Introduction
The chief goal of God is to glorify
Himself on the earth; that is, to display the splendor
and beauty of His many divine attributes. The "glory
of God" is an attempt to put into words what cannot
be contained in words, what God is like in His
magnificence and excellence, the far reaching beauty of
His character, power and moral perfection.
Today God is at work
drawing people into a vital and living relationship with
Him and displaying His glory through the lives of those
who believe in Him. These individuals make up the church,
and by the work of the Holy Spirit God displays through
them His own attributes and character, and through them
reveals Himself to the world. By the grace and
forgiveness they receive, by their changed lives, and by
their ministry to others God is glorified.
Jesus said that the entire
Bible could be condensed into two great commandments
(Matthew 22:37-40). The most important commandment is
that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, and
with all our soul, and with all our mind. He said the
second greatest commandment is like the first, that we
should love our neighbor as ourselves. During Jesus
ministry and after His resurrection the mission of the
church was made clear. That is, to go throughout all the
world and make disciples, baptizing them and teaching
them to observe all that He had commanded (Matthew
28:19-20). For us this means winning non-Christians to
faith in Christ, building Christians in their faith,
character, and love for Christ and others, and training
Christians to assume leadership in areas of their gifts,
abilities and desires.
With these things in mind,
and in broad terms, our purpose at Prairie Ridge is to
glorify God through our lives, our worship, and by
continuing the ministry Jesus began. The mission we have
defined is to participate in fulfilling the Great
Commission by training leaders to start and develop
churches that will love people and spread the gospel. We
believe the foundation of our ministry in general should
be prayer. The focus of our teaching is character and
love. And sacrificial love working through close
friendships is the foundation for building up the body of
believers.
When the church began with
the early apostles, their activities encompassed six
basic purposes which guided them in fulfilling their
mission. Those purposes were:
- Worship - praising God for who He is
and what He has done.
- Fellowship - building supportive,
mutually accountable relationships.
- Teaching/discipleship
- learning and
applying Gods word.
- Ministry - using spiritual gifts and
loving each other in practical ways to meet
needs.
- Prayer - listening to God and talking intimately with Him about
personal matters, the needs of others, and His
work in the world.
- Missions/outreach
- influencing
our society through ministry and evangelism,
sharing the Good News so that people may put
their faith in Christ.
Our activities are
designed to incorporate these purposes as well. The
following pages outline our approach to ministry and how
the six vital and basic purposes are accomplished in the
various activities at Prairie Ridge as we seek to fulfill
our mission.
Prairie Ridge Community
Church has a great heritage as part of Great Commission
Association of Churches. The Association is bound
together by friendships formed in ministry and a common
vision to participate together to fulfill the Great
Commission. We are the direct result of the outreach of Northside Community Church in Northglenn, Colorado. This
is the purpose and mission for Prairie Ridge. The vision
statements help develop a picture of what we want our
church to look like as it grows.
Our
Purpose
Our purpose is to bring people into
membership in Gods eternal family, build them up to
maturity, involve them in ministry and prayer, and
prepare them for a life of mission and worship for the
glory of God.
Our
Mission
Our mission is to build up one
another by the life-changing power of the gospel and fill
Aurora with the attractive message of Christ.
We will pursue our mission
out of a sense of worship and that God might be
glorified.
The gospel is the power of
God for salvation. It is also the foundation for a
growing relationship with Christ, character and life
changes, healing hurts, and strength in adversity. The
grace of God and the many truths that accompany the
gospel are the foundation for our teaching, encouragement
and counseling.
As we grow and mature this
mission will include other cities. Our part in fulfilling
the Great Commission beyond Aurora will be to multiply
churches that can love people and spread the gospel.
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