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Mission & Message: The Same
Methods: Flexible
How do you understand the title of this particular blog? What does it have to do with Life at Northpark? The truth is that it says a great deal about our church. It says that we have a single mission. Our mission is: Let God love us and let God love others through us. How does mission impact Life at Northpark? It keeps us focused on the main thing. Every time someone comes to visit our church, our goal is that they see our church as a place where the love of God is present and that they feel loved by God as our church family expresses his love. What does this have to do with the title? We have one mission. It does not change week-to-week. It is our goal to live out this mission as consistently as possible. We want to be a place whose mission offers our current attenders and our future attenders, a sense of stability and security.
But what about message? Our message is the same message as the message which dominates the pages of the Bible. That message is expressed in the New Testament book of 1 Corinthians 15:3-4:
3 I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. 4 He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.
It is this message that informs our mission. It is this message that we seek to communicate, in our worship each Sunday, through our singing, our participation in the Lord’s Supper, and in our preaching. It is the first message that was preached. It was this message that led to the formation of the first church 2,000 years ago and it has not changed. Thus, we have one message that was passed on to us and is consistent with the Scriptures: Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose again.
It is a message that clearly demonstrates God loves all of us and it is the message we want you to experience in your interaction with our church. One mission and one message and both are the same and something from which we will not deviate.
So what about methods? The message is rooted in past. Our mission is an expression of this ancient message. But both are still relevant in our moment of history. Thus, our methods for expressing the message and our mission are flexible and open to change. We are a contemporary church using modern methods to express an ancient message. We are ordinary people who are defined by an extraordinary message that spans the centuries. This message has staying power because it meets the greatest need we have. It is a message that communicates we are not alone, nor insignificant. We are loved are by one who seeks to transform us.
Please visit us and see how message, mission, and methods define Life at Northpark.