Our Church Mission Explained

At Taylors First we want to “Change the World for Jesus!” 

Recently, I ran into an older couple from our church. After we talked for a few minutes, the lady began to well up with tears and said, “Pastor, we may not be here to see it, but I could not be more excited about the next ten years of our church!!” I agree! I left that conversation encouraged and thankful. God has used Taylors First in so many ways in its history, and at the same time, I believe that we are poised to accomplish more for the kingdom than ever before. We are ready to Change the World for Jesus!!!

To Change the World for Jesus gives us our clear PURPOSE  

Our vision must come straight from God’s Word. As Jesus was getting ready to depart and return to heaven at the end of Matthew’s gospel, He gave His Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20.) In that moment He gave to the church all that they needed to be doing until He returns. The scope of their work was the world. There is no place on the earth that should be untouched by the gospel of Jesus. The mission was to transform people from death to life by making disciples of Jesus Christ. They were sent to change people through the proclamation of the gospel. Their message was simple; Jesus!! It is as if Jesus was saying, “Go change the world in my name!!”

To Change the World for Jesus is our great Privilege 

There is no greater task on the earth than being used by God to proclaim the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. This is the great privilege of all believers. It is the great privilege of Taylors First. As we see in the book of Acts, sometimes the proclamation of the gospel comes with great sacrifice. That does not change the fact that it is a privilege to be able to tell others how their sins can be forgiven, how their guilt can be erased, and how death does not have the final word. We never want to lose sight of this great privilege. We want to live it, sing it, and preach it. The church exists for this and it is our joy.

To Change the World for Jesus must have a determined PLAN 

As we seek to change the world we must know that it does not just happen without a plan. We saw the plans in the book of Acts as the Apostle Paul went from city to city proclaiming the gospel with the hopes of establishing a church in that city. This model is the same one that we believe we must have here at Taylors First. We want to structure our ministry so that people can Encounter God, and once they have encountered Him we want to Equip Believers, so that they can Engage the World. All of that is right and good, but we also need a plan to multiply. 

Establish the Church.

We want to add a fourth “E.” We believe the best way to multiply is by seeking to Establish the Church. This is what many people refer to as church planting. In order to plant healthy churches from Taylors First there are a few things that we need to do here on our campus. 

Residency: It is our desire to start a residency program here at Taylors First. This program will be a training ground for pastors, ministers, and leaders. It will be a place for them to learn and grow with the intention of sending them out to lead the new churches. We will work with our partners to prepare these residents to serve in our state, our nation, or among the nations, wherever the Lord may call them.

Replication: Simply put, this means that we want to be doing on our campus what we want to reproduce. On Sunday mornings we have two vibrant worship services. Our Traditional Service and the Taylors Worship Service are both growing and doing well. We desire to add a third service on Sunday morning. This will be a Band Led service. By adding this service, not only will this create more space for people to join and be a part of our church, but it will also become a place that we can train up and send out people to start new churches. We will have Band Led Worship in the Fellowship Hall, then Traditional Worship, and finally Taylors Worship in the Worship Center. I will preach live in all three services.

Renovation: As we look to the future with the plan of planting more churches, our campus must be equipped. We have a beautiful campus that the Lord has blessed us with, but we must all admit that it needs a little sprucing up. We want our home campus to be as healthy as possible in order that we can be a strong sending church, and the healthier we are, the more we will be able to reproduce. 

To Change the World for Jesus will be our greatest PLEASURE  

I constantly think about this quote from C. T. Studd, “Only one life ‘twill soon be past, only what’s done for Christ will last.” That is our desire here at Taylors First, to live as a people with a purpose, privilege, and a plan for advancing the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is no greater pleasure for anyone than fulfilling the mission of God.

— Pastor Josh