If you’ve been to a GENESIS gathering once or 1000 times, you’ve heard me (or someone else from stage) say…
“Our heart is to help as many people as we possibly can enter into and experience the one relationship that God created ALL of us for… friendship with God… walking with God.”
There are hundreds of ways that churches across the world articulate the heartbeat (or mission) of their church. For GENESIS, six words give voice not only to our heart, but I believe the heart of God… helping ALL people walk with God.
Again, there are many ways a local church can give voice to their mission. I’m not saying our way is the best way, but I would say this:
our mission is BIBLICAL…
our mission is THEOLOGICALLY RICH…
And maybe most important…
Our mission is CONSISTENT with the HEART OF GOD.
As I mentioned in last week’s devotional (you can read that HERE), over the next few weeks (maybe longer), I’m going to use this space to pull back the curtain as it were to all things GENESIS. Very specifically, I wanted to give you insight into our mission, vison, DNA, values, and philosophy of ministry.
Well, seeing that our mission of ‘helping ALL people walk with God’ drives everything we do as a church, it’s probably best to start there. As I mentioned above, this mission is biblical, theologically rich, and most importantly, this articulates well the heart of God.
Here’s WHY I say all of that.
God created humanity to walk with Him… to experience His presence. But rather than walk with God, Adam and Eve (and all of humanity followed suit) decided to walk away from God. Instead of walking with God in His ways, we decided to walk away from Him choosing instead to walk in the ways that seemed best to us.
Now, if the story ended there, well, that would be tragic because we’d have no hope of ever walking with God again. Afterall, how could a sinful person who walked away from God be made right with a Holy God?
Thankfully, there is GOOD NEWS. And the good news is not that we figured out a way to placate God into walking with us again through a life of good behavior… not at all! Rather, God decided to walk amongst His creation in the person of Jesus.
See this with me in John 1:14…
“The Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.”
God made His home among us… in other words, God walked with His creation once again. And the invitation, coupled with a promise, was that anyone… and I mean ANYONE who would choose to walk with Jesus… to trust Jesus and Jesus alone would once and for all time be made right with God, both now and throughout eternity.
How amazing is this news!
Because of Jesus, you and I have the opportunity not only to walk with God… today, tomorrow, and throughout eternity, but we have the once in a lifetime opportunity to HELP those around us walk with God.
And PLEASE do not miss this… I’m not sure there is any greater privilege we have this side of eternity than helping someone to walk with God today so they might walk with God in eternity.
Maybe the obvious question becomes…
HOW DO WE HELP PEOPLE WALK WITH GOD?
Great question… so glad you we’re thinking about that! I don’t mean to oversimplify this, but the answer to that is rather simple.
WALK WITH GOD!
As you walk with God, well, you will become more and more like the One you walk with. In other words, you will become more like Him.
More compassionate.
More loving.
More patient.
More gracious.
More generous.
More forgiving.
More kind.
In essence… more like Jesus!
And here’s the thing… as you walk with God, people will see, feel, hear, and experience the difference God is making in your life. People will begin to ask you why you are so different. Family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, classmates, and teammates will begin to ask you where your hope, peace, and confidence come from.
And just so you know, the answer to that question is rather simple…
‘It all comes from walking with God.’
As a church… helping ALL people walk with God is what we are going ALL in on!
As a church, we’ll do whatever we can to help ALL people cultivate their walk with God so that they are equipped to help those around them walk with God!
As a church, we’ll remain ruthlessly focused on this ONE THING because we believe this ONE THING ultimately SHAPES ALL THINGS.
I hope this helps bring clarity as to WHY ‘helping ALL people walk with God’ is our mission. More than anything, I hope and pray that you’ll go ALL in on walking with God, trusting that God will use your walk with Him to help A LOT of people around you begin walking with Him as well!
