Glory of Christ Fellowship

Our Mission, Vision, and Values

Introduction

Ministry visions and strategic plans and such like things are important for any organization, including the church. But as the church, we hold them loosely because the Scripture clearly says: “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps” (Prov. 16:9), and “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand” (Prov. 19:21), and “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil” (Prov. 3:5-7).

Therefore, the purpose of a ministry vision is neither to tell God what we will do for him, nor to tell him what he will do through us. Rather, it is simply to clarify and summarize our understanding of the purposes of the Lord for church. We want to be as clear as we can about what the Bible is calling us to do so that we will be found to be good and faithful stewards of his church. What follows, then, is a summary of the mission, vision, and values of Glory of Christ Fellowship.

Our Mission

We believe that the glory of God is the over-arching and unifying teaching of the Bible. In other words, we believe that God does everything he does, ultimately, for the sake of his own glory. “I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made” (Is. 43:6-7), and “For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another” (Is. 48:11), and “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Hab. 2:14).

Further, we believe that all experience of the glory of God is mediated through Jesus Christ, whether or not one acknowledges it as such. “He [Jesus] is the radiance of the glory of God… (Heb. 1:3), and “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:5-6). Therefore, the main design of God for the church is to spread his glory throughout the earth by sending the church to proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord. To behold and prize and praise the glory of Jesus is to behold and prize and praise the glory of God the Father. This is why we named the church “Glory of Christ,” and why we adopted the following mission statement:

We exist to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples, through Jesus Christ.

Our Vision

As we look into the future and contemplate what will come about as we labor for this mission, the primary thing we see is a vision of the kind of people we are becoming. We are convinced that God is more concerned with who we are than with what we do. As Jesus said to the religious leaders of his day: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean” (Mat. 23:25-26). This is not to say that what we do is unimportant, only to say that who we are is of paramount importance. We can never do the right thing if we are the wrong people. Therefore, our vision for this church begins with a vision for people, out of which flows a vision for the local church and a vision for our involvement in God’s global purposes.

Our Vision for People: We envision a people of God, enthralled with the glory of God, proclaiming the excellencies of God among the nations, through Jesus Christ.

We take this from 1 Peter 2:9 which says, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” We envision a people who are increasingly fascinated, gripped, and captivated by God, a people who are more passionate about him than other things that are precious and meaningful to them. We envision a people who, therefore, joyfully engage in the daily pursuit of God; who are growing in their knowledge of one another through purposeful, intelligent and engaging relationships; who are serving one another for the sake of the glory of Christ; who are engaged in ministry and mission to the lost and the least of these; and who are willing to sacrifice whatever they must that God might be prized and praised among the nations.

Our Vision for the Local Church: We envision a God-centered, biblical, missional, growing, healthy, humble, vital church of believers who are enthralled with the glory of God, no matter what the size.

We believe that the measure of a church is its standing before God, and not external matters like numbers, budgets, programs, and staff. However, we further believe that God has put it into the heart of the church always to reach more and more people for the glory of his name. Thus, though we do not know the mind of the Lord, we are praying that he will be pleased to prosper us so that as an extension of the ministry of the church we will be able to develop a Christian school (kindergarten through twelfth grade) that emphasizes biblical theology, character and Christian disciplines, practical ministry skills, and a classic liberal arts education. Our passion is to develop leaders who will glorify God, serve his people, remember the poor, and win the lost in a variety of contexts. Further, we would like to develop a ministry training center where we would equip and send kingdom laborers into foreign missions, domestic church planting, domestic church leadership, and theological institutions. Our passion is to see the next generations rise up and lay their lives down for the glory of God and the truth of the Bible around the world. Finally, we would like to develop a life training center where we would offer such things as marital counseling, recovery ministries, job skills training, music training for children and adults, and sports leagues. Our passion is to meet people at their points of need and show them how the glory and grace of God relate to their problems, hopes, and dreams.

Our Vision for Missions: We envision a church that passionately engages in God’s global purposes, namely, to win for himself, through the preaching of the gospel, worshipers from every tribe, language, people, and nation (John 4:24, 1 Cor. 1:21, Rev. 5:9).

Thus, we hope to consistently identify, train, mentor, send, and support missionaries throughout the world, in concert with God-centered, biblical missions agencies around the world.

