The mission of the church

From a newsletter in my inbox...

Earlier this year Leadership launched a research project in conjunction with the National Christian Poll to determine how pastors' understanding of the gospel and mission has changed. The findings were illuminating. The trend appears to be toward smaller, people (not program) driven churches where the gospel is demonstrated and not just proclaimed.

You can read the report summary here. This is an interesting read and covers things like the presence of the kingdom, the purpose of church, defining the gospel and the balancing of both proclamation and demonstration.

Hillside was started with a desire to see "church-goers" really become "disciples" and co-laborers in the kingdom. Discipleship is our heartbeat because we believe so many other facets of our lives are transformed when Christ is Lord. When people are transformed, relationships are transformed, our church is transformed, our community is transformed... and even our culture is transformed.

It's exciting to see God bring so many people to Hillside who want to grow in this way! It's costly growth, and sometimes slower growth, but we believe it's healthy growth and we trust that God is glorified in the process.