Jesus came with a message of good news and liberty and rejoicing.  He came proclaiming the Year of the Lord’s favor, the Gospel of Good News.  Jesus came declaring that He is our Jubilee.

Jesus has commissioned us to declare that message of jubilee as His ambassadors.  We believe the Lord is calling us to plant a church in South Minneapolis that will declare this message that Jesus is our Jubilee.

Our Mission Statement

We exist to glorify God by enjoying Him forever, to grow in maturity in Jesus Christ, and to go in the power of the Holy Spirit with the message of the Gospel.

Glorify
We exist to glorify God by enjoying Him forever.  We long to worship and walk day by day so that our enjoyment in Jesus Christ will grow greater and deeper and more consuming.  As a result we believe that God will be glorified in our lives, in our relationships and in our ministry.  Worship happens in private as we commune with God alone; it happens in homes as we worship God as families; it happens corporately as we gather as a local church to worship God, and it happens spontaneously as we corporately work together for the good of the community and witness God at work changing lives and structures.

Grow
The Great Commission is a call to evangelism and discipleship. The New Testament church was a community built by evangelism and living out discipleship.  Paul said, “I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!”  He also said, “what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

We are to so teach, so disciple and so encourage others that they might grow into maturity in Christ to the end that they might entrust this same Gospel reality to others.

Go
We also see a call in Scripture to go outside of comfort, outside of culture, outside of ease, and outside the camp.   It is a call to go in sharing our faith, to go with acts of mercy, to go in planting churches and to go to all nations with the good news of the Gospel.

The Bible’s Story of Jubilee

Consider three texts.

Leviticus 25 – Here God says that the 50th year was to be a special year. God declared it the year of Jubilee.  All who were enslaved were released.  Land that had been sold was returned to its original owner.  It was a year of celebration and liberty. Leviticus 25:10 states “proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants.” This theme of liberty and freedom that God authored in the year of Jubilee was embraced at our country’s founding to the extent that Leviticus 25:10 is inscribed on the Liberty Bell.

Isaiah 61 picks up this theme and expands on it.  Here Isaiah speaks of his own ministry as well as a greater ministry yet to come.

Isaiah 61:1-2

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor.
 
The Spirit of God came upon the Servant to bring the Gospel, the good news.  The Servant came to the poor, the brokenhearted and those in bondage.  He came proclaiming liberty and freedom.  He also came proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favor, the year of Jubilee. 
 
He announced that a year of the Lord’s favor had come and that a day of vengeance also was coming.  The length of God’s favor was to last a year, but it would not last forever. It would end with a day. 

Then we fast forward to Luke 4.  Jesus has just finished His temptation in the wilderness.  The very first thing He does is to walk into the synagogue and unroll the scroll and read the above text from Isaiah 61.  Then Luke says, “He rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down.  And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.  And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4:20-21)

What?  What was He saying?  Here He was declaring that He was the fulfillment of Isaiah’s words.  Jesus could have begun with words predicting His death.  He could have begun with words regarding sin and judgment.  Instead He said,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because He has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

He was declaring the Year of the Lord’s favor! 

The Gospel, the Good News had come to the poor.  Liberty had come for captives. Sight had arrived for the blind.  Those who were oppressed were going to be given liberty by Messiah. 

Jesus had come declaring glorious good news.  The year of the Lord’s favor had begun.  His Kingdom had come!  The year of Jubilee was here!

Jesus was saying that Isaiah 61 was really about Him.  It described His ministry.  It was the text that inaugurated His public work.  So we look back at Isaiah 61 through Christ, and there we see a glorious picture of the heart and work of Jesus.

Isaiah 61:1-4

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are  bound;
to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.
They shall build up the ancient ruins;
they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations.

Jesus in Isaiah 61

He said that the Holy Spirit of God had anointed Him for a very special work.

He had come to bring good news to the poor.  He had been sent to bind up the brokenhearted.  He had come to proclaim liberty to the captives and a complete opening of the prison to those who are bound.

Jesus came to the poor, the brokenhearted, the captives and those who are bound.  It is never recorded that He actually visited any prisons.  Instead we see Him ministering to people who were oppressed by people or bound fast in sin.  He came and proclaimed liberty.

The next thing we see is that He came to proclaim a year and a day.  He came to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor as well as the day of vengeance of our God.

When Jesus read from the scroll He stopped in the middle of this verse.  He only spoke of the year of the Lord’s favor and not of the day of vengeance of our God.  He had come to inaugurate the new era of Good News. 

The mystery of the Gospel was being unveiled, and the Gospel was Jesus Christ.  It was not the time to speak of vengeance; as real as it was.  Instead, Jesus was declaring that He had come, and the year of the Lord’s favor was here.  It had begun.  It would not last forever.  There would be a day.  But now it was here, and the poor would hear good news, and the brokenhearted would be bound up. 

At His first coming the Messiah came proclaiming Gospel mercy.  But Isaiah 61 makes it clear that there will be a second coming: a day, the day of vengeance of our God.  Then the year of the Lord’s favor will be over, the window of Gospel favor will be shut.  His first coming was mercy.  His second coming will be judgment.

