You Are the Light of the World (Part 4)

Say HiOne of the visions that our forefathers in IBC had from our church’s earliest beginning was a congregation that would be Jesus’ light bearers and light givers. This is reflected in some of our old bulletins that show a hand holding a torch, with a caption at the top of the cover page that reads: “The LIGHT of the world is JESUS, Come to the LIGHT at IKOYI BAPTIST CHURCH.” We, however, neither have a record of how they came about this revelation nor the particular scripture that can be referred to as their bearing. The recent past and present generation took this matter further by adopting a logo with light. It is now a standard practice that all IBC daughter churches bear names that have light as either a prefix or suffix. While we celebrate the efforts, labors and the grace of God on our forefathers, necessity is however laid on the present generation of IBC Pastors and members to complete what they started. This include: knowing God’s mind as regards the scripture that conveys God’s purpose for our local church; re-writing or re-phrasing the present purpose statement; adopting a Membership Orientation Program Booklet/Covenant; re-shuffling and re-arranging the existing Purpose Driven Ministries’ portfolios for greater effectiveness; and any other thing that the Lord would lead us to do in this season. The foregoing requires that we all be open to the Holy Spirit and make positive contributions to this process. It is my earnest prayer that the Lord would help us to get it right and thereby lay a solid foundation for a glorious future for our local church. A. Read the following passages and mention what is common to them-  Isa. 60:1-3;  Matt. 5:14-15; Jn. 8:12; 12:35; Eph.5:8; 1 Jn. 1:5. B. What do you observe from the following passages? - 1 Jn. 1:5; Jn.8:12; 9:5;     Matt. 5:14. C. What do light and darkness symbolize in scripture?  D. What do you understand by the “image of God” from Gen. 1:26-27. E. Mention the characteristics of light from the following passages? Matt. 5:14-    16;  Jn. 1:5; 5:35; Eph.5:13; 2 Pet. 1:19; Isa. 60:3: 1 Jn. 1:5; F. What is the immediate context to Matt.5:14-15? G. What are we meant to be and to do from Matt. 5:14-15? H. Evaluate the current IBC Purpose Statement in the light of Matt. 5:14-15. Do      you agree we need to  redraft this Purpose Statement? Why? I.  Assignment: To see a group that will give us a Purpose Statement that is     Biblical, short and memorizable without compromising on the five purposes of     the church. The desire to become a Purpose Driven Church is no doubt a laudable but challenging one. It requires diligence reading and study of God’s word, prayerful dependence, setting aside personal interests for the interest of Christ, collective understanding and ownership, and a high level of humility. May the Lord help us to pay the required price and fulfill God’s expectation over us as a local church.www.ikoyibaptistchurch.org, instagram.com/@ikoyibaptisthurch, facebook.com/@ikoyibaptistchurch, x.com/@ikoyibaptistchurch.