Engedi Church exists for a very specific purpose: to advance the kingdom revolution of Jesus worldwide. This is the heart behind everything that we do. Our mission, values, and strategies all work together for this calling God has given us, and each one of our lives fit into this calling in a specific way.

Read Matthew 4.23.

When Jesus preached, He didn’t just speak about how to get to Heaven. He set out to preach the kingdom—how our whole lives can be transformed. And He backed up His message with healing and restoration. His words were followed by deeds. Then He called His followers to do the same in the Great Commission.

Read Matthew 28.19–20.

The nations that Jesus is speaking of here are “groups of people connected by common language and culture”. He gives further clarification of this call after His resurrection in Acts 1.8. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” His commission to His followers was local, national, and global. This is why at Engedi Church we express our mission the way that we do. We’re about advancing Jesus’ kingdom revolution worldwide.

The urgency of this mission can sometimes be lost when we forget what is at stake. This is about eternity for all of us, and God has called the church to stand in the gap.

Question: Why is the Great Commission an urgent call? Does it feel urgent in your own life? Why or why not?

What does this kingdom revolution look like? It starts here in Holland, our local equivalent of Jerusalem in Acts 1.8. We feel God has called Engedi Church to uniquely embody five marks of the kingdom of God, which are represented by our core values (where we get the acronym CABLE). The first value deals with our upward relationship with God. The second and third values deal with our relationships with each other, and the fourth and fifth values deal with our relationship with the world.

Our Values

1. Listen for God’s voice and learn from His Word as we follow Jesus with our whole lives.

Why? We want to help people follow Jesus with their whole lives. We realize the best way we can do that is by engaging with His Word on our own. We want to become self-feeders.

How? Our primary strategy to accomplish this is by getting on a Bible reading plan. We emphasize this regularly.

2. Acknowledge our journey with one another as we pursue authentic community.

Why? Community is important on so many levels. We are formed in community and can experience healing in community (James 1).

How? Our primary expression of community is through CABLE groups. As Paul taught in small groups from house to house, we do likewise (Acts 20.20).

3. Eat with others who are culturally different as we seek multicultural friendships.

Why? This pursuit isn’t on the radar of most U.S. churches, which leads the Church to voluntary segregation. In the Bible, cultural reconciliation is one of the most important marks of the gospel. Paul rebukes Peter in Galatians 2 for pulling back from this value and spending time with his own ethnic group. Multicultural friendships are a mark of the gospel and are vital if we are going to reach our city, because our city is very diverse!

How? CABLE groups keep us connected with other folks who are different from us. The more diverse Engedi becomes, the more this strategy works.

Question: Are you part of a CABLE group? If yes, how does your group walk out values 2 (Acknowledge) and 3 (Eat)? If no, what keeps you from jumping in?

4. Care for the poor and vulnerable as we extend compassion.

Why? Jesus said compassion is a basic mark of a Christian. There are huge needs in our community, and the Church is called to help. Showing compassion is a witness to the gospel. Many people do not associate Christians with compassion—that is a big problem! We can change this stigma by making a difference in people’s lives.

How? We offer many local and global serving opportunities to help each of us walk this out. From local outreach to short- and long-term mission trips abroad, there are plenty of ways to reach out in compassion.

5. Bless our world with servant love as we share good news about Jesus.

Why? This has everything to do with helping people meet Jesus, and it brings us all the way back to where we started. Heaven and Hell are real. Eternity is real. The Church is called to stand in the gap for those who don’t know their way.

How? We help do this in two ways. Locally, we equip believers to share their faith through Sunday morning teachings and through our class “How to Tell the Story”. Globally, we provide many opportunities to serve with our partner countries, especially those that are unreached like Nepal and Turkey.

Question: Which of these values do you feel like you do well? Which values have room for growth into your everyday life?

This is how we make disciples in our city, our Jerusalem. So how do we expand the kingdom in our region? Our regional strategy is simple: church planting. Church planting has always been the primary way God expands His kingdom. The local church is God’s Plan A for kingdom expansion.

Engedi’s strategy for church planting is to focus on cities that are large enough to support a college or university. Even though we want to plant community churches, we recognize that 1) students are from all over the globe. If you reach colleges, you reach the world. 2) College students and young adults have always been the tip of the spear for global missions because they have passion and flexibility. And 3) God has given this church favor with college-age students.

Lastly, how do we expand the kingdom in our world? Remember Jesus isn’t just concerned with reaching our own cities; He is after the whole world. There are 7,000 unreached people groups across the globe. That means that less than 2% of those people groups know Christ. There are 3,000 unreached, unengaged people groups who have no Christian witness whatsoever.

In Nepal, children read books about how to worship dogs and birds. Families give their first-born children to live with the monks who follow these practices. These children matter to God! They were made for more than this! To help each of us reach out to kids and families like these, Engedi provides short-, mid-, and long-term mission trips to our partner countries. We even have teams to walk alongside families and individuals who are considering mission work.

Question: What local, regional, or global opportunities would you like to explore? How can you take steps toward becoming more involved?

All of what we do at Engedi Church is connected. Even in our local expression of mission, everything we do reinforces Jesus’ heart for the nations. We listen to God and learn from Him about who He is and what His mission is for the earth. We acknowledge our journey with one another to help us mature and support each other. We eat with those who are different from us to prepare us to interact with other cultures. We care for the poor and vulnerable because most of the world lives in poverty. When we bless others with the good news of the gospel where we live, it equips us to share wherever we go.

Everything we do at Engedi, every ministry we support, helps advance the kingdom locally, nationally, and around the world. We help our young children see the global vision, we help our students consider it, and then we send our young adults to go and walk it out. This is a vision that is bigger than us. It’s not just about our city or even our nation. It’s about the whole world, and we have a real strategy for partnering with Jesus in His great mission.