What is a Vision?
The Vision is the Purpose of the Church. The Mission of the Church is to make disciples by baptizing them in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and teaching them all that Christ has commanded (Matthew 28:18-20). The Vision (or Purpose) of the Church is how we believe the Scriptures teach us to make disciples.
The Vision is a Process
The Vision of our Church is not merely a set of ideas about Christianity but our Vision is a process. That is, we have built our vision around the process of making disciples for Jesus Christ – through all the stages. The process is designed to be clear and easily understood. It is designed to have movement so that one stage in the process leads to another. Finally, the vision is designed to be the means by which we evaluate all that we do as a Church. Simply put, if what we do in ministry is not aimed at the purpose of making and growing disciples then we need to re-focus.
Our Vision – Knowing Christ -> Growing in Grace -> Going into the World with Hope
A simple vision – it has three major phases with helpful steps in between but the vision of making disciples can be understood at the most basic level as Knowing Jesus Christ, Growing in Grace, and Going in the World with Hope. There is a progression but it is also ongoing. A person must first know Jesus Christ in order to grow in grace and he must grow in order to love his neighbors. Yet, there is never a time where we stop going deeper into the knowledge of Christ or growing or service.