THE UNCHANGING MISSION AT CORNERSTONE
In our last post, we talked about what the mission of the church is and why it is so important. We based it on the great commission that Jesus gave to his disciples before he went back to heaven in Matthew 28:18-20. Just a quick recap...
What is the Mission of the Church?
The mission of the church is make disciples.
What is a disciple?
A disciple is someone who has committed their life to the process of observing, imitating, and obeying their teacher so that they can become like them and do the things they do.
At Cornerstone, our Mission statement starts with: WE EXIST TO MAKE AND MULTIPLY DISCIPLES.
MAKING DISCIPLES
We said that a mission statement implies action so we are using the word "MAKE" from Matthew 28 to emphasize that we want to actually make disciples and not inherit them from other churches. We want to develop deep relationships with people who do not know Jesus and help them to see their need for him as Savior and King. We want to then walk with them as they grow in maturity, from spiritual infants, to spiritual children, to spiritual young adults, and on to spiritual parents.
MULTIPLYING DISCIPLES
We also purposefully chose to include that we want to be a church that MULTIPLIES disciples. This follows the pattern of Jesus. Jesus was a single man who invested in 12 disciples and then sent them out to reproduce what he had done in them. They in turn went out and personally discipled others, who then discipled others. A TRUE DISCIPLE MAKES OTHER DISCIPLES. The apostle Paul illustrates this concept beautifully in his letter to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:2. Paul discipled Timothy, Timothy is commanded to turn and disciple others, who will then disciple others on how to follow and become like Jesus. They are discipled and then turn around and make disciples. This is multiplication.
We exist to MAKE and MULTIPLY DISCIPLES.
HOW DO WE MAKE DISCIPLES?
Now the question is, how do we know what a disciple should look? What does a disciple need to know? What are the things a disciple should do? How can we measure if someone is growing as a disciple? We looked at the end of Jesus' ministry to see what his mission was, now let's look at the beginning of his ministry to see his process.
THE CALLING TO DISCIPLESHIP
As Jesus is gathering the people he will spend time discipling, in Matthew 4:19 he tells Peter and Andrew "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." There are three components here: FOLLOW ME | I WILL MAKE YOU | FISHERS OF MEN. When Jesus says "follow me" he is inviting them into a relationship. This is an invitation to know him personally and to spend time with him. That's why part of our mission is statement is KNOWING JESUS.The next part is "I will make you." This is a statement about changing them from what they currently are into something different. We call this process of transformation REFLECTING JESUS. The last component in the invitation of Jesus is to learn to "fish for men." Jesus is telling them that he intends for them to be part of his mission to seek and save the lost. We use the language of POINTING TO JESUS.
It looks like this so far...
FOLLOW ME
AND I WILL MAKE YOU
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FISHERS OF MEN
KNOWING JESUS
REFLECTING JESUS
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POINTING TO JESUS
There is one last piece missing from our definition of what a disciple needs to learn to do. In John 21:15-17, after Jesus has risen from the grave, he has an interaction with Peter. Peter has denied Jesus 3 times and Jesus is "RE-CALLING" him by asking him if he loves him 3 times. However, Jesus is also giving Peter a final command. He wants his disciple to make sure to care and serve the other followers of Jesus. He says "feed my sheep." So the final component of what it means to be a disciple is to SERVE JESUS by serving his flock, the Church.
So let's put this all together. We exist to MAKE and MULTIPLY DISCIPLES that KNOW, REFLECT, SERVE, AND POINT TO JESUS.
FOLLOW ME
AND I WILL MAKE YOU
FEED MY SHEEP
FISHERS OF MEN
KNOW JESUS
REFLECT JESUS
SERVE JESUS
POINT TO JESUS
Another way to build this statement would be to look at Matthew 22:34-40. Jesus is asked what the greatest commandment is in the law. Essentially they're asking, Jesus can you give us a summary of what it means to live the way God designed us to live? Jesus' response is “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
Jesus says that living a life that pleases God is about growing in three major relationships: loving God, loving self, and loving others. Our statement addresses each of these three relationships. KNOWING JESUS is about knowing and loving God. Reflecting Jesus is about knowing yourself and being transformed by his love. SERVING AND POINTING have to do with relationships with others.
LOVING GOD
EXPERIENCING GODS LOVE
LOVING OTHERS
LOVING OTHERS
FOLLOW ME
AND I WILL MAKE YOU
FEED MY SHEEP
FISHERS OF MEN
KNOW JESUS
REFLECT JESUS
SERVE JESUS
POINT TO JESUS
We believe that if a mission statement can incorporate the great commandment, the great commission, the first invitation to discipleship, and the reinstatement of a wayward disciple, then it was fairly robust and trustworthy. Now we have our major framework for what it means to be a disciple. It must be simple enough to be memorable and thoroughly based on biblical principals. So how do we go about making disciples that look like this? We'll cover that in our next post.
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