The Church united in faith in Jesus is a powerful witness. A Church divided by opinions is just like everything else in our world... "Bad News". Gospel or "Good News" isn't about what we do it is about what Christ has done.

Rejoice has gone missional!

Description of the Missional Church

• The missional church is a collection of missional believers acting in concert together in fulfillment of the mission of God.
• The missional church is one where people are exploring and rediscovering what it means to be Jesus' sent people as their identity and vocation.
• The missional church is faith communities willing and ready to be Christ's people in their own situation and place.
• The missional church knows that they must be a cross-cultural missionary (contextual) people and adopt a missionary stance in relation to their community.
• The missional church will be engaged with the culture (in the world) without being absorbed by the culture (not of the world). They will become intentionally indigenous.
• The missional church understands that God is already present in the culture where it finds itself. Therefore, the missional church doesn't view its purpose as bringing God into the culture or taking individuals out of the culture to a sacred space.
• The missional church is about more than just being contextual, it is also about the nature of the church and how it relates to God.
• The missional church is about being -- being conformed to the image of God.
• The missional church will seek to plant all types of missional communities.
• The missional church is evangelistic and faithfully proclaims the gospel through word and deed. Words alone are not sufficient; how the gospel is embodied in our community and service is as important as what we say.
• The missional church understands the power of the gospel and does not lose confidence in it.
• The missional church recognizes that it does not hold a place of honor in its host community and that its missional imperative compels it to move out from itself into that host community as salt and light.
• The missional church will align all their activities around the mission of God.
• The missional church seeks to put the good of their neighbor over their own.
• The missional church will give integrity, morality, good character and conduct, compassion, love and a resurrection life filled with hope preeminence to give credence to their reasoned verbal witness.
• The missional church practices hospitality by welcoming the stranger into the midst of the community.
• The missional church will always be in a dynamic tension or paradox between missional individuals and community. We cannot sustain being missional on our own, but if we are not being missional individually we cannot sustain being mission-shaped corporately.
• The missional church will see themselves as representatives of Jesus and will do nothing to dishonor his name.
• The missional church will be totally reliant on God in all it does. It will move beyond superficial faith to a life of supernatural living.
• The missional church will be desperately dependent on prayer.
• The missional church gathered will be for the purpose of worship, encouragement, supplemental teaching, training, and to seek God's presence and to be realigned with God's missionary purpose.
• The missional church is orthodox in its view of the gospel and scripture, but culturally relevant in its methods and practice so that it can engage the world view of the hearers.
• The missional church will feed deeply on the scriptures throughout the week.
• The missional church will be a community where all members are involved in learning "the way of Jesus." Spiritual development is an expectation.
• The missional church will help people discover and develop their spiritual gifts and will rely on gifted people for ministry instead of talented people.
• The missional church is a healing community where people carry each other's burdens and help restore gently.
• The missional church will requires that its leaders be missiologists.

It is important for me to review my Purpose and Guiding principles  periodically. I have posted them here.

God's purpose for me is to:Walk faithfully with others.

Guiding principles:

1. Jesus is my Lord and Savior!

2. Be open, honest, and transparent.

3. Pray unceasingly!

4. Everything I do should be to make my relationship with God and everyone better. If it isn't ask myself why am I doing it?

5. Respect the opinions of others and try to see the other side of all issues.

6. If is sounds like something I have to do it isn't grace. Look for the grace! Then do it anyway. 

Peace, Pastor Mike 

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Pastor Mike is always willing to engage in good natured and gracious debate and makes no claims to inerrancy and has been know to be wrong and only occasionally right. He gives thanks for a gracious God.