The Blog

CHBC Connect for September 6, 2024

Equipping, Exalting and Extending for the Glory of God:

God’s Vision for CHBC:

• We will be believers who are equipped to know God through a personal relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ, by knowing His Word, the Bible; and by knowing Him through His providential work in our past and present.
• We will be followers of Christ who exalt the Lord by faithfully participating in the public gathering of worship, and who are committed to the pursuit of personal, practical holiness in our daily lives.
• We will be a church that is on mission extending the gospel to our neighbors and the nations through our personal witness, our faithful giving, and our willingness to be sent to the ends of the earth on short- or long-term missions.

The ultimate goal of CHBC is to produce fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ who live by the Great Commandment (Matt. 22:37-40) and who fulfill the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20).

A vision is what you will see when you arrive where you are going. I can look at pictures of faraway places I have never visited and imagine what it would be like to visit there. I can hear other people’s descriptions, and picture with my mind the sights, sounds, and smells of that place. Can you imagine what a church would be like that is fulfilling its purpose and mission?

The vision for our church is what it will look like as we are faithful at pursuing the purpose and mission of the church (see the previous two blog posts). It is my prayer that you catch the vision. That it becomes something you long to see in your life, the life of your family, and the life of your church family. I pray you desire it so much for all of us that you work toward it in your own life, and you pray for the rest of the church to catch hold of the vision as well. I want you to catch the vision and desire it so much that it captures your affections and motivates you to say no to sin and yes to God every day.

By His Grace and For His Glory,

Pastor Mark

CHBC Connect for August 30, 2024

Equipping, Exalting and Extending for the Glory of God:
God’s Mission for CHBC: CHBC seeks to Equip Believers, Exalt Christ, and Extend the Gospel

The mission of the church is the same in all places and all times. A church on mission is figuring out how best in its context to fulfill God’s ultimate mission. His mission for the church is that lost people are redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, and brought into a relationship with Him whereby they love and treasure the Son, are taught to obey all His commands, and become ambassadors for the Kingdom of God to bring more worshippers out of sin into new life in Christ, and the process goes on and on and on.

Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, ¹⁹ namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

²⁰ Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ²¹ He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Cor. 5:18-21)

As a church, CHBC expresses this mission with three intentional and memorable statements: to Equip Believers, to Exalt Christ, and to Extend the Gospel. These are not steps or stages, but an ongoing intertwined process. The members of CHBC are those who have trusted in Christ as Lord and been baptized. They are on the journey of sanctification so that they are growing in their love and worship of Christ, are increasing in their knowledge of God, His Word, and His providential work in the world, and are witnesses of His redeeming work through personal testimony, and participatory giving for the spread of gospel across the state, nation, and world.

In other words, we are equipping and helping to equip others in the process of spiritual growth. We personally live in such a way to exalt the name of Christ, and faithfully gather with the body of Christ to corporately exalt Jesus as Lord. And we pray for and look for ways to share our faith with our neighbors, and are willing participants in praying, giving, and going to the nations until the gospel is extended to the ends of the earth.

This is our mission. If you are part of CHBC this is your mission. If you are a guest of CHBC, we are inviting you to do something bigger than yourself and join us on this exciting mission quest of growing, gathering, and going to His glory.

By His Grace and For His Glory,

Pastor Mark