Our Vision: Believe, Behold, Become

At Christ the King, we want to see that everyone Jesus brings us
Believe in the Gospel of free grace that saves sinners 
Behold God as He is revealed in His Word 
Become more like Christ through His sanctifying Spirit

This post will explore each part of our Vision Statement in more detail.

That everyone Jesus brings us…

This opening statement summarizes a key point of doctrine: Salvation belongs to the Lord alone. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who seeks and saves the lost. He knows his sheep; he saves them and brings them into the sheepfold. In other words, Jesus is the one who has brought us all together and will continue to add to our number those who are being saved. Far from being a detriment to evangelism, this fact serves as motivation for us to live on mission in our community. We (individually and as a collective church) are called to be the means by which God alone brings more of his people to himself. As we seek to serve our community and share the good news with neighbors, friends, and co-workers, we recognize that we are simply scattering gospel seeds, and God is the one who causes the growth. He will get all the glory! (Mark 10:45; Luke 15:1-7; 19:10; Acts 2:47; 13:48).

Believe

First and foremost, our vision is that we would be gospel-centered. The good news of the gospel is that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). Because the gospel is true, we want to be on mission so that more and more people would believe in the good news of Jesus. That is why we exist. Our mission to minister King Jesus’ gifts to his people is so that his people would put their faith and trust in him. 

“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household” (Acts 16:31), for “everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved” (Acts 2:21; Romans 10:13; Joel 2:32). This is the great promise from Scripture; this is the good news. When we could do nothing, Christ has done everything. The gospel of Christ is the message we proclaim every Sunday and the reality around which we order our lives. We want all to come to believe in the fulness of the mercy of God to us in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:14-19).

Behold

David writes in Psalm 27 that the one desire of his heart was to dwell in God’s presence, that he might “gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and inquire in his temple” (Psalm 27:4). Likewise, our vision is that we too might behold his beauty and meditate upon him. And we can only do this in and through God’s inerrant and infallible Word, contained in the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments. Holy Scripture is our only rule for faith and life, and it is our duty and immense privilege to seek God as he has willingly and graciously revealed himself to us.

As Paul writes, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). At CTK, our vision is that we would grow in our knowledge and understanding of God’s will, revealed to us in the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27). As God shapes the affections of our hearts, may he also increase the wisdom and understanding of our minds. 

Become

Lastly, none of this happens in a vacuum. Theology impacts how we live. The Heidelberg Catechism helpfully teaches us that there are three things we ought to know in order to live and die in the comfort of Christ our savior: our sin and misery, our redemption in Christ, and therefore, how we are to live in gratitude for our salvation. The last item is the process of sanctification, which is itself a “work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness” (Westminster Shorter Catechism Q. 35).

Our vision is that we would all seek this growth in holiness. This desire for holy living is expressed wonderfully in the third membership vow of our church: “Do you now resolve and promise, in humble reliance upon the grace of the Holy Spirit, that you will endeavor to live as becomes the followers of Christ?” (Taken from the PCA Book of Church Order, 57-5). Much can be said about this vow, but two points should be made. First, this is not a vow of perfection, but of aspiration. We are ‘endeavoring’ to live more like Christ, and in this goal we will always fall short. Nonetheless, we love Christ and want to be more like him. 

Second, we are not vowing to do this from our own strength, but always in ‘humble reliance upon the Holy Spirit.’ We know that even our good works done from a regenerate heart still fall short of God’s perfect law. But thanks be to God that we work, not to earn his favor and salvation, but because we are already his children by grace. It is not in order to be saved, but because salvation is ours, that we demonstrate our gratitude by living in obedience to the laws of our King. We are his people and we should act like it. Our vision is that we would become more and more like Christ every day, always relying on his Spirit who is at work in us (Philippians 1:6; Romans 12:1-2).

This is our threefold vision: Believe, Behold, Become. May God bless us to see this vision take place in our lives, in our families, in our church, and in this community!