What’s the vision?
“Be thou my vision,
O Lord of my heart.”
We’re convinced that if Christ is not the vision of the Church, no matter how good its vision is – be it reaching the lost, teaching the Bible, helping the poor, or building a loving community – it has lost its foundation, betrayed its head, and substituted a higher purpose for a lower one. Christ is not the means by which the Church achieves its vision; Christ is the vision of the Church, and the Church is the means by which people find Christ.
PROVE IT FROM THE BIBLE
“He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn over all creation.”
For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through him and for him.
He is before all things, and by him all things hold together.
He is also the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile everything to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
COLOSSIANS 1:15-20
A Church whose
vision is Christ
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HELPS OTHERS TO FIND CHRIST AND LIFE IN HIM.
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PROCLAIMS THE WORD OF GOD & TEACHES CHRIST FROM THE SCRIPTURES.
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TRAINS & EQUIPS PEOPLE TO FOLLOW CHRIST AND TO LOVE AND SERVE OTHERS.
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GENEROUSLY & COMPASSIONATELY HELPS THE POOR, MARGINALISED, & PERSECUTED.
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LOVES GOD – CHRIST, HIS FATHER, AND HIS SPIRIT – AND LOVES OTHERS.
HELPS OTHERS TO FIND CHRIST AND LIFE IN HIM.
A Church whose vision is Christ makes it a goal to help others to find Christ, by connecting with people in the community, sharing their lives with them, demonstrating the love of Christ to them, and telling them about him.
PROCLAIMS THE WORD OF GOD
& TEACHES CHRIST FROM THE SCRIPTURES.
A Church whose vision is Christ proclaims Christ, the Word of God incarnate, not only by teaching Christ from the Scriptures, but also by fostering a community centred around and transformed by the Word.
TRAINS & EQUIPS PEOPLE TO FOLLOW CHRIST
AND TO LOVE AND SERVE OTHERS.
A Church whose vision is Christ trains and equips its people to follow Christ: to treasure Christ and his gospel, to imitate him by loving and serving others, and to put aside any desire or deed unworthy of him or his kingdom.
GENEROUSLY & COMPASSIONATELY HELPS
THE POOR, MARGINALISED, & PERSECUTED.
A Church whose vision is Christ strives to demonstrate to everyone the same generosity and compassion they themselves were shown by God, with a special focus on the most vulnerable in the local community, and on their brothers and sisters in Christ throughout the world who are persecuted for their faith.
LOVES GOD
– CHRIST, HIS FATHER, AND HIS SPIRIT –
AND LOVES OTHERS.