Exposition
In order to explain the mission statement, it is good to break it down to little and significant phrases. We would tackle each phrase one at a time and build the bigger picture.
“We exist by the providence of God…”
We felt it important to affirm the providential hand of God in putting us all together, giving us the passion we have and all the gifts and calling each one of us possess. Hence at the beginning of the mission statement, we want to say, we exist simply on the basis of the providence of God. God could have accomplished everything He has purposed, without any of us. However in the providential grace of God, we are who we are and we are greatly privileged to have been given this great honor of knowing and serving Him. Our ministry is thus out of profound gratefulness to His amazing grace in granting undeserving sinners like us, this matchless gift of knowing the joy of cherishing the magnificence of His Son – Lord Jesus Christ.
“to proclaim and promote…”
So in the gracious providence of our God, what has He called us to do? Or to put differently, if someone were to ask, as to how exactly are we going to accomplish our mission? Then the answer is to proclaim and promote. By proclaim, we mean preaching. We firmly believe in the centrality and primacy of preaching over all other means of promulgating the Word of God. We are passionate about preaching and have a very high view of it. For we believe, preaching the Word is the means by which God accomplishes His electing purposes. We believe so, precisely because of our high view of the message we proclaim. We believe the gospel is the power of God unto salvation, and hence when a man of God, heralds this Word, which is not a bare word, but one laden with power, it proves its potency by the response it produces in its hearers. This high view of the gospel and how God has ordained preaching to be that one means by which He displays His power to save sinners, makes us passionately serious about preaching.
However we are well aware of the fact that though preaching is central and takes priority over all other means, ministry is not all about preaching. Ministry does involve other means of spreading the Word by writing articles, booklets, books, theological papers, personal correspondences; counseling, one-to-one discipleship etc., Hence we want to affirm that we are eager to not just proclaim but also to promote the gospel in whichever way we can. So the bottom line on our modus operandi is that we want to promote the gospel by all means, but mainly through its proclamation.
“the sufficiency and supremacy of the gospel of Lord Jesus Christ...”
We now come to the main thrust of our mission – our message. We desire to proclaim and promote only one message – the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. To be specific, we want to celebrate the sufficiency and supremacy of the gospel of Lord Jesus Christ. In all that we do, we want to make it plain how the gospel is both supreme - above all false religions and false gospels preached without and within the church; and sufficient – to save, mature and keep the people of God. In dealing with the supremacy of the gospel, we want to demonstrate how the gospel is supreme to all other messages that humans have invented as alternate gospels. This would certainly include false religions and we would address them, by showing how the gospel gives a more adequate, coherent and powerful answer to the deep realities of life. We would thus be indirectly addressing them rather than a direct one, which suits more for an apologetics ministry. However we would be directly addressing the alternate gospels preached within the church. This more subtle kind of attack on the gospel is where we mainly want to proclaim the supremacy of the gospel. Many professing Christians who would affirm the supremacy of the gospel over false religions, to save sinners, would sadly also invent alternate mechanisms of sanctification or final salvation that betrays the truth of the gospel.
The gospel is supreme precisely because it is sufficient to save, mature and keep the people of God. Though almost all Evangelicals affirm the necessity of grace in salvation, only Reformed Christians believe in both the necessity and sufficiency of God’s grace in the gospel. We being Reformed believe that the Bible teaches both the supremacy and sufficiency of the gospel and that it holds them both together by maintaining the centrality of the gospel. Doctrinally, canonically and thematically, the center of the Bible is the gospel. The gospel thus dictates our understanding of every single doctrine, orients our hermeneutics and brings coherence to our grasp of the Bible storyline. Thus it is only by keeping the gospel at the center of our theology, life and ministry, we would faithfully uphold the supremacy and sufficiency of the gospel. We thus want to be as gospel-centered as the Bible is.
“for enabling the Church…”
For whom do we proclaim and promote the supremacy and sufficiency of the gospel? The answer is the Church, that elect people whom God has chosen, in His beloved Son to be His people, for the glory of His Name. This does not mean we do not have a ministry to unbelievers. It only means our ministry would ultimately be beneficial for them only in whom the Spirit of God is effectually working – to save, mature and keep by the gospel. We love all people in the world and want to obey the prescriptive will of God to go to every creature and proclaim the glories of Jesus Christ in His gospel. However we specially love the church, those who have not just heard the gospel, but by the gracious and effectual working of the Spirit, have the gift of saving faith to believe in the gospel and have thus been united to the body of Christ, His holy and blood-bought bride, chosen for His glory. Therefore all our ministry is aimed at enabling the Church. We want the body of Christ equipped and enabled by the gospel.
“to always treasure God alone and thereby worship the Lord at any cost.”
Finally the mission statement answers as to what we want the church to ultimately do. We believe, the Church would be enabled by God, through our faithful and gospel-centered ministry, to always treasure God alone. We love to see the Church be that community, where God alone is counted precious, where God alone is treasured, with wholehearted adoration and godly reverence. It is our firm conviction that no man can count God as precious, apart from the gospel. It is only by tasting the gospel, we can savor the goodness of God, be irresistibly attracted to His beauty and be deeply convicted of His worthiness in worship. Hence we believe a true gospel-centered ministry would foster deep appreciation and treasuring of God.
“And thereby”, in other words, by means of treasuring God or as a result of treasuring God, the Church is joyfully willing to offer worship at any cost. For the logical and reasonable outcome of this treasuring of God is worship. When God becomes our supreme joy, the priceless treasure, we become willing to do away with anything and anyone in this world, if His Name be glorified. Whatever be the cost, we seek only to cherish Him and Him alone. The inferior and fleeting pleasures of this world soon loses its grip on our souls, so gripped by the superior and eternal pleasure of treasuring this God of the gospel. Willingness to part any earthly treasure or sinful pleasure becomes part of such a church. For some, the cost to see God worshipped would be mortifying some sin, for others it would be parting with their loved ones and going to an unknown land for the sake of the gospel. Whatever be the cost, we believe a gospel-centered ministry would make the Church, a Word-devouring, Gospel-loving, Christ-treasuring, Sin-mortifying, Missions-doing, God-exalting and worshipping community.
To this end we labor in proclaiming and promoting the sufficiency and supremacy of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