Our Values

To value a thing is to esteem it, or to acknowledge its intrinsic worth, and the lengths to which we go to have that thing display the value we place on it or see in it. For example, it is one thing to see a treasure in a field and acknowledge its value; it is quite another to go and sell everything you have that you might buy that field (Mat. 13:44). Thus, as followers of Jesus Christ, the questions become, What would Jesus have us value? and, How far would he have us go to acquire it?

In answer to the first question, we think that the primary thing Jesus would have us value is God himself. All of the blessings and benefits of knowing and walking with God are subservient to this one great treasure. Consider the following texts: “For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life” (Rom. 5:10). “Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God” (Rom. 7:4). “For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one [i.e., Jews and gentiles] and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility” (Eph. 2:14-16).

The message of the cross of Christ is that God himself is eminently valuable, and the hope of the cross of Christ is that, through his death, burial, and resurrection, we might be reconciled to God and have him as our only treasure!

Now for the second question: how far would Jesus have us go to acquire this treasure? The answer to this question is somewhat complicated because, on the one hand, he would have us give up everything, even our very lives, that we might acquire it: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God" (Luke 9:23-27). “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev. 2:10).

But, on the other hand, the price for the treasure of God is immeasurably higher than our ability to pay, and so Jesus Christ paid that price for us on the cross. And the way we make his payment effective for us, thereby receiving God as our Father and treasure, is by confessing with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believing in our hearts that God has raised him from the dead (Rom. 10:9). Then, as a visible display of the fact that Christ’s payment has become effective for us, we joyfully deny ourselves, take up our crosses daily, and follow him. We joyfully die to our will and our ways that we might see and savor the wisdom of God. We joyfully die to lesser pleasures, like possessions and power and prestige and illicit sex, that we might indulge ourselves in the greater pleasures of the glory of God (Psalm 16:11). We joyfully open our mouths and “proclaim the excellencies of him who called [us] out of darkness into his marvelous light” even at the cost of our time, convenience, pride, relationships, possessions, and lives.

We are well aware that this kind of joyful self-sacrifice does not usually come about in an instant, but rather grows incrementally over time as the Holy Spirit shapes us more and more into the image of God and gives us eyes to see the surpassing pleasures of the glory of God as over against the lesser pleasures of this world. And the word we think best describes this process is discipleship. We get this, of course, from Matthew 28:18-20: “And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’”

If the essence of Jesus’ great command is to make disciples, then the question becomes, What is a disciple? A disciple is one who loves the Lord his God with all of his heart and soul and mind and strength, who considers God his all-surpassing treasure, who dies to everything else that he might gain that treasure, and who displays his love for God by laying down his life for others (Mark 12:29-31, Mat. 13:44, Luke 9:23-27, 1 John 3:10, 4:7-21). In other words, a disciple is one who is in right relationship with God, through Jesus Christ, who considers this relationship of paramount significance, and who displays this significance in the way he relates to others.

How, then, is a disciple to be made? We find the answer in Paul’s instructions to Timothy: “You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (1 Tim. 2:1-2). Disciples are made as more mature men, in the normal course of life, teach other faithful men how to be disciples, and as more mature women, in the normal course of life, teach other faithful women how to be disciples. This leads to a very important conclusion, namely, that discipleship, in its aim and process, is profoundly relational. It does consist of teaching biblical theology, training in Christian disciplines, training in life and ministry skills, and training in interpersonal skills. But in the end, the intent of discipleship is not just to pass on information and skills, but to enflame the soul with a passion for God that is expressed in acts of love and service toward others. And all of this comes about through life-on-life relationships, as the more mature in Christ lead and mentor the less mature in Christ.

