GCR Report Impressions, Part 3

This is the third part of my continuing effort to weigh in on the Great Commission Resurgence interim report that was given in Nashville on Monday, February 22nd. My assessment will consist of several more parts over the next few days.

The first component concerns developing a convention-wide missional vision that parallels Matthew 28:19-20. I am glad that this is the tack they took. It has never made sense to me for churches to build elaborate mission statements that sound nothing like the mission statement Jesus already gave us. From the missional vision statement, the report lists and explains eight core values. Christ-likeness, truth, unity, relationships, trust, future, local church and kingdom. The fact that the task force felt these to be necessary underscores the dire situation in which we find ourselves. The core values listed are clear, biblical and should ideally be completely unnecessary to address. Throughout the report’s introduction and first component, I was impressed by the task force’s repeated reference to the primacy of the local church. The next post will consider the second component.