Mission and Values for First Church

The Mission and Values for FFWBC

Intro: Every church is different. You can say every church has its own dna. Things that are important, things that you like or things that you do. My desire is that we move in the direction of Jesus command to us to make disciples. This does not happen by accident, it doesn’t happen because we attend church. Discipleship in our life is a very intentional action. Our mission and values should lead to discipleship in our life.

1. Our Mission: See people that are from God come to Him by faith and repentance, leading them to become
   • Scriptures that direct our mission.
     • Purpose:Equip saints for ministry (Ephesians 4:11)

“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

• • • Mission: Evangelism and discipleship (Matt. 28:18-20)

“Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.””

• • • Heart: Love God and Love People (Matt. 22:36-40)

““Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “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. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.””

2.  We Value .

• Worship is a lifestyle that takes a life time. Worship is in all that we do.

“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV

• • We practice worship corporately by serving, singing and giving.

“Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!”

Psalm 100:1-4 ESV

2 Cor. 9:7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

1 Cor. 29:14 But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you.

3.  We value .

• Give growth focus to yourself.

Psalm 119:11 I have stored up your word in my heart,
    that I might not sin against you.

• • Give growth focus to your marriage.

“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 ESV

• • Give growth focus to your family.

““Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear.”

Deuteronomy 6:4-9, 12-13 ESV

• • Give growth focus to a disciple.

Matt. 28 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

4.  We value .

• We spend time together.
• We open our houses for home groups.
• We build relationships that go beyond the walls of the church.

Acts 2:42 “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

Hebrews 10:24-25 “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

Hebrews 10:23-25 ESV

5.  We value outreach.

• We give and pray to send the gospel to the ends of the earth.
• We go to reach our friends, family and neighbors with the gospel.

“So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.””

Acts 1:6-8 ESV

Why this is important to us today? This is important to us because we need to see and practice spiritual disciplines. When we see and experience lives changed and we see the goodness of God in our lives, we will be encouraged to continue in our worship, growth, fellowship and outreach for the glory of God and for our benefit.

This year, we come into it excited for some and for some already heartbroken or heavy. These values provide opportunities to be reminded or helped by church family to carry those things that may come.

You’ve already one!