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We are called to live and do ministry that has at its center Christ Jesus. Our ministry must be based on the teachings, values and ministry of Christ as revealed to us through Holy Scripture by the leading of the Holy Spirit.
To be Christ Centered is indeed a core value for American Baptists. We are a Jesus people who are grounded in scripture. We take seriously our call to have a Christocentric identity that is lived out in our worship, theology, hymnody, spirituality and relationships. Nationally, American Baptists have selected for an identity image: “Serving as the Hands and Feet of Christ”. To be the hands and feet of Christ we must seek to have the mind and heart and spirit of Christ. It is a challenging and compelling call.
 To be Christ Centered means growth. We are to grow in knowledge and experience of who Christ can be in our living. In Colossians 1, we read that Christ is “…the image of the invisible God…He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church…For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things….” We are challenged to be radical disciples of that one who is the fullness of God. We are challenged to live lives individually and corporately that are marked by disciplines that nurture our faith: prayer, study, meditation, stewardship, worship, hospitality. Those disciplines lead us to know and grow in lives filled with the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
To be Christ Centered means transformation. To experience the power of resurrection, Christ’s and ours as we are reborn, is to find a new and transformed perspective on our priorities and purposes. It is to discover new life empowered by God. It is to discover that we are set free by God in ways that help us embrace a new kind of obedience, obedience to Christ’s leading.
To be Christ Centered means sharing. We are called to share God’s good news as missional people. We are sent by Christ into the world. We are sent to love the world and share joy and good news. We are called to ministries of hope and healing, reconciliation and renewal. When the love of God is powered through our hearts and minds, hands and feet, God transforms unjust structures and dysfunctional relationships.
To be Christ Centered means love. We are committed to diversity, a diversity that models God’s kingdom. As a denomination we are diverse in many ways. That is true for our region as well. Jesus gave a new commandment that we are to “love one another as I have loved you.” The new part was not the love part. That was in the Hebrew scripture. The new part was to love as Jesus loved, with a grace-filled all embracing kind of love. That takes intentionality and commitment. It takes willing the best for another and then working for it on their behalf.
To be Christ Centered means confession. We are an imperfect, needy, sinful people. We need God. We need the forgiveness God offers us through Christ. As we confess our need and as we understand ourselves as a people saved by grace and saved for loving relationship with God and each other we find ourselves open to new and wonderful life giving possibilities as individuals, as churches, and as a region.
Mary Armacost Hulst
President, ABCUSA |
