St. Paul's Lutheran Church Mission Statement

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St. Paul's Lutheran Church Mission Statement
by Reverend Chris Sheets, Senior Pastor

God Has Called St. Paul’s Lutheran To Build a Family of Christ on Earth by

Sharing Christ with the World,
Proclaiming Christ through His Word,
Living in Christ as His Children To Be Blessed with a Future in Heaven

I wanted to share with you what this statement means and so that it can be a guide as we plan our ministry together here in the name of the Lord to forward the work of His Kingdom. The mission that our Lord has entrusted to us is summarized by the Great Commission.

"God make disciples of all people, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to observe all I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always to the very end of the age," Matthew 28:16ff.

The goal of the mission of Christ is to make disciples, people who know Jesus by faith as Lord and Savior. At the end of the age, He will return to take us home to heaven. God wants family won here in time that they may be His family for an eternity of heaven. Our mission statement brings this out with the words "To build a family of Christ on earth . . . . to be blessed with a future in heaven." This is why we exist as a church. God himself has called us to this mission. This is not our own idea. That is why the mission statement says, "God has called St. Paul's Lutheran." Commissioned by the Father himself through His Son, we are called into existence for the sake of building God's family of believers in Christ.

How does God wish this mission to be carried out? We list three phrases which describe how we are to go about this mission.

First, it begins with us reaching out with Christ to the world. We cannot do this by our own power. Christ must reach them personally. Within the Great Commission, we are commanded to teach the Word orally and bring the Word of Christ through the waters of baptism to the people. Through the spoken Word and the Word combined with water, Christ works beside us and through us to make disciples. We tried to capture these thoughts with the first phrase, "Sharing Christ with the world." This is called Evangelism. If we are to share Christ with the world, the Lord must first come to us and change our hearts and make us His children. Does God first and foremost save us to simply do work? The answer is no. His first desire is that you become His child that He might love you for eternity. Once again, the only one who can establish this relationship with the Lord is Christ himself.

How does He come near to do this? Through His Word! Thus our second phrase, "Proclaiming Christ through His Word," reminds us that Christ wants to first come to us. He does this in baptism through the Word in the water, "In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." God puts His name on you and claims you as His own as He works faith in you. He continues to sustain that relationship with you as He works the miracle of faith in your heart as you hear the Word of Christ proclaimed to you. No wonder we hold Worship in such high regard in the church. Here God first comes to us through His Word and the Sacraments so that we might in turn worship Him within the church and outside the church 24 hours a day. God wants to do more than merely claim you as His child. He wants to shape you into the image of His Son that sin and all of its consequences might totally be removed from your life once you reach eternity. While He never completes that process in this life, He wants to remold you as much as he can. Why? Because He loves you. He knows what sin does to you. He wants you to have life in all of its fullness. The great commission calls people who are being transformed into the image of Christ disciples. The only one who can
do this is Christ himself reshaping us through his Word.

Thus the second phrase, "Proclaiming Christ through his Word," is also a call to put the Word at the center of our lives as the church so that God may do this gracious work of forming us into the image of his Son. This is known as Discipleship. As we experience this victory over sin, the gift of new life in the image of Christ, and a loving relationship with our Lord, we are made ready to join our Father in His great work of love to reach others with Christ. That theme was brought out in our first phrase. The reality is that as the church embarks upon this work to win the lost, we face terrible enemies that will attack us and our brothers and sisters in Christ. These enemies include sin, Satan, and death. Our Father does not intend that we face these enemies alone. For that matter, He does not even intend that you face these enemies as a twosome, God and yourself. Rather, He makes you a part of a family, the very body of Christ, the church. He calls the church to two different tasks to help us win the victory over our enemies, that we might remain strong for the sake of winning others for Jesus.

The third phrase brings out these two tasks, "Living in Christ as his children." The first thing this phrase brings out is the call to Fellowship. We live together as God's children. The word fellowship in the Bible means to share something in common. The One we share in common is Jesus. After all, who lives in each of us? Jesus! We are a family and we bring Christ to each other whenever we are gathered together in His name. That is why the phrase says, "Living in Christ." This is the very reason that fellowship is so important. We are fighting sin out there. Only Christ can overcome this. No wonder He wants us to fellowship so that we can bring Christ into the middle of that battle. Because we share Christ, we can share our joys in the Lord and our sorrows. We can bear one another's burdens. Why? Because we share Christ! We do that through our words of encouragement to one another! We share Jesus!

However, we do more than share Jesus with our words of comfort and encouragement. We bring Jesus to one another by serving one another in Ministry. The word ministry comes for the Greek word to serve or servant. Christ himself said, "I came to serve!" He still serves the church today. Who lives in you? Christ! Who is working through you? Christ. Christ still is ministering to His people. He does it through you as He lives in you and through you. That is why the phrase says, "Living in Christ!" Ministry is so important. Christ comes to us through one another to build us up and sustain us in the midst our battle with sin. Thus we are maintained in our relationship with the Lord, in our relationship with one another, and in our task of bringing Christ to the lost.

Go back and look at the 5 words that are highlighted above. They are as follows: Evangelism, Worship, Discipleship, Fellowship, and Ministry. These are the five themes that we are studying in the 40 Days of Purpose Campaign. So take this opportunity to learn about our mission statement. For if we understand what our purpose in life is, we as a church will plan our ministry accordingly for building the kingdom of God.

In Our Lord’s Service And Yours,

Pastor Sheets