What Is Our Mission?
Equip People for Discipleship
The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the of the full stature of Christ...
- Ephesians 4:11-13
Jesus inspires his followers to be transformed into loving, compassionate, generous, forgiving people so that we can be part of his work in the world. To that end, we unite in the continuation and extension of the original twelve disciples. We are a community learning the ways of Jesus where people are interwoven into life-changing relationships. As disciples in training for loving and serving God and our neighbors, we seek to follow the example set by the twelve who fully devoted themselves to following and learning from Jesus.
VPC provides a place where people receive the love, training and resources essential to develop a Christ-like character. The Bible, our primary resource, equips us for discipleship. This God-breathed narrative, teaches us about God’s story, God’s will and God’s hope for his story to continue in us and our children.1
The seven covenants or practices of a disciple: prayer, worship, study, faithful living, serving, giving and witnessing, provide the framework for spiritual transformation.
Life communities and spiritual friends who meet regularly for mutual encouragement and support provide the vehicle for transformation. These authentic relationships provide a safe place for people to explore, wrestle with, reflect and understand what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
Our goal is to cultivate disciples of Jesus who actively pursue spiritual growth, commit to gaining insight into the nature and substance of the Christian faith and work toward a total integration of the principles of that faith in their lives.
1 McLaren, Brian, a Generous Orthodoxy, Zondervan, 2004