Our Mission: Ministering the King’s Gifts to His People

Why a Mission Statement?

Before we even begin, let’s make sure we know what a mission statement is. A quick search yields thousands of results. Here’s a good one, “A mission statement is used by a company to explain, in simple and concise terms, its purpose(s) for being.” In other words, a mission statement explains why an entity exists. It answers the questions, What is this organization here to do? In what sort of actions and efforts is it engaged? 

For example, Tesla’s mission statement is “to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy.” The coffee giant, Starbucks, says their mission is “to inspire and nurture the human spirit.” The former example indicates Tesla’s desire to create and move humanity toward electric and renewable energy. The latter is much less clear in its aims (I am not sure how burnt-tasting coffee is inspiring and nurturing to the human spirit). Regardless, all these mission statements seek to direct employees and customers toward the company’s purpose.

But that’s a lot of business talk. Why bother with formulating a mission statement for a church? Doesn’t every church have the same mission—the Great Commission—given directly by Jesus himself (Matthew 28:19)? Yes, that is absolutely true. Every church, in fact, should find their individual and local mission fitting within the framework of the mission.

That does not mean, however, that churches cannot, or should not, formulate their own mission statement. By doing so, a church can better ensure they are staying on mission as they seek to make disciples in their community, baptizing and teaching all that Christ has commanded.

At Christ the King, we want to do that in the Joplin area, and our mission statement helps us remember who we are and what we are all about. Let’s take a look at each part of this statement in more detail.

Ministering the King’s Gifts to His People

Ministering

The first part of our mission statement, ‘ministering’ emphasizes our dependence upon Christ who alone is the source and substance of everything we do. Christ is the message we offer to a broken and hurting world. We have nothing else to offer. The good news is that Christ is truly what we all need! So, we don’t need to be looking anywhere else, or to anyone else, than to Christ alone. He is the substance of all that we do.

And, Christ is the source of everything as well. Christ alone is the King and Head of his church. That means we are not at liberty to create anything new, or add to any of what Christ has already given us through his Word. Rather, our job is to simply declare what the Bible says and minister the gifts that he has given to his people. 

This concept is summed up well by the Apostle Paul. As he instructs the Corinthians about the proper administration of the Lord’s Supper, he begins by writing, “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you…” (1 Corinthians 11:23, ESV). In other words, Paul didn’t invent the Sacrament; he didn’t add to or take away from it. He received it directly from the Lord Jesus, and then he delivered that very same sacrament to the church in Corinth. Our mission at Christ the King PCA is to minister Jesus’ gifts to his people in the exact same way.

Let’s consider those gifts now.

The King’s Gifts

On the day of Pentecost the early church exploded with new members, adding to their number about three thousand souls in one day (Acts 2:41)! What did those thousands of new Christians do after being saved? Luke tells us in the next verse that “they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers” (Acts 2:42, ESV). In this verse we see the model for church ministry that is centered around God’s ordinary means of grace. Namely, when believers gathered in fellowship, they dedicated themselves to three things: the apostles’ teaching, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments; the breaking of bread, an expression for the Lord’s Supper; and the prayers.

These three things, the Word, the Sacraments, and prayer, are commonly referred to as the means of grace, or the ordinary means. In our mission statement, we describe them as the King’s gifts. As King of his church, Jesus gives us these special gifts as his means, or instruments, of grace to his people. These gifts—the Word read and preached, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper properly administered, and earnest prayer—are Jesus’ gifts to his church, for her edification and growth in grace. 

We speak of them as ordinary, not because they are not special or boring, but because God has promised that he will use them, always. He is consistent, even when we are flakey. He is faithful when we are faithless. It is a great blessing to know that God will always be with his people in his means of grace because he has promised to be there. These ordinary means are the normal, habitual, routine, and established ways in which Christ blesses and ministers to his people. We can know that when we gather together on Sunday to receive Word and Sacrament, Christ will always be there to bless his people (Matthew 18:20).

That leads us to the last part of our mission statement.

To His People

The phrase “His people” emphasizes that God is the one who saves us and names us as his own. Apart from God’s saving grace through which he adopts us into his covenant family, we would be lost. Peter discusses how God makes us into a new family in his first letter, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:9-10, ESV).

Not only does God save us to himself, but also to one another, making a vibrant and communal church life a necessary way of life for us. Using language from the prophet Hosea, Peter reminds us that we were all once not God’s people and under his wrath. But now we have been made a people for his own possession and recipients of his mercy. And this great mercy is a constant reminder that there are still many others in our community who need to be brought into the flock of the Good Shepherd. The good news is the catalyst for us to live on mission as we proclaim Christ to everyone we meet, so that all God’s people would hear the offer of the gospel and be brought into the household of faith.

May Christ the King Presbyterian Church be one of many faithful churches who minister the King’s gifts to His people!