In sum, we believe that Jesus would have us value God himself above all things, that the means of doing so is belief in Jesus expressed through joyful self-sacrifice, that this process is best called discipleship, and that discipleship encompasses all of life and is profoundly relational in its aim and process. Practically speaking, we aim to help the people of Glory of Christ embrace this one all-encompassing value by teaching them to integrate eight specific values into their lives, all of which we glean from Acts 2:42-47:

1. A Biblical Vision of God: to spread a passion for the supremacy God we must have a biblical vision of the glory and purposes of God (v. 43; 1 Timothy 1:17);
2. Holiness: to spread a passion for the supremacy of God we must understand and pursue holiness, for “without it no one will see the Lord” (v. 42; Hebrews 12:14);
3. The Word of God: to spread a passion for the supremacy of God we must know and treasure all of the inerrant Word of God (v. 42);
4. Prayer: to spread a passion for the supremacy of God we must be filled with the Spirit of God, and the main means of this filling is prayer (v. 42);
5. Worship: to spread a passion for the supremacy of God we must be a people who prize and praise God with our manner of life and with our lips (vv. 42,43,46,47);
6. Faith: to spread a passion for the supremacy of God we must fear nothing but God, and walk only by faith in the Son of God (v. 43);
7. Koinonia: to spread a passion for the supremacy of God we must receive from and contribute to his Body, the church (vv. 42,44,45);
8. The Lost and the Least: to spread a passion for the supremacy of God we must share in God’s passion for the lost and the “least of these” (v. 47).

Here it is important that we understand the stages of developing a value:

1. Developing an authentic value begins when we perceive value in something, like the Word of God or worship or prayer. This stage is only the beginning of the process, but it is without doubt a miracle of grace. Before we were in Christ, we saw no worth or value at all in such things, but now by the grace of God we have come to see something of how valuable they are.
2. Having come to see value in such things, we then choose to integrate them into our way of life. In other words, we become willing to change, and this willingness is tantamount to a conversion. To convert is to turn from one thing to another, it’s to let go of our way of doing life and embrace the Father’s way of doing life. So, in stage two we convert, we make a choice for change that will radically alter the way we live our lives.
3. Having made the choice for change, we develop practical life habits associated with the things we’ve come to value. It is only when we are able to point to such habits that we can truthfully say we value something. We think that, except for rare and unusual cases, this stage necessitates the help of a trusted mentor who has already integrated these values into his or her life and can lead us in the way we should go.
4. Having developed practical life habits associated with the things we’ve come to value, we must now pass them on to others, and we do this both unintentionally and intentionally. We do this unintentionally because, for better or worse, we all bleed our values. As Jesus said in Matthew 12:34-35, “For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.” As we come to value the Word of God and worship and prayer and such like things, we will not be able to stop the unintentional bleeding of them from our lives into the lives of others. And yet we must learn to pass our values on to others intentionally because, as disciples of Jesus Christ, we are commanded and inspired and empowered by our Master to disciple the nations.

Thus, at Glory of Christ, our aim is to help people move from stage one to stage four with regard to all eight of the values listed above, that they might truly embrace that one all-encompassing value, namely, God himself.

Conclusion

We conclude by briefly stating our mission, vision, and values:

Our Mission: We exist to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples, through Jesus Christ.

Our Vision: We envision a people of God, enthralled with the glory of God, proclaiming the excellencies of God among the nations, through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:9). We envision a vibrant, growing church of 100s, or if the Lord would bless, 1,000s that develops a school, a ministry training center, and a life center. We envision a church that will be vitally involved in global missions from its inception.

Our Values: We envision a people who primarily value God Almighty as their all-surpassing treasure by learning to value eight specific things:

• A Biblical Vision of God: to spread a passion for the supremacy God we must have a biblical vision of the glory and purposes of God (v. 43; 1 Timothy 1:17);
• Holiness: to spread a passion for the supremacy of God we must understand and pursue holiness, for “without it no one will see the Lord” (v. 42; Hebrews 12:14);
• The Word of God: to spread a passion for the supremacy of God we must know and treasure all of the inerrant Word of God (v. 42);
• Prayer: to spread a passion for the supremacy of God we must be filled with the Spirit of God, and the main means of this filling is prayer (v. 42);
• Worship: to spread a passion for the supremacy of God we must be a people who prize and praise God with our manner of life and with our lips (vv. 42,43,46,47);
• Faith: to spread a passion for the supremacy of God we must fear nothing but God, and walk only by faith in the Son of God (v. 43);
• Koinonia: to spread a passion for the supremacy of God we must receive from and contribute to his Body, the church (vv. 42,44,45);
• The Lost and the Least: to spread a passion for the supremacy of God we must share in God’s passion for the lost and the “least of these” (v. 47).