Church

At our elder retreat last fall, we spent considerable time studying, discussing, and praying about our mission as a church. For many years we had a mission statement common to many churches of the Willow Creek era: "To help unchurched people become fully-devoted followers of Jesus." A mission statement does not have to be unique to be effective. At the end of the day, God will judge individuals and churches based on the outcome of their lives not on how many trademarks or copyrights they hold. As we wrestled with what the Bible described as the mission of the church and how that is to be lived out on the local level, we came up with the following statement. If you've been around Mountainview, then hopefully you already know it. "Mountainview exists to Glorify God, Grow in Jesus, and Go into the World." That's our mission statement, or as we…

Every year at Opportunity Camp I am blessed to work with a 100+ of God's most precious children. This year, our 45th year in existence, we are serving almost 140 children who are in the social services system. Many of them are in foster or group homes, but not all of them. Some come from single parent or low income homes. One camper has been with us for the past eight years. Often this would mean he has been in foster care for the past eight years, but not in this case. This young man was adopted when he was six months old, having been born to a mother addicted to drugs. He is one of the fortunate ones. Too many of the kids who enter foster care never get out of the system. That's not to say they may not have good, loving foster parents. There are many good,…

The Christian life is a collaborative effort between a person, the triune God, and the Christian community. God never intended a person to slug through life alone. Jesus promised us we would not be orphans (John 14:18) and the New Testament writers often referred to the church in relational terms (family of God, the body of Christ, etc). The collaborative nature of the church is important when it comes to helping people find their way back to God. Years ago I heard Andy Stanley use the phrase "invest and invite" to describe how North Point Church builds a culture of evangelism. It basically boils down to two things: Invest in a relationship with a non-Christian. As I wrote earlier this week, the best form of evangelism will always be friendship. If you are serious about seeing people enter a relationship with Jesus, it will cost you time, energy, and possibly…

As a pastor, I'm often asked by folks what is the best way to reach their friends, neighbors, and coworkers. While there are many good things you could do, the best way to reach another person with the gospel is this: Be their friend. People are not projects; they are people. As living, breathing people they have hopes and fears, dreams and aspirations. Depending on their life stage, they will have questions about how to raise their children or navigate the waters of divorce. As a Christ-follower, the best gift you can give them is a redemptive friendship. But what does that mean? That means ... since the grace and love of Jesus has changed your life, it ought to change the way you do relationships as well. As a redeemed person, part of what it means to be follow Jesus is to bring his redeeming qualities to life in…

In the Oscar-winning movie, Annie Hall, Woody Allen plays a character named Alvy Singer. True to Allen's own personality, Singer has a slightly skewed view of life. In one scene, he tells an old joke: "Two elderly women are at a Catskill restaurant. One of them says, ‘Boy, the food at this place is just terrible.’ The other one says, ‘Yeah I know. And such small portions.’ Well, that’s essentially how I feel about life. Full of misery, loneliness and suffering and unhappiness – and it’s all over much too quickly." Life certainly has its difficulties. The question is, "How will you choose to see them?"