MISSION-FOCUSED

Ron Gray, Associate Pastor of Compassion & Development

"O God, with all our hearts, we long for You. Come transform us to be Christ centered, Spirit empowered, Mission focused people, multiplying disciples everywhere." - Vision Prayer of the Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada

RockPointe Church seeks to achieve great things. We seek to do so for the glory of God and the sake of the world he loves so much.

• We aspire to have Christ as the central focus and motivation of our lives.

• We aspire to be empowered by the Holy Spirit for daily life and ministry.

• We aspire to accomplish the mission Christ has given us to be his witnesses, locally, regionally, nationally, and to the ends of the earth.

It is to this final aspiration of being mission focused people that I would like to turn our attention.

Each day we are confronted with much discouraging and negative news. It might appear that the forces of darkness are winning and that we have reached a tipping point where the light is being extinguished. We have not. We do well to remember that we live in a world where God is active.

At this very moment, he is working in every corner of the globe to bring people to salvation through Jesus Christ. In your neighborhood, God is at work. In our city and province, God is at work. In our nation, God is at work. Throughout the world, God is at work, and he is inviting us to join him. Just before his ascension into Heaven, Jesus delivered his final words to his followers. “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

When Jesus said these words, he was communicating to his followers the concentric circles of his work. Beginning with their home, Jerusalem, he moved their thoughts progressively further abroad by including their area of Judea, the regions beyond in Samaria, and eventually the world. He left no doubt that it was their responsibility to be witnesses in each of those realms. He has not removed that mandate. It remains in place for us today. Jesus’ heart is for this world and, as his people, our hearts follow his outward. We are mission focused people because Christ is mission focused.

Space limits what I can write here, but did you know that as a church family RockPointe is already responding to Jesus’ invitation to join him in moving outward? Bowridge, RockPointe Intercultural, Bearspaw, and Westhills all have ways that they are following Jesus’ heart out into our community. The Bowridge Dinner Serve, the RPI foodbank and ESL classes, Bearspaw’s connection to the Community Resource Network in Mni Thni, and Westhills’ relationship with Derick’s Youth Centre are just the tip of the iceberg.

Further afield RockPointe supports eight International Workers with the Christian and Missionary Alliance. We also support eight international ministry organizations started and maintained by RockPointers who have followed God’s call to be his witnesses in all corners of the world. The scope of the ministry God has called us to is global.

There is much to be celebrated! God is at work and his Kingdom is moving outward. As he works, God will continue to invite us to join him in new and exciting ways that will challenge us and call us to lean on him for his provision.

This fall, when you hear an invitation to join God’s work as a witness of Jesus, remember that God is already there at work. Whether it be in your neighborhood or half way around the world, you will be joining him there. It will be exciting to see all the places we will go as we follow God’s heart out into the world to be mission focused people!