REACH

What is the motivation behind a church plant? Why do people plant churches? Reaching people (missions) is the reason.

One of the purposes that God has planned for all that are disciples of Christ, those that claim Christ as their leader, is to reach others with the life changing message of Jesus. The motivation for this is found in Matthew 28:19-20. In this we find Jesus addressing His disciples prior to ascending into heaven. He said- "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." This is called the Great Commandment. And it is the basis for REACH or missions in the church.

As GCF develops, you will hear more discussion about the PEACE plan. PEACE is the new wave God is sending out to reach the world. It's going to be how we reach people. But we will go into that in another post.

Our God is a missional God. His whole plan since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden has to been to bring us back into a relationship with Him. And this was why Christ came to Earth. To provide a way to fix that broken relationship. So, missions are at the heart of God. And they will be deep into the heart of GCF.

What I envision is a body of Christ followers who see people just as Christ did. All throughout the Bible we find Jesus seeking out the outcasts. The demon possessed, the prostitutes, tax collectors, lepers, etc. And the religious people of that day, they didn't like it. But, that is who Jesus calls us to go to. GCF will be a church after Jesus' heart. A church who has such compassion for the people who need it most. The homeless, the sick, the powerless (socially and politically), the disabled, the lonely, the widowed, the poor, the prostitutes, those controlled by addictions. These are the people that don't feel welcome anywhere. I want these people to come to GCF. I want them to be welcome here. I want to reflect something to them so that they will seek out the life change Jesus provides.

If we refuse to live out this purpose, if we say there is ANYONE we don't want to REACH....we do not follow Jesus' teachings, we are not disciples. We are called to be disciples, even in the hard teachings. And reaching out to those that Jesus did, well, it's not going to be easy. It's not going to be popular. We will be bad-mouthed, accused, and looked down upon by many. But, that is okay. Because our boss isn't of this world. And we do what we do to please Jesus, no one else.

Be a REVOLUTION.