Vision, Mission, & Values
Mission Statement
Love God, Love Others, Make Disciples
Our mission comes from the two great commands Jesus gave his followers: the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. Jesus calls us to love God with everything we are, love our neighbors as ourselves, and make disciples of all nations. These aren't separate responsibilities; together they describe the life of a follower of Jesus.
LOVE GOD
We seek to know God, follow Jesus, and become more like him.
Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Loving God is more than something we feel or say. It is a life increasingly surrendered to him.
As we worship, pray, study Scripture, follow the Spirit's leading, and practice the way of Jesus, God forms us into the likeness of Christ. Everything else we do flows from our relationship with him.
Key Scriptures: Mark 12:29–30; John 14:15; John 15:4–5; Romans 12:1–2
LOVE OTHERS
Because God has loved us, we seek to demonstrate his love to the people around us.
Jesus joined love for God with love for our neighbor. We cannot separate the two. The love we receive from God moves outward toward others.
Jesus showed us that our neighbor includes more than the people we already know, understand, or naturally love. We make room for strangers, care for people who are hurting, seek justice, extend mercy, practice generosity, serve without expecting anything in return, and pursue the good of the community where God has placed us.
We want our neighbors to experience something of God's goodness through the way we live among them.
Key Scriptures: Mark 12:31; Luke 10:25–37; John 13:34–35; 1 John 4:19–21
MAKE DISCIPLES
We invite people into life with Jesus and help one another become more like him.
Jesus didn't simply tell his followers to make converts or invite people to church. He commanded us to make disciples—people who learn from Jesus, follow Jesus, and increasingly become like Jesus.
Making disciples means sharing the good news of Jesus, inviting others to follow him, baptizing new believers, teaching one another to obey Jesus, and walking together as we are formed into his likeness.
Discipleship is also meant to multiply. As Jesus forms us, he sends us into the lives of others. We help others follow Jesus so that they, in turn, can help others follow him.
Key Scriptures: Matthew 28:18–20; Matthew 4:19; Colossians 1:28; 2 Timothy 2:2
Love God. Love others. Make disciples.
This is more than a statement about what our church does. It describes the kind of people Jesus is forming us to become: people who love God wholeheartedly, demonstrate his love to others, and invite others into the life we have found in Jesus.
OUR CORE VALUES
SUBMIT TO GOD’S WORD
God’s Word is our authority and shapes who we are becoming.
We don't ask Scripture to conform to us; we submit ourselves to it. Through God's Word, we come to know Jesus, understand God's character, discern truth, and learn what faithful life in his kingdom looks like. Scripture challenges, corrects, teaches, and continually forms us into the likeness of Christ.
Key Scriptures: 2 Timothy 3:16–17; Hebrews 4:12; Psalm 119:105; John 17:17
LOVE STRANGERS
We make room for people because God has made room for us.
Biblical hospitality is more than being friendly. It is philoxenia—love of the stranger. Because God has welcomed us through Jesus, we intentionally move toward people we don't know, people who are different from us, and people who may have nothing to offer us in return. We open our lives, homes, tables, and church to others so they can experience something of God's welcome through us.
Key Scriptures: Hebrews 13:1–2; Romans 12:13; Luke 14:12–14; Matthew 25:35
SEEK JUSTICE & LOVE MERCY
We seek the good of others through both justice and mercy.
God cares about what is right and about those who are hurting, overlooked, oppressed, or vulnerable. Mercy moves us toward people in their pain; justice asks what is right and seeks their good. Following Jesus means refusing to separate compassion from action. We seek the shalom—the well-being and flourishing—of the community where God has placed us.
Key Scriptures: Micah 6:8; Jeremiah 29:7; Isaiah 1:17; Matthew 23:23
FOLLOW THE SPIRIT’S LEADING
We remain attentive and responsive to where the Holy Spirit leads.
The church does not accomplish God's mission through human strategy alone. The Holy Spirit forms us, empowers us, gives gifts to God's people, and leads us into opportunities we may not have planned. We prayerfully listen, discern together, and remain willing to follow wherever God leads—even when it requires change, risk, or faith.
Key Scriptures: Galatians 5:25; Acts 13:2–4; Romans 8:14; John 16:13
VALUE EVERY GENERATION
Every generation has something to receive and something to give.
The church is not simply preparing the next generation to become the church someday. Every generation is part of the church now. We intentionally create relationships across generations so that wisdom, faith, experience, leadership, and encouragement are passed from one generation to another. Children, students, adults, and senior adults are all being formed by Jesus and all have a role in God's mission.
Key Scriptures: Psalm 145:4; Deuteronomy 6:4–9; Joel 2:28; 1 Timothy 4:12
How they support our mission
FORMED BY JESUS
Submit to God's Word
Follow the Spirit's Leading
FOR OUR NEIGHBORS
Love Strangers
Seek Justice & Love Mercy
TOGETHER
Value Every Generation
Our values therefore aren't separate from our mission. They describe what “Formed by Jesus for our neighbors” looks like when it becomes the culture of New Lisbon Christian Church.