Ephesians 1 says God has revealed his will to us. And his plan is to accomplish his will through Jesus Christ our Lord. And what is that will? “To bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ” (Ephesians 1:10).

We know what God is doing. God is gathering. He’s drawing together all things to himself through Christ. We are all being drawn into the life of God. We’re being brought together with his people to fulfill his purposes. We are called by God. And we live life responding to that call, reacting to his drawing and bringing together. It’s not about my choices. We live primarily in response to something and someone else. God is calling us and saving us so that we, his holy people, can participate in that bringing, so we can serve others and bless others and mediate his love and grace to the world.

We want to be a people, we want to be a church, that lives every moment of every day as if God really is who he says he is and he’s really doing every thing he’s promised to do. We want to be a people who are committed to change — holy change within ourselves and salvation change in the world. We want to know that God in Christ is doing magnificent things in us and doing incredible things through us. And we want to pay better attention to those things. We want to more faithfully expect those things and praise God for those things and jump into those things and participate with everything we’ve got.

So we need a God-honoring, mouth-watering, people-growing, church-exploding, own-this-thing-and-live-it vision statement.

“Becoming Like Christ For the Sake of _______.”

I’ll spend this week in this space fleshing out our new vision statement at Central. Both parts. What God is doing in us and what God is doing through us. And I’ll entertain all comments and answer any questions. We’re excited today about what our Father is doing in and through his people at Central. We believe this statement will serve as a lens through which we evaluate and measure our efforts in being God’s church. It’ll help us keep the priorities of transformation and ministry right in front of us. And it’ll provoke us to own and to live out our calling as children of God and devout disciples of his Son.

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What a great blessing to have my dear friend Jim Martin with us this weekend at Central. Jim wrote the curriculum for 1 Peter that our adult Bible classes began studying today. He trained our Bible class teachers and leaders yesterday, kicked off the series by teaching a combined Bible class this morning, and then spent lunch with our elders and ministers talking with us about mentoring. Regular readers of this space know Jim’s special place in my heart. Our common ground in Pleasant Grove and our partnership in the Gospel are only part of what makes him a cherished friend.

You can always get to Jim’s excellent and award-winning blog by clicking the link on the right side of this page. Or, for today, I’ll provide a link for you here. Jim’s blog is mostly geared toward ministers and lay leaders in the church, loaded with helpful links and book reviews, heavy with provocative questions and insights, and packed with encouragement. I highly recommend it. Especially on Mondays.

Peace,

Allan