It is important for a local church to state its vision or purpose. Without such a statement, it can be difficult to determine whether or not the church is remaining true to the principles for which it stands and whether or not it is reaching the objectives to which its ministries are directed. Moreover, without a vision statement, conflicting philosophies of ministry can more easily emerge among various departments within the church, inhibiting effective ministry and creating confusion and disunity.

Just as a doctrinal statement can serve to succinctly summarize the essential beliefs of the Christian faith, so also a vision statement can provide a concise description of the end or goal to which the church with all of its ministries aspires. A vision statement does not supplant a doctrinal statement; rather it describes the purpose, priority, and direction of the ministry in general.

While there is no doubt a number of approaches one might take in constructing a vision statement, the most important factor to consider is whether or not the vision statement is biblically based. In fact, the value of a vision statement is directly proportional to the extent to which its condensed description of ministry goals reflect a biblical worldview.

A cursory reading of the Morning Star Community Church vision statement may leave one with the impression that it is nothing more than a general statement from which very little can be adduced. This, however, is not the case. Every phrase of the vision statement carries with it important biblical assumptions that serve to govern and guide the development and growth of ministry.

To understand the biblical foundation for the vision statement, consider the following phrase-by-phrase analysis in which the underlying biblical assumptions are brought forth.

In Ephesians 3:14-15 Paul the Apostle describes the church as a family: “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom His whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name.”

Several implications follow from this description. While the church is universal in scope (a family in heaven and on earth), it is, nevertheless, exclusive in the sense that not everyone belongs to this family. Only those who derive their name from the Father (i.e., those who are related to the Father through His Son Jesus Christ) comprise this family. Though the visible church may consist of believers and unbelievers, the true church consists of a close communion of believers who are in relationship with the Father through His Son Jesus Christ.

The Apostle Peter gives a good description of this family in 1 Peter 2:9: “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him Who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.”

Using some alliteration, one might summarize Peter’s description of this family as “His Holy Heralds.” This family consists of a “chosen people” and “a people belonging to God;” therefore, this family is “His.” This family is “a royal priesthood” and “a holy nation;” therefore, this family is “Holy.” This family exists to “declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light,” therefore this family consists of a company of “Heralds.”

In our vision statement, however, we have described our desire as that Morning Star Community Church be a family of disciples. A disciple is one who learns, one who grows, one who is following the Lord Jesus Christ. When we say that, as a church, “we desire to be a family of disciples,” we are echoing an apostolic desire for the church that is expressed in many of the New Testament epistles. Consider the following passages.

Ephesians 1:17-19, “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of His mighty strength . . .”

Philippians 1:9-11, “And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.”

Colossians 1:9-12, “For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.”

It is clear from the above passages that Paul’s deepest concern was that God’s people grow in their knowledge of God, experiencing a depth of insight that would result in holy living, the bearing of fruit, and the worship of God.

Given the definition of a disciple as one who learns, and given the New Testament apostolic desire that God’s people might grow, it is evident that the first priority of the shepherd of God’s flock is to teach the Word, and to oversee the means by which that Word is clearly explicated, understood, and applied. This is why there has been, and always will be an emphasis on teaching and discipleship at Morning Star Community Church. Our goal is to see those who belong to God’s family more influenced by their Creator than by their culture, and this will only occur if there is an unswerving commitment to teach God’s Word. Moreover, when the church is devoted to teaching God’s Word for the purpose of bringing the saints to maturity, the consequence will be greater ministry effectiveness, including true lifestyle evangelism.

In our second clause of the vision statement, we have stated the proper priority for the church - "love for God, one another, and our neighbor." This is really just a succinct summary of the greatest commandment as given by Jesus in Mark 12:28-31, “One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked Him, ‘Of all the commandments, which is the most important?’ ‘The most important one,’ answered Jesus, ‘is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.’”

The church exists first and foremost to exalt and worship God. Only when we love Him first will we then properly love others. No rearrangement of the proper priority of the first commandment is permissible for the church. Outreach is important. The “felt needs” of those both inside and outside the church are important. Ministries of mercy and benevolence are important. Fellowship and community are important. Yet as important as all these considerations are, they are not the first or highest priority of the church. The highest priority of the church is to love God. When we love Him first, then, and only then, do we rightly love and properly value others.

