Our Purpose

GROWING OAKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
IN THE COMMUNITY OF FAITH

     In February of 1998 we adopted a brief purpose statement to help us focus our ministry.  "Growing Oaks of Righteousness" is based on Isaiah 61:3.  When Jesus went to His hometown of Nazareth after He began His ministry, He was offered the scroll of Isaiah.  He opened the scroll to the passage recorded in Isaiah 61:1-2.  Verse 3 is the continuation of the first two verses.  Here’s the way it reads.

1The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me;  because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek;  He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;  2To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all that mourn;  3To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.  (Isaiah 61:1-3)

     The focus in verse 3 is on what the Lord would do for Israel and on what the Lord would do and is doing for us and through us.  Toward the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry He gave us a task to accomplish with a promise of the power to do it.  Some people call this task the Great Commission.

18And Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in Heaven and in earth.  19Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, 20Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.  (Matthew 28:18-20)

     Jesus clearly said we are to make disciples.  But in order to make disciples, you have to be a disciple, because discipleship is taught as much by living examples as by formal teaching.  So what does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus or in other words, what does it mean to be a growing oak of righteousness?  Just as all living things must have food and water and nurture to grow to maturity, so it is with the disciple of Jesus.  A good balanced "diet" for Christian growth includes (but is not limited to) the following.  These five essentials make up the basic structure of our Mission Statement.