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MISSION, VISION, & VALUES

MISSION

The mission of Bear Valley Church is to lead people to know, love, and follow Jesus.

This statement is based on the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20), and it answers the question of why the church exists. The mission of Jesus is global because it has been given to every church and every believer throughout every age. There are not multiple missions of Jesus; there is a singular mission of Jesus. In this way, mission is a global plan and purpose for the church of Jesus Christ. Christians share this mission together by acting upon the commands of Jesus found in the Great Commission: make disciples, baptize, and teach them to obey (Matt. 28:19-20). From this simple summary of the Great Commission flows the vision, values, and strategy. Every church that is seeking to be faithful to the Great Commission mandate shares the same mission, regardless of how it is stated, and in the local church, the mission of Jesus unites everyone around what matters most.

VISION

The vision of Bear Valley Church is to be a transformed community serving to bless and influence our neighbors and the world with the Gospel.

This vision helps answer two questions: Where are we going? and Who should we become? While the mission is global, the vision is local because it is the unique expression of how a church is going to live out the mission of Jesus and what will happen as a result. As the church is faithful to stay on mission, there will be an internal and an external impact. For followers of Jesus, they will experience the life-transforming work of the Holy Spirit. This will change the motives and passions of the body to focus not only on one another but the world around them. As believers love God more (Matt. 22:38), they will be used by God to bless their neighbors (Matt. 22:39) and the world (Gen. 22:18). All of this serves to provide opportunities to influence the world with the gospel of Jesus (Matt. 5:13-16; 1 Pet. 3:12-16).

VALUES

Values serve as the decision-making filter for protecting the mission and vision of an organization. People don’t always practice what they preach, but they always do what they value. Values help leaders make decisions in alignment with their mission and vision, and having an intentional set of values that are applied to each decision has the power to help an organization decide what gets a yes and what gets a no. The following six statements serve as the core values of Bear Valley Church:

  1. We are committed to living out biblical truth demonstrated through radical grace.
  2. We are committed to loving our community through sacrificial service.
  3. We are committed to taking risks in order to make Jesus known. [1]
  4. We are committed to helping unbelievers find and fulfill their purpose in Christ.
  5. We are committed to focusing unapologetically on the next generation.
  6. We are committed to leading believers into a growing relationship with Jesus.

Each of these values is based on biblical principles, and they serve to provide clarity when there is uncertainty. This is one of the primary reasons that having intentional, known, and lived-by values can be so important. They provide clarity to the pastors, church leaders, and church members when the answer seems unclear.

[1] According to John Piper, Risk is an action that exposes you to the possibility of injury or loss. Risk is an action that exposes you to the possibility . . . it might be small, it might be big . . . of injury or loss. From “The Power to Risk in the Cause of Christ,” https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/the-power-to-risk-in-the-cause-of-christ.

STRATEGY

The strategy for accomplishing the mission of Bear Valley Church is to encourage believers in their faith, equip saints for ministry service, elevate the name of Jesus, and engage in God’s mission for the church and the world. Each of these aspects of the strategy will assist Bear Valley in living on mission and seeing the vision of the church become a reality.

As we are in the midst of a 5-Year Strategic Plan, our goal is have each strategy piece coincide with one of the four next steps proposed in our four-phase approach to developing a discipleship pathway:

  • ENCOURAGE – 2:42 Groups (FALL 2023)
  • EQUIP – 4:12 Ministry (FALL 2024)
  • ELEVATE – M:28 Discipleship (FALL 2025)
  • ENGAGE – 1:8 Mission (FALL 2026)