Our Mission and Vision
OUR MISSION:
To wholeheartedly love, passionately follow and uncompromisingly live for Jesus
There was a day in the experience of Jesus with His disciples where, for the first time, Peter clearly testified to his faith in Jesus as the Messiah. In response to this testimony Jesus began to speak about the strategic weapon He was going to build in order to fulfill His intention on the earth. It was a strike weapon called “church.” This is what He said about the potency of this weapon:
“….and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”Matthew 16:18-19
Church is more than a building, a weekend meeting or a programme. All of these have their place. We see church as a purpose built strike weapon for…
- Knocking out the gates of hell
- Releasing people to know the favour of God
- Embracing His loving rule in their lives
If you take these verses from the Bible seriously, we must have church wherever there is a stronghold of darkness. Church is not a few zealous but isolated persons. All too often these hardy souls have been left to do this on their own. Jesus wants to build groups of two or more believers who have joined together to form strategic relationships to fulfill Kingdom of God goals in a given sphere.
OUR VISION
- To practically demonstrate our faith through lifestyle – in words, deeds and signs.
- To intentionally disciple and equip one another to walk in our God-given destinies.
- To minister to ‘spirit, soul and body’, with an emphasis on Pre-believers.
THE SCOPE OF OUR MISSION (MISSION SPHERES)
The mission field is a vast and overwhelming idea if you take seriously what Jesus said. At ICC we are committed to embrace our Lord’s command. Jesus said we were to disciple every people group. We have a choice in these matters. We can either have a brain overload at the idea of reaching every group OR we can begin to plan to fulfill the command of Jesus in the spheres where we do have a presence and involvement. We call these, ‘areas of influence’.
Common areas of influence of most people who follow Jesus are:
1. DOMESTIC – Your household or your immediate family group
2. NEIGHBOURHOOD - The street(s) that make up a defined area around your home
3. WORKPLACE – A section of an office or whatever is clearly defined
4. COMMUNITY GROUP – Any community group you may belong to
5. EXTENDED FAMILY – The rest of your relatives
6. NATIONAL -Australia is also our Mission Field
7. INTERNATIONAL – We must take opportunities and make sacrifices to influence the Nations
Research suggests that everyone belongs to at least four if not five of the following spheres – domestic, neighborhood, workplace, community group and extended family spheres. It is also certain that there are around 100 plus unbelievers to every believer in those spheres.
When people come to Christ in the context of a genuine relationship (and most do) then the retention rate jumps from 20% to around 70-80%. After the decision for Christ, the discipling should go on in that sphere because there is an ongoing relationship.