Some churches have developed a philosophy of ministry that appears to be needs-based, culturally defined, and man-centered. Opportunity for outreach is usually given as justification for these approaches to ministry, and a great number of churches have accordingly described themselves as “seeker sensitive.” Such a philosophy of ministry inevitably leads to a “consumer-oriented” approach to ministry in which ministry is increasingly defined by human need rather than by God’s revelation.

Richard L. Mayhue, in an article titled “Rediscovering Pastoral Ministry” (Master’s Seminary Journal, Vol. 6 #1, Spring 1995, pg. 54) alludes to the problems that develop when human need rather than God’s revealed will in Scripture becomes the focus of ministry.

“A significant segment of evangelical churches and a growing proportion of evangelical literature seem to be distancing themselves from biblical priorities. Unbiblical imbalances among contemporary evangelicals are showing up in growing tendencies toward:

· Overemphasis on man’s reasoning and a corresponding underemphasis on God’s revelation in Scripture.
· Overemphasis on human need as defined by man and a corresponding underemphasis on God’s definition of man’s need.
· Overemphasis on earthly relevance and a corresponding underemphasis on spiritual relevance.
· Overemphasis on the temporal side of life and a corresponding underemphasis on the eternal.
· Overemphasis on satisfying contemporary culture and a corresponding underemphasis on God’s pleasure.”

To avoid the imbalances described above, it is necessary to remain committed to the priorities Jesus gives us in His teaching on the greatest commandment. Tempting as it may be to look toward “cultural relevance” as the key to reaching those who are outside the family of God, the church must not yield to this temptation. In fact, when one considers the fact that all cultures are to some extent the product of fallen human nature, it is probably more responsible to assert that the church should be culturally irrelevant! (By this, of course, it is not meant that the church should ignore those innocuous aspects of cultural consideration that enhance the communication of the gospel. Rather, the church should not assume that a modern technique, methodology, or unbiblical philosophy of ministry can somehow do a better job of reaching the lost or relating to man’s need than can the work of the Holy Spirit through the teaching of the Word of God.)

When love for God is the first and highest priority, it follows, that one should diligently seek to know Him. Why? Because love for God increases as knowledge of God increases. This, again, is why it is imperative that shepherds of God’s flock make the teaching of God’s Word the focus of their ministry.

When love for God is the first and highest priority, God is properly exalted and glorified, and outreach and evangelism will naturally follow. However, when one begins with felt needs (in the name of outreach and evangelism), it is difficult to disabuse many folks from the notion that God exists primarily to meet their needs.

When love for God is the first and highest priority, the love we have for ourselves and others is put in its proper perspective. All our loves are properly ordered when God is first in our hearts.

This clause of our vision statement speaks to the importance of sacrificial ministry and the dedication of the gifts we have been given to the service of the Lord. In Romans 12:1-8 Paul the Apostle gives instruction in this regard: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God - this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will. For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.”

The church is healthiest when every member is a minister, fully dedicated to the work of the ministry. For this reason it is important for each member to discover his or her spiritual gifts and to use those gifts for the edification of the body.

In Paul’s letter to the Ephesian church, he tells us that God gave shepherds or pastor-teachers to the church “to prepare God’s people for works of service.” In other words, the model for church ministry is not a group of professional pastors working to meet the needs of the church members, but rather, members of the church body faithfully serving one another in a variety of capacities according to the gifts they have received.

Ephesians 4:11-16, “ It was He who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s 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. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”

While apostles and prophets formed the foundation of the New Testament church (Ephesians 2:20) and they do not appear to be a presently functioning office in the church today (c.f. Revelation 21:14, where there are only twelve foundations mentioned which correspond to the twelve apostles of the Lamb,), and evangelists no doubt represent those whose ministries reach out to the lost with the message of the gospel, in the church, it is the pastor-teacher who is responsible to bring the saints to a level of maturity in order that the body of Christ will be built up, “attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”

In this last phrase of the vision statement there is an allusion to the statement Jesus made to His disciples just prior to Pentecost: Acts 1:8, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Here it is evident that the proclamation of the gospel is to move out in concentric circles, as it were, until the uttermost parts of the earth are reached. This is, of course, not only a mandate for evangelism at home, but also for missions beyond one’s local borders.

A truly healthy church is a church that looks beyond its own immediate needs and reaches out to spread the gospel across the world.