Grace Fellowship's Mission Statement Long Version

This "long version" of the Grace Fellowship Mission Statement was written primarily for the leaders of the church to use as they evaluate particular ministries and the overall church ministry. It elaborates on the terms used in the short version.

The Mission of Grace Fellowship

Introduction

We, the congregation of Grace Fellowship, are called by God to live as a community working together to know God, imitate Him, and make Him known. We embrace our mandate to work toward this end while acknowledging our inability to do so apart from the power of the Holy Spirit.

Knowing God

We are working together to know God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We seek to know Him through prayer, fasting, worship, and immersion in Scripture (which includes reading, meditating, memorizing, studying, and receiving preaching and teaching). In these we place ourselves humbly before God desiring a genuine relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. We share with Him our whole selves and wait expectantly for Him to reveal Himself to us.

As He does so, we grow in our comprehension of His attributes, character, and activity. His revealed truth enables us to believe and put our faith in Him resulting in our salvation and the development of the mind of Christ in us. As our knowledge of Him grows we respond in worship (including praise and adoration, participation in the Lord’s Supper, and the presentation our tithes and offerings), and we are moved to pursue an ever-deeper relationship with Him.

Imitating God

We believe that an authentic relationship with God will naturally result in our imitation of His person and activity in the church and in the world. Therefore, we are working together to imitate God, as revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, seeking the transformation of our character, lifestyle and community as we spur one another on in the life of discipleship.

The transformation of our character will be made manifest in holiness, love, the fruits of the Spirit, and a life lived in dependence upon the power of the Holy Spirit. Our character matures as we practice spiritual disciplines and allow God to correct deception, heal emotional wounds and deliver us from spiritual oppression.

The transformation of our lifestyle will be made manifest in radical obedience, sacrificial living, faithful stewardship, loving service, persistent prayer, healing and deliverance, and identification with the poor, the outcast, and the unlovely.

The transformation of our community will be made manifest as we move from independent individualism to interdependence, mutual submission, commitment to the local body and partnership with the universal Church. Our life together is transformed as we participate in intentional relationships, giving preference to one another as we walk in love, humility, and forgiveness; identify, develop, and exercise our spiritual gifts; submit to church authorities; and share in the ordinances of Baptism and Communion.

Making Him Known

We are working together to imitate God by continuing Christ’s work in the world, making Him known in our homes, neighborhoods and workplaces, throughout our nation, and around the globe. We pray for the Lord of the Harvest to go before us, preparing the ground, raising up workers, providing opportunities, and empowering His people with words, works, and wisdom for this task. At the same time we seek to create contexts in which we may proclaim the good news of who God is and what He has done while we look for opportunities to share the gospel in our everyday relationships.

We endeavor to show who He is through the transformation of our character, lifestyle, and fellowship, and we demonstrate His compassion and mercy as we reach out to those in need. We recognize our individual responsibility to participate in this mandate along with our privilege of supporting and encouraging one another in the various fields into which God sends us.

Conclusion