July Loop Intro
Beloved,
Summer is here, and July is upon us. July brings a lot of activity, transitions, and just plain hard work. In the midst of that, it’s good to just step back and remind ourselves of the purposes of Jesus’ church. Matthew’s Gospel (ch16) points out that we cannot disconnect Jesus’ person and work from His program on earth, “building His church.” If you know Jesus’ Person, you’ll be committed to His program. His purposes for the church are seen in the activities that constitute being the Church, as well as the activities that contribute to the well-being of the individual members of the Church. Those are doxological, toward God. Our purpose is to treasure Him in a way that brings Him glory, worship Him as He prescribed, as regulated by the Scriptures. Toward the world, our posture is evangelism: making disciples through baptizing and teaching (Matthew 28:19-20). Toward each other, our purpose is edification and spiritual transformation.
In summary, our ultimate goal is to glorify God. However, our immediate goal is to make disciples. How are we doing at making disciples? This is our scorecard church; everything else supports this goal. Make Disciples who make disciples. Mature Disciples fulfill the great commission and the great commandment. Make more and better disciples. Transformation (Making Disciples) is the goal – the local church is the context – the Gospel is the means.
As we have camps, VBS, Service Swaps, and more this month. Let’s keep our main purposes in mind.
Grace to you,
Pastor Jayson