fulfill our vision. We strongly believe that for anyone to be fully alive, they MUST be in Christ - they HAVE TO - be in an ever-deepening relationship with Jesus.
We can’t be fully alive without Jesus for it is him who gives us life.
Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die.” He said, “I have come that you would have life and have it to the full.”
True life is found only through Jesus and so our mission is to empower you to grow in a relationship with Him.
And those three key words - empower, grow, and relationship - were chosen very deliberately.
Our mission is to EMPOWER you.
I don’t know how many of you went and saw the movie “Barbie” last year. As a big movie family, my wife and I did “Oppenbarbie” where we saw Oppenheimer at the early showing and then Barbie at the late showing. And I loved both movies, but for very different reasons.
There are a lot of people with some strong opinions about Barbie and the message it communicates. But one of the things I find fascinating is that for some people, Barbie gave a voice and an ideal that fundamentally changed how they saw themselves and others.
Some couples even broke up, because the movie revealed to them that they were in a toxic relationship or that the views between them and their partners on equality and the patriarchy were so far apart they just couldn’t be together anymore.
The Barbie movie empowered some people to make a change for the better.
In a similar way, that’s what we, as a church want to do: we want to empower you to become more fully alive in Christ.
11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Utilizing our four key pillars of ministry, we want to give you the tools to have your own relationship WITH Jesus and ministry FOR Jesus.
So our mission is to empower you. But not just to be a better version of you. Our mission is to empower you to GROW.
I gravitate to the word grow because it denotes continuation. Too many of us think that we have to be perfect. But the church is chock full of imperfect people - people who sin, people who lie, people who get focussed on their problems and forget about Jesus, and worst of all, people who wear crocs.
God does not expect us to be perfect. But he calls us to grow.
2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,
So what do we want to empower you to grow in? Our mission is to empower you to grow in your RELATIONSHIP with Jesus.
3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
In the Bible, the word for “know” isn’t about a head-knowledge. It’s more like a experiential knowledge. It’s the difference between knowing about someone because you internet stalked them and knowing someone because you spend time with them.
A person who is fully alive is someone who knows Jesus - they have a personal relationship with him. But, just like how I know my wife better now than I did when we got married almost 22 years ago, so too you can grow deeper and know Jesus more intimately. And the beautiful thing is that there is no limit. You will continue to grow in that relationship as you learn more about yourself, more about Him, and as you engage deeper with what he calls you to.
Our mission is to empower you to grow in a relationship with Jesus. To do that, we have articulated four key pillars of ministry that we believe are essential to make sure that we are heading to the destination God has called us to - that ensure we are moving towards our vision to see you fully alive in Jesus and sharing his love with others.
The four pillars are: Biblical Teaching, Passionate Worship, Community Service and Intentional Relationships.
These four key pillars were the hallmarks of the early church. In the passage that ____________ read earlier, we see them in practice in Luke’s description of the church in it’s ideal. Let’s read that passage again and see if you can spot the pillars.
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
The first of our pillars is BIBLICAL TEACHING
In the passage Luke says that the church devoted themselves to the apostles teaching. For them, the New Testament hadn’t been written yet. The apostles went from town to town, planting churches and teaching people about Jesus and what being fully alive in him looked like. Those teachings were written down and carefully copied and passed on to other churches. These teachings would eventually constitute the New Testament.
So for us today, we also must devote ourselves to the teachings of the Apostles about Jesus. We have to read, study, interpret and apply the Bible to our lives so that we can grow in our relationship with Jesus and become more fully alive.
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,
As a church, we want everything we do to be biblically informed. That doesn’t mean that we are going to preach at every event. But it does mean that Biblical Teaching will be a major part of our discipleship ministries. That’s why our youth have started the Alpha Series - to engage with some biblical Teaching. It’s why I preach most Sundays and am committed that every Sunday we will preach the Bible, not opinions. It’s why we have kidszone - so we can teach the bible to the next generation. It’s why we have our women’s group - so you can get into the word and get the word into you.
A lot of what we do here Brentwood Park Alliance involves Biblical Teaching - and I wouldn’t have it any other way because I know that the word of God is the most important tool God has given the church to empower us to grow in a relationship with Jesus and become more fully alive in Him.
The second of our pillars is PASSIONATE WORSHIP
This one is maybe a bit harder to see in the passage in Acts, but I see it when it talks about how the church was devoted to the breaking of bread and prayer.
Breaking of bread had a dual meaning in first century Mediterranean world. It’s simple meaning was to eat together. But in the Christian world, it carried a second meaning - communion.
In today’s church, we usually celebrate communion once a month and during that time of remembrance, reflection and prayer we commune with Christ and eat a piece of bread or cracker and drink a small sip of juice. Just before he died, Jesus took these elements (although in his case he used wine) and gave them extra meaning by relating them to his death and sacrifice for our sin.
Communion, the Eucharist, the breaking of bread or whatever you call it, is, at it’s heart, worship. It’s about communing with Jesus - about being in his presence and bringing our truest selves to him.
I also see the passionate worship on display as the early church prayed. Prayer is worship. In prayer, we express to God our adoration. In prayer we confess and repent. In prayer we count our blessings with gratitude. And in prayer we express our trust in God as we bring the things of our life to him and invite him to act.
