Rick Warren, Pastor of Saddleback in California, invented a new phrase to describe the successful life of a Believer and their church. He said that success hinges on a clear understanding and commitment to a given “purpose.” While each believer has to work out their purpose before Christ, the unifying purpose of a church hinges on a clear commitment to discipleship.

Transformed lives through discipleship will eventually transform the world.

Nothing fragments a church and causes it to lose Godly authenticity more than when that congregation isn’t settled on a common purpose. We’ve seen this played out metaphorically in Iraq. Once the war was won against Sadaam, there was no clear, unifying purpose to understand what to do next. Consequently, our military and the civilian population floundered for months out of a lack of vision and purpose. “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29).

In commissioning His church, Jesus told his followers to “go and make disciples of all nations.” This has been the unifying purpose of the church for two thousand years, and it has been the responsibility of each generation to figure out how best to fulfill that purpose in their culture and age.

One of the ways we are going about this at Ivy is by offering a variety of classes which are designed to equip us with the resources to become disciplined, dedicated followers of Christ. On Sunday evenings and throughout the week, groups will meet at the Church and in homes to “put on the garments of Christ.” In this newsletter, we have a survey of each group’s focus. I’m sure you can find something that interests you. Actually, the mystery of discipleship isn’t found in matching interests, rather by Christians joining together to develop the personal disciplines to better reflect our Lord in every aspect of their life. That is discipleship.

I don’t think I’m understating this when I say that every hour we spend together fulfilling Christ’s purpose for us will have an eternal impact in our lives and in the lives of those around us.

We thank each and every leader who is stepping out to serve us, and we give special thanks to Dr. Bill Melton and the staff who have worked so hard to bring this about.

PJ