On behalf of your session, I am very pleased to announce that Bethany has an official mission statement. Bethany’s mission is… “To equip people to be fully devoted to Jesus Christ through relevant and practical ministries.”

Having a mission statement is foundational to building our ministries. Therefore, doing it right was of the upmost important to us. It has taken us over two years of discussion and prayer to develop our mission. We have explored our past, our present, and looked forward in hope to our future. We’ve acknowledged how much society has changed and how much Bethany has changed (intentionally and in reaction to the changing world.) We’ve addressed our fears and protected the integrity of our church by creating a list of what’s negotiable and non-negotiable. These were crucial steps leading to our mission.

We believe our mission statement reflects the kinds of ministries God is calling us to develop at Bethany. In other words, all the ministries we will develop and grow should fall within our mission statement. I’d like to share what I mean through some of the key words of our mission:

Equip: We don’t just want to lead people to Jesus. We want to equip people to be his followers. This means we will continue our tradition of teaching people. We want to raise people to be disciples of Christ who can go into the world and share his transforming message.

Fully Devoted: Bethany is not a place for casual Christians. We don’t want you to worship Jesus just on Sunday mornings. We want you to follow him in all aspects of your life; with your family, at school, at work, with your finances and thought life.

Relevant:  Ministry needs to be relevant. What impact can the Church have in your life today? What does it mean in your day to day walk to be a fully devoted follower of Jesus? When we invite someone to church and they ask, “What does Jesus have to do with my life today?” will you be able to answer that question in a way that makes sense to him/her? 

A relevant church is not about changing with the changing times. But we must strive to keep the Truth of Jesus Christ relevant in people’s lives. Our Reformed tradition reminds us that we are ‘reformed and always reforming.” Being relevant means we regularly examine how we are accomplishing our goals of equipping people to be fully devoted to Jesus and adjusting our efforts along the way to ensure peak efficiency. Remember, it’s not about maintaining; it’s about transforming lives and growing.

Practical: Support ministries will tell you that you can’t teach a hungry person about Jesus until you feed him/her. It just doesn’t make sense to tell people that Jesus loves them and then walk away without acknowledging a real, unmet need. Practical ministries bring Christ’s love to people that will help them meet that need. Small groups provide friends and fellowship, Financial Peace University helps people get out of debt and find the freedom to live a life to glorify God and VBS lays a foundation for kids to build on while giving their parents a break from restless kids. What are some other practical ways we can bring God’s love to our community?

Our mission gives us direction and parameters. I hope you find our mission statement with as much excitement as we have sharing it with you. Our mission will be foundational to carrying out our vision as we explore with more specificity what we believe God is calling us to accomplish.