Transcript

Praise the Lord, Converge family. I’m greeting all of you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. As our movement continues to celebrate 170 years of mission, I wanna take a few moments and talk about who we are at the heart of what we do, our core values. These values aren’t just words on a page. They shape who we are, how we lead, and how we live out God’s call together. Every church, every leader, and every global worker in Converge is united by one mission: to start new churches, strengthen existing ones and send missionaries to the unreached places of the world. I was saddened recently to learn that more churches were closed in the US last year than started. Almost 2,000 churches closed. That drives me to want to make sure that we at Converge are doing our best to move God’s kingdom forward by starting strong, vibrant churches. It’s one of our values that guides us in what we do and how we do it, that keep us focused on what matters most as we follow Jesus into the future. Our core values are powerful and life giving. We are spiritually dynamic, relationally devoted, culturally diverse, and missionally driven. These values direct our actions and our decisions. Our first value, spiritually dynamic, reminds us that everything we do begins and ends with God. We trust his word. We rely on the power of His Spirit, and we lean on prayer, not as a last resort, but as our first response. We’re relationally devoted. That reflects our belief that transformation happens through relationship, disciples making disciples, leaders raising up new leaders, churches multiplying churches. We’re better when we walk together and we are culturally diverse. That captures our longing to see the church reflect heaven itself, worshipers from every tribe, nation, language united in the name of Jesus Christ. Diversity isn’t just something we value, it’s God’s design for his people. And finally, we’re missionally driven. It’s at our core of who we are. Until every person has had that opportunity to meet and follow Jesus and know him, we will keep starting, strengthening and sending together. These values have carried this movement for 170 years, and they’ll continue to guide us as we pursue the vision God has given us. More churches started, more disciples multiplied, and more leaders sent worldwide. Over the next few months, we’ll dive deeper into each of these values and hope they shape the way we do ministry. As we build together our Converge Together Conference, I want to personally invite every Converge pastor, leader, and global worker to join us. In the months leading up to the conference., our regions and churches across the country are uniting in 170 days of prayer because prayer is how the heart of God is moved. I encourage you to be a part of what God is doing among us. To learn more, register, converge.org/together. God bless each of you, and thank you for being a part of what God is doing through Converge.