Christ Presbyterian Church

The Great Co-mission  (Mission with Jesus) for CPC:

In the beginning God told humanity to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:28). In the Book of Revelation, God gave John a vision of a great multitude worshipping and standing before the Throne. God uses the human family as a metaphor as the means of expansion of His Kingdom. Jesus in the New Testament clarifies God’s people by describing His Bride as the Church Invisible. The call upon Jesus and His Bride, just like the original human family, is to multiply and make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20).

The primary purpose of the people of God is to follow Jesus’ mission by seeking and saving the lost (Luke 19:10). Our theology tells us God has chosen his people before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4) and God will gather all His Elect (Mark 13:27). The reality is we do not know who the Elect are and our job is simply to gather the lost (the Elect who are not found yet). The essence of being a follower of Jesus is joining Him in His mission and the gathering of His lost sheep (Matthew 18:10-14). Individually we are called to this mission and therefore corporately, as the Body of Christ, we are called to this mission.

• The Evangelical Presbyterian Church is a global church planting movement,
• Christ Presbyterian Church is a regional church planting movement in the greater Springfield area. And,
• Members of CPC are followers of Christ that make disciples—teaching those disciples to obey Jesus’ command of making new disciples.

CPC and its members will stay vital by fulfilling the great commission individually and corporately together by being members that make disciples and a church that plants disciple-making & church-planting congregations.

The 5 year Vision & Cycle for CPC:

CPC is a single cell (1 pastor) church whose focus is to reach people with the Good News of Jesus. As our congregation grows we will plant other single cell churches with the same gospel-oriented mentality in the greater Springfield area.

Within 5 years CPC will grow to 120 members or more and will plant another EPC church in the greater Springfield region by commissioning at least 20 of our members and a church planter. We will continue that vision and cycle every 5 years or sooner.

To achieve this goal members will seek to outreach to friends, neighbors and acquaintances at least 5 times a month, and at least once a month will evangelize and share the gospel clearly. The thrust behind this initiative is the simple process of inviting. We will invite people into relationship with us. We will invite people into a relationship with Jesus. We will invite people into a relationship with the church, the Body of Christ. By doing so, we will grow and disciple at least 10 new members each year (new conversion, not transfer).

In addition the members of CPC will change our mindset to focus on seeking and finding the lost through individual discipling and corporately planting churches. We will develop this mindset by initially becoming a church planting patron and partner with other churches in New England to plant churches. In that process we will develop our own church plant in the Springfield region.  

Glossary of Terms:

Single Cell Church: A single cell church is a localized church who has 1 pastor and ranges in sized from 50 to 150 members). A multiple cell church would be a larger membership with more pastors to care for the sheep.

Church Planting Patron: A church that gives a one-time gift to help support a church plant.

Church Planting Partner: A church that partners with other churches to help establish a new church.

Outreach: The strategic connecting of people in the congregation with people outside of the congregation for the purpose of building sustainable relationships. It is these sustainable relationships that yield opportunities for evangelism.

Evangelism: The strategic connecting of people outside of the Christian faith with a crystal clear presentation of the Gospel including an opportunity to respond to the call of the Gospel.[1]