Fight the Drift
It seems as though it would be natural, seemingly built within us, to stay focused on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. One might quickly assume that for a Christian to be “Gospel centered” is as natural as roaring is for a lion or blooming is for a flower. But it is just not so. We must fight the drift, and stay focused on the Gospel. We must not allow “good things” to substitute the “best.” We must stay focused on our responsibility to share with the lost world with the great news of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
Most evangelical churches in America have (in one way or another) the mission to reach as many people as possible with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are no different. We here at Verde have had for many years the mission: “To love the people of the Verde Valley into a loving relationship with Jesus Christ.” Lately, we shortened that mission a bit, and in so doing broadened it…but it remains the same: “To love people into a loving relationship with Jesus Christ.”
There is however, a simple way in which we can measure our effectiveness…or our drift. We must regularly take our simple mission statement (that sentence that so much burns within us as our God-called mission to our community and beyond) and we practically evaluate our personal and church activity along side of it to determine if it is actually happening. You know, measure it. Every mission statement has a way in which to be determined affective. We claim to be “Gospel-centered,” there should be measurable results.
If indeed church ministry is centered on the Gospel, each ministry at Verde Baptist should be experiencing new-conversion growth. If our men’s, women’s, youth, worship and children’s ministry are clearly proclaiming the Gospel, there will be professions of faith. But be careful…the same can be true of us all individually. While we claim to be centered on the Gospel of Jesus, we mostly lack the evidence.
Will you join me in fighting the drift? Let’s stay deep down committed to keeping the great news of Jesus Christ the center of our lives, our speech and our activities.
