When God made it clear to plant a church back in 2006, He made it clear that we should be ready, like any new church, to face unique challenges as we carved new paths, to meet changing needs and opportunities to follow and introduce Jesus. The past few weeks, we’ve been learning about the “Kingdom Keys,” the values that God originally commissioned us to follow as a church: worshipful (Our alignment, orientation, posture to God in Jesus.), relational (Our alignment, orientation, posture to others like Jesus.) and missional (Our alignment, orientation, posture to unchurched for Jesus.). If you’ve been around for any length of time, hopefully you’re beginning to pick up these keys to open up the reality of following Jesus and doing real-life ministry.
We believe the church exists to bring people back to God through Jesus, and become worshipful, relational and missional people according to Him. We see worshipful, relational, missional summed up in a couple key verses: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39).
Being relational is all about intentionally loving without fear — fear lurks in the shadows of every relationship, but vulnerability shines a bright light and allows true relationship to flourish. We’ve got to remember that there is no love in a fearful life of self-provision and self-protection; but our fears are swallowed up in the loving provision and protection of God. “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love” (1 John 4:18).
Worshipful, then is to live life in a radical way — one that makes God central, thus debunking false idols that compete for His Lordship. Our shifts away from God are often subtle and deceptive. When He is not central, the life He intends for us is lost. “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me” (Exodus 32:26).
Being missional is humbly, intentionally going where, doing what, giving something and embracing who, we otherwise would NOT – to help others find and follow Jesus. Being missional is a shift in heart away from me, and a move toward the marginalized. But it doesn’t stop there. We must recognize that WE are the marginalized, and to truly be missional means to meet the “other” marginalized in the middle. We see this come to life in an illustration from D.T. Niles: “Evangelism is just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.” “Go and make disciples…” (Matthew 28:19)
So what’re we waiting for? He’s given us the keys to unlock the Kingdom, to love Him, love others and tell the world about His redeeming love and grace. It’s up to us to take a step! How did the Kingdom Keys series impact you? Were there any particular messages that stood out or prompted action or a deeper look at your own life?
For more on our values, check out the Vista Values Playbook — a guide to all things Vista that’ll provide more background on who we are and why we do what we do. Download a copy here. To listen to the Kingdom Keys messages again, visit vistachurches.org/sermons, or check us out on iTunes. Read about who we are and what we believe by visiting vistachurches.org/identity.
It seems to me that if I were to focus my efforts on being worshipful I would get relational and missional as a natural consequence, or side effect, of loving God with all of my heart, soul and mind [and strength]. It’s easy to lose sight of the “best thing” (God) when we’re busy engaging in the “good things” (relational, missional). But what happens to those “good things” when they are deeply rooted in Jesus? Those relational and missional things become a life-giving part of our worshipful posture before God in Jesus. Beautiful!