“It is the whole duty of the whole church to preach the whole gospel to the whole world.” – C.H. Spurgeon
When Vision Baptist Church was planted in 2006, there was no discussion about the message or mission of the church. It is not that we did not think it was of vital importance, we just knew that it simply was not up for debate. Our Commander and Chief, Jesus, layed it out very clearly for us as He ascended back up to heaven. He told us to “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” Matthew 28:19 Until He returns, we, as a church, will be busy about “going, “teaching“, “baptizing“, and “teaching them to observe all things”,depending upon the Holy Spirit that abides with us even until the end of the world.
Let’s break down each of those words and phrases:
- Go. Sets the destination into perspective–starting where we are and not ending until we reach the destination of “all nations.” We believe here at Vision that our default setting should be to go. The burden of proof is on those who believe they should stay. (Confusing phrasing?)
- Teach. The way the message of the Gospel will be transferred from person to person will be through teaching. This teaching precedes the command to baptize. This teaching is Gospel proclamation which is done through preaching, discipleship, and conversations we have with all that we meet.
- Baptize. We believe as a church that we have the privilege and responsibility to celebrate with new believers through baptism. This is one of the reasons we are so convinced about the need for church planting in our pursuit of world evangelism.
- Teaching them to observe all things. We also see teaching taking place after baptism where the believer is learning how to “observe all things.” We are obedient to this command through our ministry of life-on-life discipleship with those who enter our church family. (Maybe mention this is different than the teaching mentioned before?)
Holy Spirit. We experience His promise to be with us every day through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the life of every believer. His presence not only brings comfort but it also brings the strength that we need to pursue the command He has given us in the Great Commission.
So where do we go? To every nation!
Here in Alpharetta and around the world you will find that our church and the missionaries sent out of our church teach expository Bible lessons, and in most cases, in a sequential order. This means that you will know what Bible text will be taught next Sunday by where we leave off this Sunday.
This guiding system helps us be faithful to teaching the “whole counsel” of God’s Word. This also helps us make sure we teach the topics of the Bible in a proportionate manner. Certain topics that normally never get preached about will get preached. It also means that “hot topics” that often get preached so often in Baptist churches only get spoken about as the Text speaks on the issue.
We firmly believe God knows what our families need more than we do. We trust Him and what He says to transform our minds and renew our hearts. From the pulpit ministry, to the classroom, to the discussions over coffee, I believe you will find that God has given us a Word-saturated ministry. It is our sole desire in teaching and preaching to be a voice for the Text!
What do we take? Every verse!
By God’s grace and for His glory we have currently preached through our 25th book of the Bible and have sent out 28 missionaries in the last 11 years!!