Saturday, January 17, 2015

Establishment is Everything

The word motto is defined as "a maxim adopted as an expression of the guiding principle of a person, organization, city, etc."  So where a vision statement gives you the what, a motto gives you the how.  Yesterday I revealed that our vision statement for Reliant is: Producing Jesus followers of faith that will expand the kingdom of God through their witness and His Word.  This is what we will be doing.  But how are we going to get that done.  This is where a motto can come in handy.  A motto tells the organization in a few simple words the overlying principle of how to get it done.  For Reliant our motto is simple: Ministry Runs on the Rails of Relationships.

I first heard this phrase from a pastor/teacher of mine, Alan Shelby, the pastor of Harvest Baptist Church in Blue Springs, Mo.  The meaning is self-explanatory.  We know that all of life is determined by the relationships we have whether good or bad and ministry is no different.  When Jesus started his earthly ministry he did so by choosing some relationships that would last for all eternity.  These relationships would turn into more relationships that would eventually change the world.  Any true discipleship model will have the element of godly relationships built into it.  Without close relationships Christianity is just passing on information and information doesn't change lives, relationships do.

When we launch our website in February the address will be www.reliantrails.com.  We do this so as not to forget that building godly relationships is the key to our discipleship process.  Reliant members will be asking themselves three simple questions.

  1. Who is behind me?  As mentors there should be someone that we are leading in the ways of the Lord.
  2. Who is beside me?  As brother and sisters there should be people with whom you are walking.
  3. Who is in front of you?  As ministers we will target and impact people with the gospel message of Christ. 
When these three questions are active in every members life well see a mighty moving of the Lord as he builds relationships through us.

Reliant Ministries
Ministry Runs on the Rails of Relationships   


No comments:

Post a Comment