Vision 2030: Our Mission

This is my second blog on Vision 2030: the vision that God is giving us to fulfill our mission at Rockbridge Church! Before we get into that I wanted to take a moment and look at that mission:


Boom, That's IT! It is simple, to the point, and poignant. This mission statement is one we share with our tribe, the United Methodist Church, the question is where is it's origin and what does it mean? This mission statement is derived from Jesus himself when he addressed the disciples at the end of the Gospel of Matthew before his ascension: "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, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age (Matthew 28:19-20)." 

The disciples' mission given by Jesus is the same one we have today: to be disciples who make more disciples. We are not looking simply to make non-believers into believers but rather our goal is to make people who follow Jesus. We will talk more about that during the next blog post, however, if we make disciples we believe that we will transform the world. The goal is to work with God through the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish God's will on earth as it is in heaven! If we do that, world-wide transformation is possible. I had a high school student receive a call to build a school in Malawi. His goal was for the school to raise $30,000 dollars and provide an education for hundreds! He did this because as a disciple of Jesus, God gave him a heart for those in need. The problem was not the young man's vision or the call but rather the adults at the school who did not believe it could happen. Rather than supporting this vision ($30,000 is a lot of money but a school with several thousand students could raise it with enough effort) they put up roadblocks. Still, even without their support, he raised $12,000! Imagine what it would be like if all the adults, many of them were followers of Jesus, had helped him find his path. We need to get on board with what God is doing in our world.

How does that affect you, today? Each follower of Jesus needs to commit to making Christ the center of our lives so that every action we do goes toward that goal. Every event, every moment, every opportunity for the church needs to fulfill that mission! May we be a church that makes disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world!

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