ILLIN OI S CO N F EREN C E
Following Jesus Faithfully By Ron Aguilera
Jesus said, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men (Matt. 4:19).
E Ron Aguilera
30 MAY 2022
Mission and Vision: The Illinois Conference exists to create healthy, disciple-making churches. Our mission comes directly from the words of Jesus, I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you (Matt. 28:18, 19). This is the Great Commission, our marching orders, from the One who has all authority in heaven and on earth, Jesus Christ. The leaders of the Illinois Conference desire to be faithful to His command. This is our mission! Over the last four years, our yearly theme has focused on this God-given mission: • In 2019, we focused on Presenting Jesus Irresistibly. • In 2020, it was Knowing Jesus Intimately. • In 2021, Proclaiming Jesus Passionately. • And, this year, 2022, our focus is on Following Jesus Faithfully. We are thankful that, despite our COVID-19 environment, our pastors, teachers and church members have continued to be faithful to the mission God
has given us, to Go and make disciples. Being faithful to mission is one thing, but vision is something a bit different. Vision seeks to fulfill mission. Over the last four years, the leadership of the Illinois Conference has focused our vision on four areas: Evangelism/Church Growth We want our churches to grow. How? Community outreach and evangelism events have been our areas of focus. I am thankful for the multiple evangelistic efforts made by our churches, from holding bridge events such as health summits and conferences, to online evangelism series and seminars, to our evangelism caravans. Church planting also continues to be an area of focus. Research shows that newly planted churches grow exponentially in their first five years. One of the main reasons is its members have a clear vision and focused passion to grow the church. I might add that, historically, our Seventhday Adventist church grew fastest when we focused on church planting. Discipleship We are called to Make Disciples, but you can’t give what you don’t have. First, we must be faithful disciples in order to lead Visit LakeUnionHerald.org
