A churchUNIQUE Post by Pastor Bryan

One of the things we are trying to do communicate clearly.

Why?

We carry the most important message in the world. It’s the message of God’s love and his work in our lives through his Son Jesus Christ. We can’t mess this one up. No wonder the Apostle Paul told Timothy to “study to show yourself approved.” (2 Timothy 2:15)

We want to communicate the gospel with unequaled clarity which means thinking about how we, as a church, are going to live out the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20) in our context.

Why does it take so much work to do this well?

One of the authors Michael and I have been reading answers this question. He says, “A lot of people think that clarity means simplicity. This usually isn’t the case. Clarity is usually found by slogging through complexity. You see every church has its own history, internal dynamics, priorities, personalities, giftings, and callings. Clarity comes after wading through the complexity of a churches unique character and most importantly listening to God’s voice together.

Over the last 15 months Michael and I along with the Lay Leaders and Communications Team (and our other boards and committees) have been trying to articulate with clarity how we are going to fulfill the Great Commission. In the process we have developed a vision frame.

The four sides of this frame are:

• Mission – This is a clear, concise and compelling description of how we are going to fulfill the Great Commission. It answers the question, “What are we doing?”
• Motives or Values – These are the shared convictions that guide us as we seek to make disciples, teach obedience to God, and take the gospel to the whole world. They answer the question, “Why are we doing it?”
• MAP (Missional Map) – The missional map is the picture or the process that demonstrates how we will accomplish the mission. The strategy answers the question, “How are we going to do it?”
• Measures (as life marks) – these are a set of attributes that are true in a person’s life that reflect the mission accomplished. These answer the question “What will be true in the life of the believer when we are successful?”

Here is our vision frame.

Mission (Mandate)

Encouraging everyone to know Jesus and follow him, every day and in every way.

Values (Motives)

Committed to God’s Word

Called to Spiritual Growth

Craving to Serve

Commissioned to All

Strategy (Map)

        Sunday Experiences

        Growthday Experiences

        Everyday Experiences

Life Marks (Measures)

Am I spending time with God?

Am I obeying God’s Word?

Am I worshipping with God’s people?

Am I fellowshipping with other believers?

Am I giving generously?

Am I investing my life in others?

Am I witnessing to others?

This may not all make sense right now. Why would it? Clarity after all takes time. But this is important, more important than we realize. Right now we have put a stake in the ground and are saying “we refuse to live as though people around us aren’t going to hell and that there is no enemy of our souls. We refuse to live as though everything is OK.” Things aren’t OK. We have been given a holy mandate and we want to take it seriously.

churchUNIQUE – Our Mission Mandate

Encouraging everyone to know Jesus and follow him everyday and in every way!

This is week two of churchUNIQUE. Last week we laid the foundation with The Great Commission. This week we begin to discussing how we live out The Great Commission in our unique setting as a church. We call this our mission mandate.

A mission mandate is a clear, concise way of describing what we are supposed to be doing. This mandate is like our North Star. Its purpose is to provide direction and to point everyone in that direction.  It is anchored in the sending of Jesus into the world and in turn Jesus sending us, which we call “The Great Commission.” Our mission mandate always lives within the boundaries of making disciples, teaching obedience to Jesus Christ as Lord, and taking the gospel message to the whole world.

We aren’t inventing our mission from scratch. Instead we are articulating it from scripture. Our mission mandate is a way of reminding each other that we have been sent by Jesus into the world to be witnesses. This sentness is reflecting in John 20:19-21 which says,  ¹⁹ On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” ²⁰ After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. ²¹ Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

Note the word peace in this passage. You can find it in verse 19 and 21. Image the disciples hiding in fear, huddled in personal anxiety. And then Jesus says “peace.” On first look it might seem like Jesus is pronouncing peace for comfort’s sake. Verse 21 gives further insight though. It tells us that peace is for the sake of mission. “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” This passage shows us the heart of Jesus and his deepest desire: that his disciples would unlock the doors and begin reaching out to a lost and dying world.

This is what our mission mandate is all about. It’s our description of what we are going to do to live out The Great Commission. Our mission mandate ensures that we will never slip into seeing The Great Commission as a Great Suggestion. We don’t have forever to make disciples and we have to remind ourselves that time as we know it is limited. Our mission mandate reminds us of these things. It counteracts our tendency to only “focus inward” – lock our doors in fear! World War II pastor and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer once said that the church is only the church when it exists for others.  This is the reason why he was willing to stand against Nazism. It was because of a deep inward belief that the church doesn’t exist only for itself, but for the world and to the world.

Our mission mandate guides our hands and feet as we seek to make disciples. It is a clear concise way of describing how we will fulfill the great commission. Encouraging Everyone to know and follow Jesus every day and in every way.

It is the first component of what we call our vision frame. More on that later…!

churchUNIQUE – The Great Commission

by Pastor Bryan

We shouldn’t be surprised by the fact that churches are unique. Uniqueness permeates every part of creation. No two stars are alike. Every planet has its own features. This planet that we call home is full of variety with all of its creatures and features. And humanity itself is the greatest example of uniqueness in that no two people are alike right down to the tips of their fingers and a unique print.

When we look at nature we find uniqueness!

