Discover Vintage: Mission
January 7th, 2007Mission is the essence of something. It is what it is MEANT to be. When you boil it down, mission is the sum total of an entities purpose for existence. Unfortunately, many churches in 2007 seem to have lost their mission. They have become places where people have been burned, hurt, abused, judged, criticized, shamed, brainwashed, isolated from society, and the list goes on, and on, and on.
But I’m a church guy, so I don’t want to bash the church. I won’t ignore its problems, but I want to fix them not just gripe about them. I want it to be better. I want to find its true mission. And I believe Vintage is that fix, and I believe we have the right mission. Let’s discover it together.
There are 4 essential elements that we find in Acts 2:1-41 and they also happen to comprise the four elements of the mission statement of Vintage Fellowship.
1. We will exalt Jesus Christ. vv. 22-24, 31-33
Peter lifts up Jesus and clearly explains the gospel.
Vintage exists because of Jesus, for Jesus, and to proclaim Jesus.
2. We will be a life-changing church. vv. 37-41
The people responded to Peter by asking what they should do. Peter clearly exhorts them to repent and be baptized. They respond in obedience.
Vintage does not exist to go through the motions. Everything we do has one desired result; change. If people’s lives aren’t changing because of what we do, we fail.
3. We will be rooted in the ancient faith. vv. 14, 16-21, 25-31
Peter acknowledges the Jewish faith of his audience, the history of their prophets and fulfillment of their prophecies, and the lineage of Jesus back to David.
Vintage is not the new kid on the block with all the answers. We are connected to generations and centuries of people of faith before us. We seek to exhibit all the best of that heritage of faith.
4. We will be bearing fruit in postmodern culture. vv. 4-11The Holy Spirit allowed the apostles to speak to the audience in each language represented from many different cultures and countries. The audience did not have to adapt and learn the language of the message, the message came to them in words they understood.
Vintage will attempt to communicate the truths of the gospel in language and methods that people in today’s culture can understand, using their philosophy, language, and thought patterns.
These four elements come together in what is the Vintage Fellowship Mission Statement:
The compelling mission of Vintage Fellowship is to exalt Jesus Christ by being a life-changing church, rooted in the ancient faith, bearing fruit in postmodern culture.
While this is what we proclaim Vintage Fellowship to be about, there is one core issue that we must address in order to really connect these foundational dots.
When someone asks you what your church is like, you likely respond with adjectives and descriptors of the building, the service, the worship style, the predominant dress of the attendees, or maybe even a fancy mission statement. Almost every reference we make to “church” is in reference to a thing, an it, something inanimate. At the mere mention of the word “church” the kinds of things that come to mind are the same list of material or static things that we associate with church. This, my friends, is perhaps the greatest reason why many churches lose their mission.
Everywhere in the Bible that the church is mentioned it refers to people. The Greek word is literally translated, “called out ones.” Not called out building, not called out organization, not called out service, but called out ONES. This may sound obvious, of course most people would agree that the church is people. However, while mental assent to this truth is almost a given, we live as though it could not be further from the truth.
The church is people not things.
The church is a “who” not an “it.”
The church is you and me not a service.
We are the church, you and me and everyone else out there that believes the good news. Theologically speaking there are two kinds of churches, the Universal and the local. They’ve been defined that way for centuries but we have not lived out those definitions very well.
Jesus said, “Where two or three are gathered I am there.” That means anywhere and anytime that two or three of us are in the same place that is church. Everywhere we go is church! If the church is really people, then church never ends. Church is always happening, always moving, always touching someone’s life. When you go grocery shopping, the church is in the grocery store as you represent Jesus. As you drive the streets of your Fayetteville, the church is in the car exhibiting how Jesus drives. At work, the church is there when you share sweet fellowship with other believers as you get your job done, or as you show unbelievers how Jesus works.
YOU ARE THE CHURCH!
YOU ARE VINTAGE FELLOWSHIP!!
So, this mission isn’t just for an organization called Vintage Fellowship. It is a personal mission, an individual mission, that each and every one of us must buy into and as we come together and pool our resources of time and love and money and relationship we can accomplish together so much more than we could alone. It is time for you to come to say:
The compelling mission of my life is to exalt Jesus Christ by changing lives around me having been rooted in an ancient faith I will bear fruit in today’s culture.
