What’s the Mission of Your Local Church?

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. – Hebrews 10:24-25

“For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” – Jesus, Matthew 18:20

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. – Colossians 3:15

Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word. – Ephesians 5: 25b-26

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. – I Cor. 12:27

There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. – Ephesians 4:4-6

And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church ,which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. – Ephesians 1:22-23

And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. – Jesus, Matthew 16:18

if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. – I Timothy 3:15

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ. – Ephesians 4: 11-13*

 

As I shared with readers at Thinking Out Loud earlier today, there is a song from a 2012 album which captivated my imagination back then as to what the local church can be and do, and it’s this song by former NorthPoint worship leader Eddie Kirkland. We play Christian music each evening during dinner and this one came around again on Friday and it’s been playing all weekend.

Consider the lyrics; play the video below as you read them; re-examine the scriptures at the top of the page, then follow the links at the bottom of the page to look at more scriptural images of the local church.

We want to be a church where freedom reigns
We want to be a people full of grace
We want to be a shelter where the broken find their place

We want to be a refuge for the weak
We want to be a light for the world to see
We want to be a love that breaks the walls and fills the streets

All are welcome here
As we are
As we are
For our God is near every heart

Let Your mercy rise
Let Your hope resound
Let Your love in our hearts be found
Let Your grace run free
Let Your name bring peace
Heaven come in the here and now

We want to be a door that’s open wide
We want to see compassion come to life
We want to carry truth that shines a beacon in the night

We want to see the city fill with hope
We want to bring peace to troubled souls
We want to tell the story of a God that we can know

All are welcome here
As we are
As we are
For our God is near every heart

Let Your mercy rise
Let Your hope resound
Let Your love in our hearts be found
Let Your grace run free
Let Your name bring peace
Heaven come in the here and now

Let justice roll like a river wild
Let mercy grow like a burning fire
Let it come in the here and now
Your kingdom come til it rules the earth
Your will be done all around the world
Let it come in the here and now

All are welcome here
All are welcome here
All are welcome here
As we are
As we are
For our God is near every heart

Let Your mercy rise
Let Your hope resound
Let Your love in our hearts be found
Let Your grace run free
Let Your name bring peace
Heaven come in the here and now

Let justice roll like a river wild
Let mercy grow like a burning fire
Let it come in the here and now
Your kingdom come til it rules the earth
Your will be done all around the world
Let it come in the here and now

Let justice roll like a river wild
Let mercy grow like a burning fire
Let it come in the here and now
Your kingdom come til it rules the earth
Your will be done all around the world
Let it come in the here and now
Let it come in the here and now 

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Scripture sources: DailyVerses.net, Knowing-Jesus.com, OpenBible.info, BibleStudyTools.com

*NLT; all other verses NIV

Most Mis-Applied Bible Verse

For this one, we go all the way back to the summer of 2010 — considered ancient history in Blog-land — and this post by Crossway author and Illinois pastor Chris Brauns, where it appeared under the title Where There Is No Vision, The People Perish, One of the Most Mis-Applied Verses in the Bible.

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…[R]ead Proverbs 29.  And, when you do, stop to consider Proverbs 29:18: one of the most misapplied verses in the Bible.  See also this post on reading Proverbs.

…

Christian leadership books often quote Proverbs 29:18 as a rationale for a church writing a vision statement.  The KJV version reads, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” This wording fits nicely for those who want to persuade others regarding the need for a vision statement.

While it is good for leaders to communicate vision, Proverbs 29:18 is not talking about a leader’s vision.  Rather, “vision” here refers to special revelation and the principle is that that apart from God’s Word, society quickly spins into moral chaos.

Below is an excerpt of something I wrote elsewhere.

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The ESV gives this translation if Proverbs 29:18.

Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law (Proverbs 29:18, ESV).

The word translated “prophetic vision” refers to special revelation or God’s Word.[1] The word translated “cast off restraint”[2] carries the idea of there being a total loss of social order. It is the same word used in Exodus 32:25 to describe the Israelite’s frenzy during the Golden Calf disaster. The NIV translation reads:

Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies (Exodus 32:25, NIV).

If a people do not hear God’s Word, then we can expect society to break down and even local churches to cast off restraint.[3] “Social harmony and restraint cannot be achieved without the exhortations of the prophets and the teaching of the law.”[4] Public morality depends on knowing the law of God.[5] Fabarez argues that the reason there is so much immorality in evangelicalism today is because God’s Word is not preached.[6]

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[1] “חָזֹון”, see Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, Edward Robinson, Charles A. Briggs, and Wilhelm Gesenius, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament : With an Appendix Containing the Biblical Aramaic : Based on the Lexicon of William Gesenius as Translated by Edward Robinson (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1979), 302. Waltke concludes that this word refers here to, “the sage’s inspired revelation of wisdom.” Bruce K. Waltke, The Book of Proverbs, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005), 446.

[2]“פָּרַע,” has the idea of “let go, let alone.” Brown, Driver, Robinson, Briggs, and Gesenius, 828. There is some confusion about the meaning of this verse because of the King James Version translation, “perish.” See Robert L. Alden, Proverbs: A Commentary on an Ancient Book of Timeless Advice (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983), 202.

[3] This Proverb has been used a great deal in recent years as a biblical defense for local churches writing vision statements. Writing a vision statement is a good idea. However, this verse doesn’t apply to that task. Alden summarizes, “Verse 18 has been misinterpreted for many years, probably because of the way it reads in the KJV; ‘Where there is no vision the people perish.’ ‘Vision’ here does not refer to one’s to need formulate goals and work toward them, nor does it mean eyesight or the ability to understand. ‘Vision’ instead is a synonym for what a prophet does. Thus its real meaning is God’s ‘guidance’ (TEV), ‘revelation’ (NIV), ‘authority’ (NEB), ‘prophecy’ (NAB).” Alden, 202. See also, Kaiser, 10-11. Kaiser applies this passage directly to a call for expository preaching. Delitzsch summarizes, “People are only truly happy when they earnestly and willingly subordinate themselves to the word of God which they possess and have the opportunity of hearing,” quoted in Waltke, 447.

[4] Duane A. Garrett, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, The New American Commentary, vol. 14 (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1993), 232.

[5] Derek Kidner, The Proverbs: An Introduction and Commentary (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1975), 176.

[6] Fabarez, xiii.