Three Directions or Three Ways

Three directions, three ways, or perhaps you might say three foundations. No matter how you call, the basic premise is still the same. Every believer, every person who acknowledges Jesus as their Lord and Master must come to that point that they apply these three elements in every aspect of their lives.

So what three aspects might I be referring to? Simply this...we must be intently focused on maintaining an upward, an inward, and a outward relational focus.

First we must have a upward relationship. There can be no other focus without this critical element. One must have a growing and vibrant relationship with God as their Father, Lord, and Savior. Daily connection with God is critical to every aspect of our lives. Without it we are deficient and lack the basic understanding of what to do, where to go, and how to do anything else in our lives.

The second relational aspect is inward. By that I mean we all are commanded by God to develop connection and fellowship with our local body of believers, i.e. your local church. This is the area that many in the church are most familiar with. It is in this realm where discipleship, bible study, Sunday School, as well as many other areas take place. It is here where we learn to grown individually closer to God and to each other.

The final area we must stay connected with is outward. This is where the local church assumes a missional mindset. When believers get outside the walls of their church building and by their actions show the love of Jesus in a practical way.

Every one of these three areas is critical to a believers development. Think of it like a triangle...if you remove one of the sides the whole structure will come crashing down. Without a God-centeredness believers will tend to promote a selfish “me-first” attitude or strictly a social gospel mentality. If we center on the in and out, but leave out God we lose our central core and will drift off into a gospel-centeredness that focuses on what we believe or want to believe. Lastly, if one has a God and outward focus, but fail to develop theologically, one can just imagine the messed up beliefs that can result. This in turn to promote a luke-warm Christianity that nobody is ever drawn toward. 

So we see, for a believer to truly be a child of God we must stay connected in all three areas of life, the up, in, and out. Or we might say it like this...a believer must be focused on 1)worship, 2)discipleship, and 3)missions.

It is with this in mind that we, Friendship Baptist Church, will seek to incorporate this three-fold concept into all elements of what we do as a church.

1. Worship...As we gather on Sundays may we always seek to remain God-centered with our singing and praise.

2. Discipleship...As we seek to grow individually, may we daily seek to be more Christ-like in all that we do and learn.

3. Missions...As we go out into the world, may we seek to find new ways to demonstrate God’s love for everyone in everyplace, and anytime.

May God bless us as we grow stronger in His love daily.