Bring People to Christ

“Bring People to Christ” is our mission statement.  In the January meeting The Administrative Council approved a re-tooling of our statement from “To Make Disciples of Jesus Christ for the Transformation of the World” to a more compact and simple statement of “Bring People to Christ.”  The new statement is only four words and yet carries the meaning and intent of our former statement.   Because the new statement is easier to remember and carry with us we will find it useful in helping the church focus our ministry efforts. 

Everything we attempt as a congregation should relate back to the mission and Bring People to Christ.  We will learn to hold ourselves accountable as we ask a couple of questions.  How does this activity Bring People to Christ?  We should be able to make a list or name the ways.  We also can begin to set goals, SMART goals, which have a way of allowing us to measure our work.  For example, just how many people should we expect to be brought to Christ by our Sunday worship services in a year?  How will we know?  There are many great questions which we will want to ask as we work together so that as the end of the season or end of the year the simple question, “How is it going?” may have profound responses.

This new activity will take new discussions and new energy related to our mission.  We will need to be vulnerable and direct in our communication.  This will also requires relationship building and trust building as key pieces to our life together.  We will slowly begin taking steps to deepen our relationships focusing on our discipleship as the key.  The Spiritual health of the congregation is always a place to begin again.  We cannot give what we do not have.  We cannot bring others to something we do not attend to ourselves.  The first people we will need to bring to Christ may be ourselves.

Knoxville First United Methodist is a great church, one which has offered Christ for generations. This new season of re-focusing our mission has the possibility of bringing surprising new life along with old souls made new again by the power of the Holy Spirit.  As a new year begins, may we begin a new season with a new joy in our hearts offered through a refreshed mission to “Bring People to Christ.”