It's a short and simple mission statement, but packed with meaning. Following Christ means we go where he goes, do what he says, live out his values, and commend him to others. Following Christ means we are a church in mission, because that's where you will find Jesus always. Renewing the city means we are taking up his agenda for the world. The Bible begins in a garden, but ends in a city. That's our future, an urban one, where His shalom covers the city as the water covers the sea. It also means renewing The City as in the one we live, San Francisco. Our mission is to follow Christ to all the places in San Francisco where His healing, renewing, and presence is needed. And the mission is holistic. Every area, physically, socially, emotionally, and yes, spiritually, needs the healing presence of Jesus, and our great privilege is to participate in His mission to San Francisco.

Here are a few things I'm excited about as City Church pursues this mission this Fall:

• Our Community Groups are growing by leaps and bounds with a sign up period that has seen over 250 people sign up in the past few weeks. The impact of these groups over time will be a great story to hear in the future as Christ meets with us through each other in small clusters all over the city and surrounding region.
• City Hope, which seeks to meet the needs of San Francisco with compassion, wisdom, and commitment continues to grow and make a huge impact on our city, and our world. I encourage you to check out http://www.cityhopesf.org to find out more about how we are involved and how you can get involved.
• 35 men and women are involved in a comprehensive lay counseling course that will train them in how to better understand themselves, and be effective in meeting the needs of others around them with wisdom and savvy. Led by City Church therapists Dr. Chuck DeGroat and Jay Wilson, this class will reap beautiful relational fruit in the future as we are able to not only counsel our own hearts with grace and wisdom, but extend that to others as well.
• Tuesday September 14th saw the official launch of City Arts Fellowship (CAFe), a quarterly gathering of Artists and Creative Professionals that exists to be a support network for working artists at City Church and the city at large. Over 35 artists attended the first meeting and Karl Digerness and Minna Choi report a tremendous amount of enthusiasm from those who attended. City Church has always been a church that supports the arts in our city, believing that we are designed to be creative, to make beauty out of fragmentation, mimicking our Creator who takes great delight in the art we create.

I'll be highlighting various ministries throughout the year, so I'm not getting to everything today. But I could go on and on with this... a youth group that now is up to 25 or more YUTES... spiritual formation classes that are well taught, interesting, and relevant... a counseling center that is busting at the seams in caring for others, a diaconate that continues to be there for people in times of crisis. God is at Work my friends! As always, I invite you to join in on the fun and fear and adventure of following Him in mission.