mission

The Main Thing

Imago Dei exists to take the Whole Gospel to the Whole Person to the Whole World, equipping people to become mature in Christ.

Whole Gospel

The message of the gospel will inevitably be distorted if it is not proclaimed in its entirety. The history of the church is fraught with embarrassing examples of how people have distorted the gospel by emphasizing one aspect of it at the expense of the others. The whole gospel speaks to the whole story of humanity. If one only speaks of the origins of mankind, or only the sin of mankind, or only God’s salvation and grace, then an incomplete gospel is preached, which is really a distorted gospel. Imago Dei seeks to boldly proclaim and live out the gospel of Jesus Christ in its entirety. The Gospel of Jesus Christ encompasses everything about our existence (origin, sin, grace, redemption, salvation, eternal state, etc.). Such an all-encompassing gospel has implications for every part of every human being in every part of the world.

Whole Person

Human beings are more than the sum of their parts. We cannot neatly divide ourselves into spiritual and physical components. Rather, we have emotions, thoughts, habits, cultures, gender, relationships, etc., and all of these aspects of our nature are integrally woven into our physicality and our spirituality. The whole gospel has a great impact on every aspect of the complex human being. The whole gospel brings wholeness and restoration to all aspects of the person. We can see this as Jesus addresses the physical needs of people (Matt 14:15-21), the sexual brokenness of people (John 8:1-11), the ethnic diversity and relational separation of people (John 4:5-42), the physical ailments of people (Matt 12:15), and so on. The Imago Dei community is a place where people get to share the holistic healing of Christ together. We get to live it out together and work together to bring it to others who have not yet experienced it.

Whole World

Just as the Father sent the Son (John 5:36-37) and the Son sent the Spirit (John 15:26), so also are the followers of Christ sent into the world to speak of the good news of Jesus (John 20:21; Act 1:8). This is the mission to which the entire church has been commissioned. Yet, in our contemporary society, we find a consumer mentality that elevates the autonomous individual who is to be served by the religious goods and services of the church. This consumer-driven slide into individualism prevents us from seeing our connection to the rest of the world and God’s plan to restore it to himself. For those who follow Christ, the redemption of the world is not a passive spectator sport. Rather, it is something in which we are all intimately involved. Thus, Imago Dei seeks to foster relationships with other believers around the world so that we can link arms together in ministry. As we participate in the connectedness of the body of Christ, we bring glory to its head (Eph 1:10, 22; 4:15; 5:23; Col 1:18). We do not work as individuals who will single-handedly save the world, but rather we work together toward a common vision of seeing the redemptive work of God take place all around the world. As we understand the headship of Christ, we also simultaneously understand the fact that we are his hands, feet, and voice.

The Hands of Christ

Obviously, Christ is not physically present in the world today like he was with his disciples. Thus, he cannot offer quite the same healing touch to the broken and wounded as he did in the pages of Scripture. Rather, his healing touch comes through those who follow him. In this metaphorical sense the followers of Christ operate as his hands in the world by virtue of bringing the healing touch of Christ in the name of Christ. For Imago Dei, this translates to an extensive involvement from our community in the various opportunities for serving in social justice ministries around the city (e.g. feeding the homeless, caring for the sick, providing for the widow and the orphan, etc.). Such ministries are a natural consequence of seeing the whole gospel at work for the whole person.

The Feet of Christ

Just as Christ’s literal hand is no longer present in the world, neither is his literal foot. And yet the ministry he started has continued to travel throughout the globe. To be the feet of Christ is to be the sent people of God. Our understanding of Christ’s mission through his church (Matt 28:18-20) beckons us to move beyond our comfortable neighborhoods into the poverty of the city and into the remoteness of the village and into the distant lands which have little or no understanding of the Gospel of Jesus. As we realize our identity as the feet of Christ, we find ourselves going to and fro throughout Portland and throughout the rest of the world. This metaphor reiterates our mission to bring the healing work of Jesus (i.e. the whole gospel) to everyone (i.e. the whole world).

The Voice of Christ

“How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent?” (Rom 10:14-15). People must call out with their voice to the one who saves, but in doing so, they are responding to a message they have heard. That message is the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus. To be the voice of Christ is to speak his message of salvation and redemption to a broken world.

Equipping

Though Imago Dei gives high priority to its external focus to the surrounding culture and the world at large, it is also equally true that Imago Dei gives high priority to its internal focus on equipping the saints. We recognize that Christ has given gifts to his people, some of which are specifically for training people to do the work of the ministry (Eph 4:11-12). The outcome of this equipping work is that the followers of Christ grow in unity, knowledge, and maturity, such that they are transformed into the likeness of Christ himself (Eph 4:13; 2Cor 3:18). The equipping of the saints is a key component in the overall mission of the church. We do not want to send out untrained and unskilled people who will be unable to endure the trials and temptations that accompany the kind of intense ministry into which Christ’s mission calls us. Rather, we devote great attention and resources to the task of equipping people for all kinds of service (e.g. School of Theology, Home Communities, etc.). The goal of these ministries is to help people grow in Christlikeness so that their service to the world will also be like that of Christ.

Community as the Hermeneutic of the Gospel

The mission of the church cannot be fully realized by an individual, or even by a collection of individuals. Rather, it takes a unified community to live out the mission to which Jesus as called us. It is only in the context of community that we begin to understand the nature of following Jesus, and it is only with the support and encouragement of our community that we can continue in our pursuit of Christlikeness. The multitude of “one another” statements in the New Testament come into focus and become applicable only in the context of community. Thus, Imago Dei lays great emphasis upon the necessity of community in order to live out the radical demands of the gospel of Jesus.

The Model

In the church today we are guilty of pragmatism: asking the question 'what works?' before we ask the question 'what is true?'. The result is doing ministry for ministry's sake as opposed to doing ministry for the glory of God. When we start with God (our theology), we realize that definitions of success are very different than when we start with pragmatism. From a clear understanding of the gospel we should adopt Biblical values into our lives that become the driving force behind how we do ministry (philosophy of ministry). With a Biblical understanding of how ministry is to be done, we gain a vision that is God honoring and Gospel centered. This results in the creation of a structure (function). Each piece is crucial to the next as one piece of the function of the church is built upon another. The Western church is in decline today because we have misunderstood the Gospel and we have not integrated its truth into our lives. Imago Dei began with a deep commitment to the Gospel and from there we continue to check to make sure that everything we do flows out of our theology and values.