The Vision of North Hills Missions

Our missions philosophy is summarized in Luke 24:46-49:

46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Jesus’ plan for the expansion of his kingdom rests on three critical imperatives:

Gospel Proclamation

“…repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed.” We believe in the clear, unapologetic proclamation of the message of salvation. We believe the oft-repeated phrase, “Preach the gospel. Use words if necessary” is unbiblical. To preach the gospel without words makes no more sense than “feeding hungry children — use food if necessary.” In everything we do, there must be an intentional strategy of gospel proclamation. Jesus himself characterized his ministry as one of proclamation:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”  Luke 4:18-19

Gospel Incarnation

“proclaimed to all nations…” We see woven throughout Scripture the clear purpose of God to redeem a people for himself out of every people group on earth. While proclamation is essential, it is not the only essential. Our proclamation has a focus and a goal. God has called us to take the gospel to places it has never gone before. For this reason we target unreached people groups. We are called to incarnate the Ggospel — to take the pure gospel across cultural, racial, geographic, and ethnic barriers and present it in the language and culture of the unreached.

Gospel Incarnation not only means taking the gospel to places it has never been; it also means taking the gospel to people who are most desperate, hopeless, and marginalized. Jesus himself embodies this, as reflected in the passage in Luke 4: the unmistakable evidence of the Holy Spirit in the life and ministry of Jesus is that he proclaimed…

“good news to the poor… liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind… liberty those who are oppressed… the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Gospel Incarnation (our evident love for the lowest, the least, the hurting) makes Gospel Proclamation compelling and powerful. Without those works of love, mercy, and kindess our proclamation is just so many words. There is one more component of Jesus’ strategy for Missions:

Gospel Transformation

Jesus said, “but remain in Jerusalem until you are filled…” At this point, the disciples knew and understood the message (Gospel Proclamation). They had witnessed, in the person of Jesus Christ, the power of Gospel Incarnation. One more thing is needed:

Gospel Transformation. That is, the disciples themselves needed to be personally transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit. They themselves needed the experience of transformation before they were positioned to bring others into the experience of transformation. What this means, in practical terms, is that the first question we ask ourselves when considering a missions partnership is, “Do we see unmistakable evidence of personal transformation in this person?” Does the gospel flow out of the life in personal humility, love, kindness, self-control, etc.? Are inter-personal relationships (marriage, parenting, friendships) characterized by a gospel integrity and sweetness?

In Luke 24 the last scene depicts the disciples embracing transformation in Community. They worshipped together, prayed together, were known to each other. This, ultimately, is our goal.  To be a Missional Community Proclaiming, Incarnating, and being Transformed by the gospel — all to the end of establishing other Gospel Communities (aka Local Churches) in places and among people who have yet to be touched by the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our Vision is to plant as many Missional Churches in as many places as possible throughout the world with special emphasis on unreached and most desperate peoples.

Watch this page for more information about the missions vision of NHCC, including down-loadable documents explaining how we decide with whom and where we will partner.