6.10.2026

Someone recently asked me what my vision was for Christ Church.

It’s a good question. 

And there are a variety of ways to answer a question about vision. The usual way I’ve heard vision expressed is in terms of, to be a little crass, “butts, bills, and baptisms” (in other words, attendance, income, and conversions). 

The problem with that is (I hope) obvious. It prioritizes measurable numbers over immeasurable spiritual transformation. The 3 B’s of butts, bills, baptisms might be a measure of organizational health, but they also reduce ministry to performance and neglect genuine discipleship and our impact within our communities.

Speaking of multi-site churches, sometimes a fourth B is added:  buildings. Many people in church leadership (we used to just call them “pastors” but that’s old-school) now measure success in terms of “campuses” or multi-site churches . . . but honestly, and if I’m wrong I sincerely apologize, I really wonder if that sometimes has more to do with the leader’s ego than God’s will. 

So, dismissing the 4 B’s for the corporate world nonsense they are, what is my vision for Christ Church? 

I believe my vision is the same vision the apostle Paul had for his congregations in the New Testament: that we live in unity, loving one another; that we are conformed to the image of Christ; and that as the unified Body of Christ we carry out the work of the ministry.  

When you read Paul’s letters, you discover that Paul is writing them to help create unified, spiritually mature communities. The church is the “Body of Christ” and that Body is made up of many diverse members, and the way those members work and live together is a foretaste of the unity John wrote about in Revelation 7, “After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.”

That sort of unified Body, especially in our world so obsessed with identity and division, cannot be ignored. This is what Paul calls “God’s secret plan” in Ephesians 3:8-10 is that God's wisdom, in all its rich variety, was to be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places — through the church!”  

By the way we live in unity and in our unique lives as followers of Christ we make known the wisdom of God to the rulers of this world who look at us and scratch their heads, just wishing they could accomplish through politics what God has accomplished through Christ. 

The second part of Paul’s vision has to do with the character of God’s people. In Philippians 2:14-15, Paul urges the church to “ Do all things without murmuring and arguing,  so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the world . . .” 

Again, Paul stresses unity: “Without murmuring and arguing.” The world outside of the church knows all about murmuring and arguing. It doesn’t need the church to demonstrate pettiness or selfishness. As God’s church, we are to be signposts of the Light and beauty of God in a world of darkness and ugliness. 

This Sunday I’ll be preaching from Colossians 1:21-22, “And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds,  he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him.” In other words, our lives are reflections of the God who saved us.

Finally, Paul’s vision, God’s plan and my hope for all of you is found in Ephesians 4, “The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.” 

The church was never intended to be a “one-man show”! All members have gifts and my job as pastor is to help you see the gifts you have and put them to work for the Body of Christ. It is the saints (you all and me included) who do the work of the ministry. 

My vision for the church? That we love; that we live like Christ; that we faithfully carry out the work God’s called us to carry out. Unmeasurable, maybe but definitely Biblical. 

Blessings,
Pastor Terry