Adoration, Truth, Mission

In 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt founded a non-profit organization to search for a cure for poliomyelitis–a crippling, if not deadly, childhood disease of which FDR himself was a victim. Through his efforts and the funding supplied by this organization, Dr. Jonas Salk was able to develop the polio vaccine in the 1950's. “Great!” you say. Ordinarily we would think that the history of such an organization would end there–victorious, mission accomplished. But it doesn’t. It went on. The March of Dimes still collects money, and still exists today, even though its original purpose was accomplished long ago.

It is rare for any organization to exist over a long period of time and maintain its original purpose and philosophy. For many organizations the change is good, or at least justified. But for a church there is great danger in getting off track. Satan would gladly distract local churches from their intended biblical purposes. The dangers of doctrinal deviation are devastating, but the dangers of distraction are equally harmful. There are many things that churches do that are good, but distract the congregation from doing what is best or most important. Being distracted by good things can have terrible eternal consequences.

For this reason it is necessary for us to have a simple, easy-to-understand ministry statement that will keep us on track. We have had a purpose statement since before the church began meeting officially. But recently we have reworked it, in order to make it easier to remember. I want to take a few moments to review that statement. For sake of memory, we have used the acronym ATM.

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