Evangelical Community Church is an embassy of the Lord Jesus Christ in Abu Dhabi, growing disciples from the nations to be gospel ambassadors to the nations.
But what does this vision mean? Let’s consider the various components of this statement:
An embassy of the Lord Jesus Christ - Governments set up embassies in foreign countries to care for their own citizens living in those countries and to engage with those countries. In the same way, the risen Jesus established local churches on earth to represent the kingdom of God in the world. As an embassy, each local church cares for Christians, the citizens of the kingdom of God, who are now living as strangers and expats in this world (1 Peter 1:1). At ECC we believe Jesus is Lord of the world and the only Savior for sinners. We engage with the world as an embassy proclaiming this good news.
In Abu Dhabi - Our location creates unique challenges and opportunities. We desire to make the most of the opportunity that God has opened for us here in the Middle East.
Growing disciples - The core mission of every local church should be to make disciples of Jesus from all nations (Matthew 28:18-20). We want ECC to be a place where Christians are growing in Christ-like maturity, the knowledge of the truth, and love for other believers (Ephesians 4:11-16). We desire to cultivate a culture of discipleship at ECC where it’s normal for believers to be helping one another make progress in the Christian life. We want to help Christians move from being passive consumers of church ministries to active co-laborers in the work of ministry to one another so that the whole congregation is continually built up.
From the nations - ECC has members from dozens of nations. In order to promote unity among all these cultures and nationalities, we keep our focus on the Bible, the gospel of Jesus, and the culture of the Kingdom of God that the gospel creates. We strive to express this multicultural, gospel-centered unity throughout the church, from worship services to leadership teams to Bibles studies. We want the world to see a church where people from different countries, ages and stages of life are loving and serving one another.
To be gospel ambassadors - Embassies don’t just provide safe houses for expat citizens. They also engage in mission to their host country. In the same way we are called to be ambassadors who proclaim the good news that Jesus Christ died to bear the penalty of our sins and then rose again on the third day, so that anyone who repents and believes in him will find forgiveness and new life from God. We want to see ECC members dispersed throughout the week to bear witness to this gospel message, and we pray that more and more people will become disciples of Jesus as a result.
To the nations - When you live in Abu Dhabi, you don’t have to get on a plane to take the gospel to the world. The world is all around us in Abu Dhabi. In addition, some day each one of us will leave the UAE. When that happens, we want to be sending forth Christians who have grown significantly at ECC and who are ready to spread the gospel of Jesus wherever they go.