How does Jesus drive the vision of this church?
The vision that God has provided for this local church body is a network of gospel-centered communities which function as "the church" throughout the week, learning what it means to follow Jesus together. We view the church as those people whom God has saved and called to be his worshipers. It is not a building, institution, or service but is people living for His Kingdom and doing His service. The ultimate purpose of the church is the worship of God: understanding, obeying, and enjoying Him. Jesus expressed this in Mark 12:30 saying that there is no greater commandment: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. God defines what is worship and it affects much more than just a time of corporate celebration. It is the joyful whole-life integration of God's values and priorities (Rom 12:1 John 14:15 ). Jesus, being the central actor in God's creation, the source of our salvation and sanctification, and ruler of the Kingdom is the focus of our worship. We see the church as able to embrace the commandments of God through the interwoven application of three principles: Gospel, Community, and Mission.
Gospel
The biblical narrative shows that God is most glorified by saving people who love, obey, and enjoy Him in all that they do. The gospel explains how God can transform sinful people into his righteous worshipers, by His grace, through the work of Christ. We cannot over-emphasize the centrality of the gospel in what we do as a church. The gospel saves us, it changes us, and it gives us a motivation for ministry.
Community
God saves and sanctifies us to become his people (plural). We are members of a church body with many parts. God does not save us for our own personal individual gain. We are unable to realize God's purpose for us if we are acting as autonomous individuals. A large part of turning to God is turning away from our self-centered ways. In this we can embrace the concept of community, and look to real relationships as the medium in which God teaches us to see and participate in the work of His Kingdom. (Rom 12:4-5 1Cor 10:17 1Cor 12:12-26 Jer 7:22-23 )
Mission
The mission of the church is to live out and share the gospel so that many people will come to believe and become a part of this big community, God's family, the church. Jesus sums up his mission for the church in Matthew 28:16-20: Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
Ecclesiology (Structure)
The Followers church will have a core building block of small intimate groups called gospel communities which meet together throughout the week, building close relationships in which they are able to pastor each other through remembering how the gospel changes everything, celebrating and mourning life's events together, sharing meals together, studying and applying God's word together, participating in sacraments together, and serving their surrounding community in love together. This network of gospel communities will meet together as a large group for celebrations a couple times per month to be reminded that we are a single church body with incarnation throughout the region. Our large group celebrations will include biblical preaching to keep us all focused on God's word, His Kingdom, and the mission he has created; it will include the sharing of stories and lessons-learned from our individual community groups as we learn to live out the gospel together; and it will include worship in which we can celebrate the glory of God together as a large family. Groups will grow organically through intentional service and friendship with those who do not believe. By building trusting relationships we will have the opportunity to share and discuss the gospel with people who would normally be closed to religious discussion. Conversation about the gospel's relevance will be a normal and natural part of everyday language, integrating God's Word into everyday life, allowing the gospel's message to be clear and present, being preached to many so that some will believe. As we add new believers to our gospel communities we will recognize and develop spiritual gifts to facilitate ministry efforts that are matched to the needs identified by local groups and the gifts that God has given them. Those with leadership gifting will be trained and commissioned as either deacons who lead the daily ministry efforts of the church, or as pastors who teach and oversee the church body as a whole. By this recognition and development of gifts leadership will be distributed and in-touch with the daily lives of church members, not constrained to a single figurehead or purely administrative board. We will participate in preparing and sending those who are called to go out and plant and support additional church bodies, either in our local area, in other parts of this country, or around the world. Our goal is not to build a single large central church, but to reproduce effective gospel-driven, doctrinally-sound, missional church bodies in many areas. ( Rom 10:14-17 )
