A closer look of our vision

I believe that the vision of God for Bethel is to be a stable, healthy Pentecostal church within this community to bring the light of the gospel so people will be brought to King Jesus and to His kingdom.  In the next few blogs I am going to take a closer look at this vision statement to bring more understanding of what God wants us to do here at Bethel.  A vision is just basically a look into the future of what God wants to accomplish through us.  This must be attainable and realistic in order to bring it into reality.  The first thought of this vision is that we as a church must be stable.  What does this word mean?  To be stable means to have firmness, security, soundness and strength which is bascially referring to our foundation.  Colossians 1:23 "if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister."  The word translated here stable comes from a Greek word meaning to lay a foundation and having an established belief.  This word in the Greek was also used in the building of communities within the context of that community being strong and well built.  As a church we are a community made up of followers of Jesus Christ.  In order to have a stable church we must have stable Christians.  The foundation of the Christian life or of the church is to be Jesus at the center of everything.  Jesus is our foundation and we will be able to fulfill the vision of God when everything we do and say is consistent and pleasing to Jesus Christ.  We are not here to please ourselves or even the community.  Our stability does not come from our own personal strength or anything that the community can offer.  Jesus alone can is able to make us stable.  To get stable is our first task but to remain stable will be our constant challenge.  Much more could be said on this topic but I trust each person of Bethel will make it their own personal goal to be stable and to work as a servant of Christ to develop stability within this church family.  When there is stability there will be security and trust within the atmosphere of the church.
May God overshadow us with His love and grace.

Pastor John