Worship has always been a foundational part of the faith experience and that’s why it’s one of our four pillars.
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,
Worship is what separates us from just being a cool club of karaoke singers because it is something we do FOR God, so that he gets the glory, not us . So, everything we do, from youth, to Alpha to Harvest party, is done in the spirit of worship, whether we sing a song or not.
The third of our pillars is COMMUNITY SERVICE
The early church expressed its love for the community through the sale of property by the Christians to give to anyone who had need. They could bless the community of believers and they could bless the wider community through this generosity.
They knew, they were taught by the apostles, that their lives were not to be about them. They were to be first God-oriented and then second others-oriented and that meant loving people through practical means.
This has always been a value here at BPAC. From our Canada Day celebrations and Harvest Party, to the Connections Cafe, to the food drive we did at Christmas for Burnaby North House, we want to serve our community by sharing the love of Jesus with them and hopefully, helping them move along the journey to becoming fully alive in Christ.
37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Now there is another side to community service as well - volunteering at the church. We are a community - we are YOUR community. Every one of you has been given gifts to serve the body of Christ with and I delight in watching the myriad of ways many of you serve here. But I wonder if any of you have been hearing God speaking to you lately about getting involved somewhere? If so, I want to encourage you to go for it because something amazing happens when we serve others - we grow in our relationship with Jesus.
We learn more about him and ourselves when we are painting the hallways or shovelling the snow. We grow far deeper when we lead a bible study than when we go to one. Our faith increases when we give to the poor and serve others. Although others are the primary benefactors of our service, we grow as well, which is why it’s one of our four pillars to empower you to grow in your relationship with Jesus.
The fourth of our pillars is INTENTIONAL RELATIONSHIPS
We talk a lot about having a personal relationship with Jesus. We believe every person has to make that choice for themselves. BUT, while our faith is personal, it is not supposed to be private. We are a communal people and our lives and our faith is meant to be shared. In the passage in Acts you see relationships all over it.
They were devoted to the Fellowship. They ate together, prayed together, worshipped together. They even went to each others homes and did all that there.
In our 21st-century, Canadian context, relationships require us to be very intentional. It’s so easy for us to isolate ourselves. So we have to fight that isolationist urge and be intentional in pursuing relationships. You cannot become whom God has designed you to be without other people to encourage you, to challenge you, to annoy you, to hurt you or to love you. God uses people to facilitate our growth.
So we have to be intentional about connecting with others. We can’t just sit back and hope people connect to us. We have to show up to the painting parties, to the small groups, to Alpha, to youth group. We need to invite people for a meal. We have to find and ask people to mentor us and help us grow. We have look around for those we need to approach that could potentially use a connection.
And I recognize that for some of you, that is a monumental ask. That is so far outside your comfort zone you need a passport. I get it. But I believe that for you, the reward - and the spiritual growth - will be that much greater if you can muster the courage to be intentional at developing relationships.
And for those who find it easy to make those connections, empower others by networking people together. For far too long, people have seen church as a thing to go to and not a people to belong to. But we are a people - we are your people - and we want to empower you to grow deeper in a relationship with Jesus by intentionally building relationship with you.
If our vision statement - to see all people fully alive in Jesus and sharing his love with others - is our end goal - our destination - then our mission statement is the gps on how to we get there.
My hope and my prayer for you as we have gone through this is that not only do you gain a better understanding of what we, as a church, are about, but that you begin to see two things:
First, you begin to see that your church here at Brentwood Park Alliance is behind you. We want to empower you to grow in a relationship with Jesus. We aren’t going to try to trick anyone into the church by being vague or hiding behind smoke and mirrors. We are all about Jesus and seeing you and him thrive together.
So when you come here on a Sunday morning, know that my goal in my preaching is to see you grow in your relationship with Jesus - whether it’s your first step towards him or your ten millionth step through biblical teaching.
Know that when Tracy, Suzy and the worship teams lead us in songs and prayers, they do so to empower us to grow in our relationship with Jesus through passionate worship.
Know that when we do a food drive, or host a community event, we do it to share the love of Jesus through our actions AND that it’s another opportunity for you to grow in your relationship with Jesus.
And know that we want to build intentional relationship with you because we can’t grow as deep without you and you can’t grow as deep without us.
Second, my hope and prayer is that you begin to see how you can play a part in this. You have a role to play because this isn’t the church - we are the church. We need you to empower others to grow in their relationship with Jesus through Biblical teaching - whether it’s at small groups, youth group, kidzone, on Sunday mornings or in mentoring relationships. The task of biblical teaching doesn’t belong ONLY to the pastor. It belongs to all of us.
We need you to empower people to grow in their relationship with Jesus by both leading and participating in passionate worship, in all of its forms.
We need you to empower people to grow in their relationship with Jesus by joining us in community service. We grow when we are others-oriented and are using our resources to share the love of Jesus with them in practical ways.
We need you to empower people to grow in their relationship with Jesus by forming intentional relationships because you grow most when you invest spiritually in other people.
Our mission is to empower people to grow in a relationship with Jesus through Biblical Teaching, Passionate Worship, Community Service and Intentional Relationships. Will you join us on this journey?
Pray.