Agape's Vision Statement

HOOK

TURN OFF CALENDAR BREAK

TURN OFF CAFFEINE

DO NOT FORGET TO UNMUTE

It’s WEDNESDAY the 2nd day of September— CONGRATULATIONS to those who completed the Gospel of John!

We will take a short break today until Friday from the verse by verse study to give me a chance to discuss to you in the detail— the vision that God gave to Agape Church

Before I share to you our vision statement— let me give you a brief history how this came about

I was called by God in the ministry back in 2012— very little that I know, in fact I never thought that I had a calling from God— who would ever think that Anthony Miranda will become a servant of God— a Pastor? Ask Bro. Daniel hahaha

Hope4Life Christian Fellowship started as a Para-Church— SHOW PHOTO— this went on until my wife came home Mother’s Day of 2014

I went to a retreat in the provinces of Ifugao and Mountain Province— SHOW PHOTO— and then God brought me here in the US on June 12, 2014

I started Uber [SHOW PHOTO] driving and I met FEFAM [SHOW PHOTO]— June 7, 2015 when I accepted the challenge to serve and lead Agape— and on the same year, we reorganized the church— and that was when we received the vision from God

After a long process of prayer and fasting— we’re able to reduced our vision into writing— and the scriptural basis of our vision statement was the “Greatest Commandment” and the “Great Commission”— let me take you there— open your Bible and mark this verses!

BOOK

THE GREATEST COMMANDMENT

Matthew 22:36–40 NIV

36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

THE GREAT COMMISSION

Matthew 28:18–20 NIV

18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

LOOK

LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD

Is a citation of DEUTERONOMY 6:5

LOVE YOU NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF

Jesus was referencing to LEVITICUS 19:18

The commands to love God an others do not replace the instructions of the Law or the teaching of the prophets— Rather, obedience to this twofold commandment fulfills the essence of their teaching

ALL AUTHORITY IN HEAVEN AND ON EARTH

This was later on affirmed by Paul in his letter to the church in Ephesus— EPHESIANS 1:20-23

GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES

BAPTIZING THEM IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER AND OF THE SON AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

TEACHING THEM TO OBEY EVERYTHING I HAVE COMMANDED YOU

Our task is to reproduce ourselves by GOING, BAPTIZING and TEACHING

TOOK

I do not expect you to be able to copy these very quickly, so I’d like you to take a snapshot of them using screen capture on your gadget.. if you miss it, you can always go back to its replay and do it later

OUR VISION ​ "To Glorify God by building communities that are spiritually healthy, morally upright, physically fit, mentally alert, emotionally happy and financially stable. To share His love to the un-churched, un-loved, un inspired, un-motivated and especially to the believers of Jesus Christ.”

Let me break this down for you. Our vision statement comes in 2 parts as it was based on the Greatest Commandment and Great Commission:

GLORIFY GOD

How?

Building Communities— that’s Home Church Planting— this only came to reality after this Covid-19 gave us the great confirmation— and only after God used LB Charitable Foundation as our great affirmation!

What kind of communities do we envision to build for God’s glory?— Take a look

Spiritually Healthy

Morally Upright

Physically Fit

Mentally Alert

Emotionally Happy

And even Financially Stable— Agape do not just look after the spiritual welfare of every individual and group— we offer ourselves as the Lord’s vessels [instruments, ambassadors] to nourish the overall welfare of every individual, family and groups that God is going to send our way

Make sure to be here tomorrow and on Friday as I discuss this further in detail— on Friday, our special guest is Bro. Jun Domingo who will come on to our program to share his best practices

SHARE HIS LOVE

To whom?

To the unchurched— those who are not part of the church of Jesus Christ yet— and they’re plenty— we do no plan to fish on someone else fish tanks [aquarium] — according to Barna Research Institute— here in the US alone, nearly 100 million are “unchurched”

To the unloved— who are these people?— well, they are the neglected, the orphan, the widows, the outcasts, the rejected, people overlooked by our societies, people who are addicted to substance, people who fell into prostitution, addicted to gambling

To the uninspired— people lost inspiration and aspirations [hope or ambition in achieving something] on life

To the unmotivated— people who lost their sense of purpose in life— or to those who have not discover theirs yet

And especially to the Believers of Jesus Christ— members of His body [church]— why specially—

Galatians 6:10 NIV

10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Join me again tomorrow and on Friday as I continue to share with you more of these, and how we’re now able to translate our vision into mission

I welcome questions and inquiries on how you can become part of this God-given vision and the things that we do here at Agape

SING

Agape Worship Team— Broken Vessel