When we look at God’s children we find unique is the only norm!

Why would we expect anything different from his church?

Have you ever noticed that there are 7 letters to 7 churches in the book of Revelation? Why didn’t God just address all seven churches at the same time? The reason: Each church had its own strengths and weaknesses.

The same thing is true of our church. Our church is “one of kind” and I mean that in a good way. God has placed us where we are and given us unique strengths, gifts and abilities to serve him here.

He has also given us our marching orders. These are found in Matthew 28:18-20

¹⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ 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, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

So why would we want to make disciples?

The answer is found in verse 18 when Jesus says, “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.”

God has given Jesus universal and unlimited authority and for this reason we are to make disciples. We aren’t supposed to promote Jesus to others because of our need or even because of human need but because of Jesus’ unique worthiness. Whenever we promote Jesus to others it is because we acknowledge that in essence everyone belongs to God anyway.

It’s only because Jesus is worthy of honor that we ever want to make disciples. It’s only because of what he has done for each one of us that we would even consider promoting him to others.

This is essentially what the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5: 14-15, ¹⁴ For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. ¹⁵ And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

churchUNIQUE

God doesn't mass produce his church! Every church is unmistakably unique and incomparably different! Our local church is "one of a kind." God has given us unique strengths, gifts and abilities to serve Him here so over the next eight weeks we will be discussing our mission, values and vision all of which come out of the Great Commission.

This week we will be discussing "The Great Commission" (Matthew 28:19-20).

Sermons are posted online every Monday. If you miss a Sunday, go to www.bigtimberchurch.com/resources/sermons and listen to our most recent sermon. We will also be posting the sermon notes online.

You can also keep up with what's happening on our blog. A blog is like an online journal and it will provide one more way for us go deeper after Sunday! Over the next several weeks we will be posting thoughts, devotions, and additional insights online.

So why this series?

The church is God's vehicle for reaching lost people. God sent Jesus into the world as a sign of his love and now Jesus sends us into the world to continue his mission.

Unfortunately the church seems to have lost it's zeal for reaching the world. In the last ten years, the church in America has been on the decline. There are lot's for reason for this but the over all result has been a decline.

So what needs to happen?

The church needs to look again at its calling and return to its mission of making disciples and teaching people to follow Jesus. This is what churchUNIQUE is about and it's the reason why we are embarking on this 8 week series.

We want to invite you to join us for this series. We also want to invite you to join in on this discussion! Join us this Sunday.

God Bless, Pastor Bryan

3 reasons why I’m excited about churchUNIQUE…

This Sunday we begin more than a sermon series.  Together as the church of God in Big Timber we are embarking on a journey into God’s better future for our church and our community.  I believe that God desires to do big things through our church to reach those in our community who do not yet know Jesus Christ. I anticipate what God will do among us.  Here are three reasons I'm excited about churchUNIQUE beginning this Sunday:

1. Fruition

churchUNIQUE is the fruition of more than a year’s work to communicate a clear, concise, compelling, catalytic, and contextual understanding of God’s vision for God’s church in Big Timber.  This process included consulting with Jim Randell, Lead Navigator for Auxano, who coaches churches through this process.  Bryan and I met before, during, and after Bryan’s sabbatical.  We also spent many hours working with the Lay Leaders and Communication Team meticulously analyzing every word of the entire vision. God was working in the process as each team met separately but both settled on the verb “encouraging” without the other team knowing about it.  The results of churchUNIQUE is the fruition of following God’s vision for our church.

2. Focus

churchUNIQUE brings focus to the ministry of the church.  Not to say we did not have focus before, but rather this clarifies the focus of what we believe God has gifted us and called us to do as a church.  We desire every ministry of the church and every person in the church to have the same focus of encouraging everyone to know Jesus and follow Him every day and in every way!  So for the student ministry, which I lead, our specific focus is encouraging every student to know Jesus and follow Him every day and in every way!  I desire, more importantly, I believe God desires, for every student in Big Timber to know Jesus through salvation and forgiveness of sins and for every student to walk with Jesus every day in every way, in every arena of life, in the hallways, at school, on their sports’ team, among their peers and among their families.  churchUNIQUE will help us as a church to focus why we do ministry and how we do ministry.

3. Future

churchUNIQUE has the ability to shape the future of the church.  Not just because it is something that we are doing, but because we are following God’s leading into his better future.  churchUNIQUE invites us to journey with God into his better future for us, our church and our community. Imagine if every Sunday someone or multiple people came to know Christ for the very first time.  Imagine on Sundays baptizing new believers who desire to publicly declare they follow Jesus.  Imagine every one who is part of this church encouraging everyone they come into contact with every day.  Imagine everyone in the church encouraging and leading one person to Christ each year.  Imagine adding a third worship service because two services cannot contain what God is doing.  Imagine our community being transformed by the work of God though his church.  These results could happen, and bigger things could happen, as all of us live out God’s mission encouraging everyone to know Jesus and follow him every day and in every way!  I believe God wants to use churchUNIQUE to transform you, to transform our church, to transform our community, and to change the eternal destiny of lost people in our community.

I’m excited!  Are you?

Encouraging everyone to know Jesus and follow Him every day and in every way!

Pastor Michael