Why does the church exist? What is our essential work? Is it social? Is it political? Is it theological? Is it educational? Are we a community center? If we try to answer the question from the culture “at large,” we’ll end up with a lot of different answers. If we try to do everything that everyone thinks we should be doing, we’ll get tired and distracted. If we think about the two beginnings mentioned in the Bible, it will be easier to summarize our essential work. “In the beginning…God made man in His own image.” We don’t really know how long that “image” remained untarnished and unbroken. What we do know is that Jesus came to institute a new beginning. He came to save people from their sins. People who follow Him become a part of the new creation. The desire of Jesus is to re-image us so that we get back to God’s original intent. We refer to that process as discipleship. Years ago, it was called progressive sanctification. In the last 25 years it has been called spiritual formation. Whatever we call it, that process is the essential work of the church. If we don’t do that, no one else will. Other agencies will provide meeting places, hand out food and coats and rally people for political activism. What none of them will do is preach the gospel and help people follow Jesus so closely that they become like Him. That’s our mission, “Developing Followers of Jesus for Life!”