Uncategorized Murray McLellan on 02 Sep 2008 06:49 am
Vision and Purpose
I have pasted Redeemer Presbyterian Church’s (Tim Keller) vision and purpose statement below because it so reflects much of our thinking and vision for Grace Fellowship in Saskatoon. Give it a read and tell me what you think.
GOSPEL POWER
1. The “Third Way” of the Gospel
The gospel means “good news”. It is the basic message that: “God made [Christ], who had no sin, to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (II Corinthians 5:21). The gospel says that we are so sinful, lost, and helpless that only the life and death of the Son of God can save us. But it also says that those who trust in Christ’s works instead of their own efforts are now “holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation” (Colossians 1:22-23).
The gospel tells us that our root sin is not just failing in our obedience to God but relying on our obedience to save us. Therefore, the gospel is a “third way”, neither religion nor irreligion. The religious person may say, “I am doing the right things that God commands” and the irreligious person may say, “I decide what is right and wrong for myself”. But both ways reject Jesus as Savior (though they may revere him as Example, or Helper). Both ways are strategies of self-salvation — both actually keep control of their own lives. So the gospel keeps us from legalism and moralism on the one hand, and from hedonism and relativism on the other.
2. The Gospel’s Power for Change
The gospel is not just the “A-B-C” but the “A-to-Z” of the Christian life. The gospel is not just the way to enter the kingdom, but is the way to address every problem and is the way to grow at every step. If we believe we can find our own worth and meaning through performance, then we will become either proud and disdainful of others (if we reach our goals), or else discouraged and self-loathing (if we fail our goals). But the gospel creates an entirely new self-image.
First, it tells us that we are more wicked than we ever dared believe, but more loved and accepted in Christ than you ever dared to hope—at the same time. In fact, if the gospel is true, the more you see your sin, the more certain you are that you were saved by sheer grace and the more precious and electrifying that grace is to you. So the gospel gives us enormous power to admit our flaws. Then secondly, the knowledge of our acceptance in Christ makes (for the first time) the law of God a beauty instead of a burden. We come to use it to delight the One who has enriched us so mightily—instead of using it to get his attention or win his favor. The first way makes the moral and sacrificial life a joy; the second way makes it a burden.
Therefore the gospel changes everything. It brings down racial barriers by melting away racial pride OR inferiority. It brings down psychological problems by melting away self-inflation OR self-hatred. It brings down personal facades, for we are free to admit who we are. It effects the way we do everything at Redeemer—how we motivate people, how we help them work through counseling problems, how we worship, how we take criticism.
3. The Gospel Creates a New Community
The context for a gospel-centered life is never merely individual. The gospel creates a new community, a unique community. “One of the immediate changes that the gospel makes is grammatical: we instead of I; our instead of my; us instead of me.” (Eugene Peterson, Reversed Thunder). This kind of new community is not an optional thing, an “extra” for the Christian; instead it’s part of the overall purpose of God’s kingdom.
A new community is both the end of the gospel and also the means of spreading the gospel. God’s promise in salvation is to create his “holy nation”, a people that dwell with him forever. “I will be your God and you will be my people.” (Lev 26:12, Jer 30:22). So Christians, who are eternally united to Christ, are therefore eternally united to one another. We all are ministers of the gospel for the sake of one another. Since our culture knows very little about true community, we will have to work hard at following a biblical vision.
What is the biblical vision, what does true community look like? We are to be:
1. an accepting community that reflects the grace we’ve been given from Christ.
2. a holy community that urges one another to live God-pleasing lives.
3. a truth-telling community that is free to repent, and free to allow others to repent, because of the gospel.
4. an encouraging community that builds one another up.
5. a sacrificially generous community that spends its life and wealth on the needs of others.
6. a suffering community that loves and forgives others even when it harms us.
URBAN OUTREACH
4. A Love for the City
Redeemer is an urban church—not by default, but by design. We seek to be a church for urban people in particular, and a church that adapts to the conditions of the city as well as a church that serves and challenges and changes the city. We encourage our people not to:
1. despise the city (withdrawing, like a turtle), nor
2. reflect the city (blending, like a chameleon), nor
3. use the city (for their own purposes), but
4. love the city, live here, and serve it as good neighbors.
On the one hand, the city needs us, because it has many problems, and Christians must use their resources to “bring peace” to the city (Jeremiah 29:7). On the other hand, we Christians need the city, for it humbles us and calls us to use the gospel to critique our own culture while appreciating others, and to trust the gospel to bring healing to brokenness.
5. An Outward Face
At Redeemer, evangelism is not simply one department of ministry, but it permeates everything we do. We treat non-Christians with respect, remembering what it is like to not believe. We treat non-Christians with hope, remembering what a grace-miracle our own faith is. We consider virtually every public event to be something we do “before the nations”, and we expect to be “overheard” by many friends who do not believe or who don’t know what they believe. We seek to equip and motivate every member into an evangelistic life-style.
MOVEMENT MINDSET
6. A Movement of Churches
Redeemer exists to be an incubator and catalyst for hundreds of new churches and ministries. We expect to mother, sponsor, and other wise help establish scores of congregations in and around NYC. Therefore, we encourage entrepreneurship and creativity and lay leadership. We discourage “turf consciousness” and desire to serve the
whole body of Christ. We’re not just a church, but a movement of churches.
7. Social Healing
We aim to show the world that the gospel will transform neighborhoods through Christian community development, by “reweaving” an area through ministries of word, mercy, and justice. We aim to show that the gospel lifts up the poor, and reconciles the races and classes who otherwise could not be able to live together. Christians must learn to respect, learn from, and partner with the poor as well as show them love and compassion. We’re not just for personal healing, but for social healing.
8. Cultural Renewal
Christians often either make a wholesale retreat from culture or create a Christian subculture which mimics mainstream values and trends. Rather, we call our people to theological reflection, to work with excellence in their professional fields, to collaboration and networking of Christians within vocations, and for respect and service to the whole world through their work. The goal is to show the world alternative ways of being human as we serve through the arts, business world, government, academy, etc. We’re not just for personal help, but for cultural renewal.
REDEEMER’S PURPOSE
Taking all seven of those core convictions together, we can now define Redeemer’s particular purpose as a church. We urge you to carefully study, understand, and maybe even memorize the following purpose statement:
Redeemer exists to ignite a movement of the gospel that changes the people and the City of New York in every dimension — spiritually, socially, culturally — and through New York City, the world.