Pleasant
View Baptist Church exists…
To
know, love, and glorify God and be used by Him to help unchurched people become
fully devoted, fruitful followers of Jesus Christ and to help create churches
and other ministries that do the same.
To
know
God is to grow in a faith
relationship with him that is kept vibrant by fresh interaction with God
through spiritual activities in both individual and group settings. Some of these activities would include
prayer, Bible reading, Bible study, meditation, fasting, worship, giving, and
service.
1 John 5:11 And
this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life
is in his Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of
God does not have life. 13 I write these things to you who believe in the name
of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything
according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us--
whatever we ask-- we know that we have what we asked of him. 16 If anyone sees
his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God
will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is
a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that. 17
All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death. 18 We know
that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God
keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him. 19 We know that we are
children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.
20 We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so
that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true-- even in his Son
Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
To
love God certainly involves obedience to his commands. Some
large scope directives include but are not limited to the following:
John
14:23 Jesus replied, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching.
My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with
him. 24 He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These
words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. 25
"All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Counselor, the
Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things
and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
The great mandate is to
fill and subdue creation. We are God’s
junior managers and his representatives that are to make the most of this
creation in order to please God. This involves creating industries, agriculture,
science, art, ecology, government and culture that responsibly represent God
(His Glory). (see Gen. 1:27-28)
The Great Commandment
is to love God with all our heart (desires and decisions), mind (thought processes,
and soul (outcome of our life force).
And love our neighbors (that is everyone else) as we love ourselves.
(see Matt. 22:37-40, Deut 6:5, Lev. 19:18)
The Great Commission:
make disciples of Jesus throughout all the world and train them to obey the
commands of Jesus. (see Matt. 28:18-20, Acts 1:8)
And
glorify God.
The Great Objective: it is the will of God that everything be done to
glory Him. (1 Cor. 10:31)
All that is to be accomplished by the mission is for
reputation of God to expand. The
cultural mandate is possible because we are his redeemed representatives, not
independent agents. We love because we
have first been loved by God. The
commission is based on the promise that Jesus has ultimate authority and will
be with us as we seek to accomplish the mission of God.
And
be used by Him. We
are at his disposal. This states that we are not the primary agents of
action. We are instruments or tools in
the hand of God who is responsible for awakening people to his love and
purposes. We work for God and receive
our power and direction from Him in accomplishing the mission.
Luke
17:7 "Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the
sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field,
'Come along now and sit down to eat'? 8 Would he not rather say, 'Prepare my
supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you
may eat and drink'? 9 Would he thank the servant because he did what he
was told to do? 10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to
do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.'"
To help unchurched
people. The unchurched group is the
slice of the population that will be our target and focus. We are here to help. We are here to be used by God. We are not here to manipulate, force, or damage
the people who are not yet part of God’s church. We are here to help them discover God’s love and purpose for their lives.
Matthew 9:10 While
Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and
"sinners" came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they asked
his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and
'sinners'?" 12 On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy
who need a doctor, but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this
means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the
righteous, but sinners."
Become
fully devoted, fruitful followers of Jesus Christ. The mission is not complete until these
unchurched people become not just members or decided (saved) but disciples of
the Jesus way. The Jesus way is to know,
love and glorify God. The goal of the
mission is an ever-increasing group of people who know, love, and glorify God.
See John 15
And
to help create ministries and churches that do the same. Part of the mission is
to be helpers and cooperate with ministries that are on the same mission with
us. The Great Commission directs our church
reach to go beyond our immediate community in order to help make disciples of
Jesus in other people groups around the world.
We therefore with cooperate with churches and ministries to participate
in this mission of God to all people.
See Acts 13 about being set apart and sending out.
