Core Value #4

The world is a pretty big place. With more than 7 billion people sharing this planet with us, it is hard to imagine how any of us can really have any kind of significant or lasting impact on it. At some point in our idealistic youth we had dreams of how we might leave our mark in a lasting way, but reality has a way of subduing the passion of youth and causing us to settle for doing the best we can at improving our small corner of the world while the rest of the world becomes an unreachable mess beyond our control.

Let's face it, the vast majority of our energy and thoughts go into the world outside our doorstep that we see everyday. The rest of the world is merely made up of images on Fox News that are quickly forgotten. We are satisified with living life inside our bubble until some young preacher stands up in front of the church and insists that The Great Commission really does mean that we should make disciples OF ALL NATIONS. He might even go further to say that Christ may be delaying his return until we accomplish our mission of making disciples of all nations.

The first three core values I have written about are all reasonable and acceptable. It makes sense to TEACH GOD'S WORD, TRAIN GOD'S PEOPLE, and LOVE OUR COMMUNITY. But to leave it there falls well short of accomplishing our mission as a church. There is one more step we must take. It must be an equally important core value of our church. To neglect this fourth core value would mean we have failed in our mission to make disciples.

CORE VALUE #4: "Impacting Our World"

The question that first comes to mind when looking at that phrase is "HOW"? How can I have an impact on my world? How can my church and its limited resources have any real impact on this world of 7 billion people?

Then only way I can answer this question is like this:

1) You can't do it alone. Jesus gave the command to make disciples of all nations to his apostles as a collective group. He gave this command to the CHURCH. Without the church your efforts will be weak and ineffective. Christ gave us the church to be the means through which His work would be accomplished. We, collectively, are the body of Christ. If you think you can accomplish anything significant for Christ outside of the church, you are ignoring the truth of scripture and you are wrong.

2) The super-natural power of the Holy Spirit will empower you to accomplish things you could never do with your own natural power. This is precisely why Jesus told the apostles to wait on the Holy Spirit to come before trying to start the church. Read Acts 1 & 2 to see how this happened.

3) It can be accomplished by using simple math. If you take a small group of true disciples who are serious about their mission and each of them succeeds in making new disciples. It does not take long before a small group has impacted thousands or millions of lives. Jesus knew this mathematical truth. That is why he spent his earthly ministry focused on just 12 men. He knew if he made 12 true disciples, they could truly impact the world. And they did!

At First Christian Church in Monroe, we want to make disciples who are passionate about LOVING OUR COMMUNITY and IMPACTING OUR WORLD. We want to find ways to send people to all corners of the world to address needs and to spread the gospel of Christ. We want to support those who are already on the ground doing this work by praying for them and helping them out with financial resources. We want to be a part of planting churches where the gospel of Christ is not currently being spread.

At FCC we might not be able to send people or resources to every single corner of the world, but we can try. We can pray. We can pay attention to the needs. We can care.

What if the 100 or so people at our church became passionate about Impacting Our World? What if every church in Monroe started doing the same? What if all the churches in the Atlanta, GA area started working together to Impact Our World? What if churches all across the United States started passionately working together to Impact the World for Christ?

The fact is...we could reach every nation on earth with the gospel and address every social injustice that comes to light. We could truly impact our world if the church would just do its job and accomplish its mission.

If we did this and accomplished our mission, I believe there would be nothing else holding the King of kings back from returning and defeating the enemy for eternity. I want to see this happen. I want to be a part of the army of God. That is why IMPACTING OUR WORLD is a core value at FCC in Monroe.

TEACHING GOD'S WORD
TRAINING GOD'S PEOPLE
LOVING OUR COMMUNITY
IMPACTING OUR WORLD

Let's quit talking about it. Let's get it done!!!