Glorify God. See People Transformed.

Late-night television host Stephen Colbert created his own questionnaire that he used with several of his guests. The questions ranged from relatively light (Apples or oranges?) to the existentially significant (What do you think happens when we die?) The final question for the guest was always: Summarize the rest of your life in five words.

What is the rest of your life about? Could you describe it in five words?

Our church has worked through a restatement of our mission, vision, and values. We didn't start from scratch. After all, Valley Springs is looking toward the horizon of our 40th birthday in a few years. We have a legacy, but a legacy is never static. It usually needs to be restated for succeeding generations.

We live in a time when churches are borrowing the organizational concept of having a Mission, Vision, Values statement. It's a set of three statements meant to encapsulate the whole culture of a local church. Our statement is more than five words, but more importantly, it's grounded in the word of the Lord.

Like many local churches, we've thought about our connection to the Greatest Commandment and the Great Commission in order to summarize our faith.

When Jesus was asked, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?” he was being asked, in a sense, to summarize the entire Old Testament. Could anyone do that on the spot? Jesus could. He answered in two sentences:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Jesus did not give a vague answer. He showed that the substance of the greatest commandment comes from the authoritative Word of God. He summarized the Word—and in doing so, he silenced the questions of those trying to put doubts in people’s minds about him.

If we are going to talk about mission, we have to talk in terms of God’s Word. How does God reveal himself to us? How do we know something about the nature of who God is and what he wants us to understand about him? He has revealed himself in his Word.

This is the word that shapes everything we do. If we want to keep the greatest commandment—to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength—we first have to know him. And to know him, we have to know his Word.

The reason our conversations as a church are unique and different from every other gathering—whether a bowling league, a civic club, or anything else—is that we put God’s Word at the center of our conversation every time we come together. We glorify God and enjoy him forever by knowing what is in his Word. We love God as our hearts are tuned by his Word.

The second part of the greatest commandment is to love our neighbor as ourselves. In Luke's gospel account, a man asks Jesus, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus asks him what is written in the law and how he reads it. The man gives the same summary: love God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind; love your neighbor as yourself.

But then the man asks the question that hits close to home: “And who is my neighbor?”

Jesus answers with the story we know as the Good Samaritan. A Jewish man is robbed, beaten, and left for dead by the side of the road. The one who proves to be a neighbor is the Samaritan—the person the wounded man likely would have despised. It is the Samaritan who shows mercy.

This parable gives us a picture of what love looks like. He welcomed someone made in the image of God, just as he was. When we know who God is through his Word, we begin to understand how to treat others (as people made in his image). We see that the welcome of God is not reserved for people who are like us, easy for us, or useful to us. 

Welcome is not simply being friendly at the door. It is the love of neighbor shaped by the welcome God has shown us in Christ, healing us through the forgiveness of our sins. It is the "dirty" Samaritan who displays the welcome of God to one of the chosen people of God left for dead.

If we have seen who God is by his Word taking root in our hearts, and if his welcome has changed how we see our neighbors, then we become witnesses. We speak and live as people who know him.

All of that summarized is our church's Mission:
To glorify God by Word, Welcome, and Witness from Roseville, California to the world.

That's the path we walk together.
What is the destination we look to on the far horizon at the end of that path?
That would be our Vision:
To see people transformed by the Holy Spirit, loving Jesus and living out his love, to the glory of God the Father.

The Great Commission is the last statement of Jesus to his disciples in Matthew's gospel account. Jesus tells his disciples to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that he has commanded. It's a vision of people transformed.

There are many things in this world calling for our allegiance: “Follow me.” “Subscribe.” “Find me here.” We can give ourselves to any number of voices and visions. Whose disciple will you be? To be a disciple is to follow. People are transformed when they become disciples of Jesus Christ.  

Christians follow the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—not three gods, but one God in three persons. Baptism marks us as belonging to the Triune God. Teaching transforms our minds, but it is not merely knowledge for winning a Bible trivia contest. It is knowledge meant to be lived out in everyday life.

We are transformed as we know and do God's Word.

Christians are transformed through the presence of Jesus with his people. Jesus says, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” He is at the right hand of the Father, and yet by his Spirit Christ is with us. As we are connected to people connected to Jesus, we share in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit transforms people by shining the spotlight on Jesus Christ. 

We are transformed by the Holy Spirit, loving Jesus and living out his love, all to the glory of God the Father. This vision is the destination on the horizon. It's what we long to see in our church.

At Valley Springs, our MISSION is to glorify God by word, welcome, and witness from Roseville, California, to the world.

Our VISION is to see people transformed by the Holy Spirit, loving Jesus and living out his love to the glory of God the Father.

Imagine sitting down for an interview and being asked, without preparation: “Summarize the rest of your life in five words.” What if the answer could be clear enough to remember, deep enough to live, and large enough to carry into every season?

Glorify God. See people transformed.

That's our mission, the path we walk.
That's our vision, the destination we long to see.