The Mission and Vision of the Church
by Benny D. Horn preached on 04/21/02 at A.B.C.
Introduction: When I was a young man, for several years I made a living building houses. Through the years, I have drawn house plans, I have done framing and finish carpentry, and I have acted as the overall building contractor. I always hired subcontractors to do things such as concrete work, electrical, plumbing, etc. There are many different decisions that have to be made in building a house, and it takes many different skilled workers to build a house. Jesus said, "For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?" So to simplify all this, I would break it down into 2 parts. The first part is the easy part. First, the customer comes to us and says he wants to build a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house with a 2 car garage and covered porches on the front and back. He may say that he wants it to be no more than 2000 square feet, because he knows that is what he can afford. Ok, now we can call this our mission. Our mission is to build this person a house based on these specifications. But how to do that is not given in our mission. Now the second part is a little more complicated, but it isn’t really, once we get a vision of how we are going to accomplish our mission. Our vision will lay out the details needed to reach the goal of completing the specified house. In other words, our mission is our desired goal that we want to reach, and our vision is a more detailed plan of how to reach our goal.
Prayer
Read Text: Matthew 28:
19: Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Comment: This is what we call the "great commission". When churches try to come up with a mission statement, this is it. Basically our mission is the "Reach and Teach". This is our mission. First we are to reach the lost, and second, we are to teach the saved. Our mission is to reach people for Christ and teach people to be disciples of Christ. All else should revolve around these 2 things.
Now we all can agree on that, I think. But the vision of how do we do that is going to be unique to Angus Baptist Church. What works for one church may not work for the next church. So we need to catch the vision that will allow us to do these 2 things and do them effectively.
I. Prayer: Jesus has given me strong convictions that prayer has to come first before the church will be strong enough to face the forces of hell that will come against her as souls are saved.
Mt:21:22: And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
A. Prayer for conviction and repentance in the church.
1Pt:4:17: For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
B. Prayer for salvation of the lost and rededication of the backslidden.
Mt: 21:13: And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.
If we don’t come together and pray for the lost and backslidden of this community as well as the world, then all of our efforts will probably be in vain. We may be making His House a den of thieves by trying to steel the glory away from God. Why? Because without prayer it will be us doing it instead of Him.
II. Passion: Jesus has placed and will continue to place people in the body to carry out the Father’s will in Angus. I want to ask you this morning, "What is your passion?" Pray about it. The church can vote you into a slot and tell you how to do your job, or you can come to me and tell me what you are passionate about, and I can plug you into whatever will fit into our vision to make our mission happen.
I Cor: 12:4: Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
5: And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.
14: For the body is not one member, but many.
15: If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
16: And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
17: If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
18: But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
III. Planning: It would be foolish to have a vision of all the people in Angus that God wants to reach and teach, but not have a building large enough to hold them all. It would be sort of like old Noah setting sail in a little fishing boat. Not a good plan at all. Well, let me tell you, when God says it will rain, get the ark built, because when He is ready, IT WILL RAIN. But it will be on His time schedule and not ours.
Obviously, I am talking about our Building Program:
Phase I: Fellowship Hall and Classrooms.
Phase II: New Sanctuary
Phase III: Renovation of Old Sanctuary for Future Youth and Education Building.
IV. Power (of love): Jesus established His Church to be the light of the world, and that is just what I see this church as being instead of a small country church that many people don’t even know is here. The darkness up the street will be driven away by the power of the light that will shine from this church. And as Walter Brennon used to say on that old TV western, "No brag, just fact!"
I have been asked by many concerned pastors and well meaning Christians, "What are you going to do about the strip club up the street from you?" When the club first opened up, I am proud to say that this church made a decision to do what Jesus says to do, "Love your neighbor as yourself." It is kind of hard to march and protest on your neighbor if you are loving him as Jesus tells us to. Anyway, we have prayed for these neighbors and left it to God to take care of it.
Yet, I see the day when this Church and the strip joint will be sort of like David and Goliath. The talk of the people was all about Goliath and nobody hardly knew who the little shepherd boy was til David said, "I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied." David’s power was in his slingshot, yet the power of the church is love, but the source of the power is the same. And the light will ultimately overcome the darkness. So never underestimate the power of God to accomplish His will as we go forward here at Angus Baptist Church.
Conclusion: Remember, our mission is to reach people for Christ and teach people to be disciples of Christ.. Our vision is to accomplish this through PRAYER, PASSION, PLANNING & POWER (of love).
Details can still be fine tuned, but the main thing is to "CATCH THE VISION" for without a vision the people perish. God wants no one to perish, and that is why He sent His Son to die on the cross.
Invitation: There may be someone here today who doesn’t know the saving power of the blood of Jesus Christ. He has the power to save a sinner bound for hell. He has the power to restore a backslidden christian who has been living a life unpleasing to God. His Spirit has the power to convict hearts as He speaks to you today. Won’t you come as He calls you by name.
