God wants to speak to us. When we hear him, we take his word to heart and act on it.

Paul writes, "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." How can we make sense of this claim and live appropriately in light of it?

The starting point for considering the cost of our mission doesn't have anything to do with money; the starting point is Jesus' gift of himself for us.

God calls us to OWN the mission, to become participants, not just spectators.

Jesus tells the story of a shepherd who didn't think having 99% of his sheep was good enough; he went out and tracked down the one that was lost.

Our mission comes in the context of worship. In the company of worshipers, there are some whose faith is not yet mature - even some doubters.

We become disciples of Jesus as we follow him together, opening our lives to him and to each other.

Our mission is to "make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world." The "transformation of the world" bit has its roots in God's intention for us to rule over creation as his stewards. The problem is that we've proven over and over that we're not safe with that kind of power. Being true disciples of Jesus is the only way to become safe.

We talk about our mission of "Making Disciples." Whose idea was that?

The Church has a mission, given by Jesus in the Great Commission. It's clear enough that we can know - at least to a degree - how we're doing.