Directional Statement

Priority and Focus

Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. (Dt 6:5 - NIV, cf. Mt. 22:37-40)
But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (Matt 6:33)
 
We believe God is calling us to make relationship with Him our first priority and our primary focus. We are created for His glory and to worship Him. You can think of this as a ‘vertical’ relationship. Making this a primary focus doesn’t diminish the value of community, ministry, or evangelism, but it must come first, because any good in us and our interaction with each other flows from relationship with God. We are His children bearing His fruit and need to be well connected to the vine, since apart from Him we can do nothing (Jn. 15:5).  

Process

God calls His followers to become mature (Gal. 4:19-20; Eph. 4:13-16; Phil. 2:14-16; Col. 1:28-29; Heb. 5:11-14). It’s the target for Beaumont Community Church to engage in this kind of life. Out of this life together, with a focus on relationship with God, flow actions resulting in expansion of God’s kingdom.  Strong community, effective ministry, accountability, love, bible teaching, and worship are great descriptions of what the members of BCC have said we believe God wants for our local church.  
 
Interaction with each other and with our community can be considered ‘horizontal’ relationships, which includes Jesus’ second command and focus to “love your neighbour as yourself” (Mt. 22:37-40). We believe God likes to use people to accomplish his purposes, and often seems to limit His work to what can be accomplished through our relationships with each other (a sobering thought). Because horizontal relationships are used by God to accomplish His purposes on earth, and they are ‘fueled’ by relationship with Him, our primary focus should be, needs to be, growing in relationship with our God.

God’s desire for relationship with people is seen in the fact that He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).  This means He must want to be in relationship with everyone we know. We should not be surprised that evangelism will be a natural expression of our horizontal relationships. As mature creations of God, we will serve this part of our purpose through our words, actions, and attitudes. (See Defining Maturity Document)

Context

²⁰My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²²I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: ²³I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.  (John 17:20-23)
 
Jesus’ prayer for His disciples (and us!) clearly demonstrates the way God values unity. His call for us to be united as the Father and the Son are united is a high calling. It’s a call to love one another.  Unity doesn’t mean that everyone always agrees - on everything! It speaks to the attitude that flows from a common focus; a shared priority (See above).  It is within this context of Unity that we seek to love God and others.
 
Let it be!