Mission – A Story of serving together in the grace of Christ.
“In the beginning the church was a fellowship of men and women centering on the living Christ. Then the church moved to Greece, where it became a philosophy. Then it moved to Rome, where it became an institution. Next, it moved to Europe, where it became a culture. And, finally, it moved to America, where it became an enterprise.” -- Richard Halverson
God’s design for his followers and their relational connection is called the church. The purpose of the church is to fulfill His divine mission of reconciling the world to Himself through His son, Jesus. Those that have decided to follow Christ and accept His sacrificial death as payment for their offenses against God have entered into a new reality, a reality of the Kingdom of God here on earth. The church is the assembling of these kingdom participants for community, worship, formation and mission.
The church is not and cannot be a kingdom in and of itself. The goal is not to see how many people we can invite to our church building or Sunday morning service.
But rather, our goal is to see how many people we can invite into our lives by living as a part of God’s Kingdom.
It is a place of love and connection, a place of worship and healing, a place of learning and growing, a place of serving and meeting needs. Yet it is foremost a place of sending. We are to live missionally as "sent ones," engaging the culture we live in, bringing the powerful love of God to all that we come in contact with.
Whatever part of town we meet in, we will work for the good of the entire Springfield metro area. As a result, through social justice and releasing people to fulfill the call to create & cultivate culture in every area of the social grid, we are committed to building a great city not just a good church. Our vision has to be greater than simply one more full church ‐ that’s the last thing Springfield needs. Our vision is no less than a renewed city. We long for Springfield to look increasingly like God’s Kingdom.
Core Value: Movement- We value movement over locale; a people on mission, sent from one location.
We are a church defined by reproduction; disciples reproducing new disciples and churches reproducing new churches. The Story Church is not seeking to create a new denomination, rather a network of like-minded churches throughout Springfield and the world, completely autonomous but united around a similar simple vision.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20