Vision
Our vision is to be a church where every disciple is a disciple maker.
Since Jesus gave the Great Commission to all believers, all believers are involved in the disciple making process. In 1 Thessalonians 2:8, the Apostle Paul provides a simple blueprint for disciple making everyone can follow. He writes, “So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.”
For Paul, disciple making involves loving, sharing, and giving:
-loving those we disciple
-sharing the gospel and the Word of God with them
-giving access to one’s own life and faith
We find Colin Marshall and Tony Payne’s arrow diagram to be a helpful aid in thinking about disciple making (see their books The Trellis and the Vine and The Vine Project for more details):
Marshall and Payne suggest disciple making occurs as people move to the right–towards faith in Jesus (represented by the cross) and then towards maturity in Jesus (represented by the tip of the arrow). God uses what these authors call the “4 P’s” to accomplish this movement: people prayerfully proclaiming His Word to others patiently.
After conversion, our aim in disciple making is to see people move from being established in the faith to equipping others. One is in the equip stage of disciple making when helping to see others converted and growing becomes important. As Payne suggests, “The more you move to the right, the more you begin to look to the left, to help others move through the ‘4 P’s.’ Growing in maturity is growing in love towards others.”
Our vision is to see all disciples in our church become disciple makers.