Next, we see that Jesus also came to comfort those who mourn and to grant them three glorious exchanges.  These words impart glowing vehemence to the style.  He has come to those who mourn to give them:

1. A beautiful colorful floral headdress instead of the ashes of grief that had been on their head.  Jesus was exchanging ashes for beauty!
2. The oil of joy. What an exchange!  Mourning is laid aside, and instead, the joyous oil of a feast is poured out.
3. A garment of praise.  The crushed in spirit, the one that is laid low is replaced instead with a beautiful garment of praise.  Fainting is turned to joy and praise!

Then the passage turns a wonderful corner.  Why has this been done?

In order that those in ashes, those in mourning, those of a faint spirit who have received these glorious exchanges may become oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that He may be glorified!

God takes the discouraged, the sad, the weighed down, and gives them beauty, joy and praise in order that they might become His planting: oaks of righteousness.

Lastly, we see God’s purpose for these oaks.  What are the three things those oaks accomplish? 

1. They shall build up the ancient ruins;
2. They shall raise up the former devastations;
3. They shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.

These formerly broken and hurting people become the instruments and the vessels to build up ancient ruins.  They raise up former devastations.  They are the ones who repair ruined cities: the devastations of many generations!  What a glorious picture.  This is what Jesus came to do!  This is what He came to do, and this is what we aim to do.

People groan under: Poverty  - Broken heartedness – Bondage – Blindness - Mourning - Fainting

Jesus is the glorious Healer of all these maladies!!!  He Himself is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s promise.  Jesus is our Jubilee!

He brings the Gospel, and He brings beauty and joy and praise.  He reveals Himself as the great answer to our great difficulties.  He is the vinedresser who is raising up a planting that will restore and repair the brokenness of generations.
We seek to build up a nursery, an orchard of people who have become fruit bearing, strong trees of righteousness instead of those who are bowed low with sin and calamity.  What a beautiful thing it is when a fatherless child weighed down with pain and difficulty is helped to grow up to be an oak of righteousness!  What a beautiful thing it is when a battered wife becomes a pillar of mercy!  What a beautiful thing it is when a former drug addict becomes a God praising chemical dependency counselor. 

 
“Jubilee”
Michael Card

The Lord provided for a time
For the slaves to be set free
For the debts to all be cancelled
So His Chosen ones could see

His deep desire was for forgiveness
He longed to see their liberty
And His yearning was embodied
In the Year of Jubilee

Chorus
Jubilee, Jubilee
Jesus is our Jubilee
Debts forgiven
Slaves set free
Jesus is our Jubilee

At the Lord’s appointed time
His deep desire became a man
The heart of all true jubilation
And with joy we understand
In His voice we hear a trumpet sound
That tells us we are free
He is the incarnation of the year of Jubilee

Chorus
To be so completely guilty
Given over to despair
To look into your judge’s face
And see the Savior there.
 

 
 
Our Commitments

GOD and His Word

1) We are committed to glorifying God by enjoying Him forever.  

2) We are committed to the supremacy of Jesus Christ in all things.  We desire Him to be preeminent in our church, in our message and in our methods.  There should be no mistaking who we believe to be our Creator, Savior and King.

3) We are committed to growing in a personal, abiding relationship with Jesus Christ.  We recognize that such a relationship transforms us from old patterns of sin to a new life bearing the fruit of the Spirit.

4) We are committed to keeping the Gospel central in our own lives, in our relationships, in our accountability, in our counseling, in our families and in our message.  In it we recognize that we are more sinful than we ever dared to imagine, and we also see that we are more loved than we ever dared to dream.  To know the Gospel is to know freedom!

5) We are committed to the authority of the Word of God.  We seek to adopt a posture of trembling before God’s Word to which Isaiah 66:2 calls us.  We aim to give ourselves to a rigorous study of God in the Bible.  We long to hide the Word in our hearts and grow in our ability to handle it accurately. 

Our Church

6) We are committed to the local church.  We believe that healthy local churches are God’s method of reaching communities. 

7) We are committed to living as the family of God that is marked by Biblical love.  We are committed to moving beyond shallow relationships to true Biblical fellowship.  This means not only sharing Gospel truth but also our very lives.  We recognize that this is costly and can only be done in the strength that God supplies.  We are committed to regular shared meals as a body.

8) We are committed to seeking to make evangelism part of the fabric of all that we do.  We want every person in our body to be actively involved in using their gifts to be the witness Jesus has commissioned them to be.

9) We are committed to seeing every person in our body discipled and trained to become a disciple maker.  As we see unique gifts and abilities in those who are being discipled, we are committed to intentional and on-going leadership development.

10) We are committed to a Biblical understanding of healthy gender roles.  We believe men and women are equal but not identical.  God has created man and woman in beautifully, unique ways.  In the midst of much societal confusion, we seek to live in the peace of God’s truth.

11) We are committed to living out the reconciliation to which God calls.   This is essential in our community because it is filled with great diversity.  We recognize that Heaven is filled with people from every language, nation and tongue.  We now seek to live out the reconciling power of the Gospel.  We pray that we will become a house of prayer for all nations.

12) We are committed to be ambassadors of God and making our homes embassies of the kingdom.  We believe that hospitality is an often-overlooked command in the New Testament and that it has the power to open doors for evangelism and discipleship.  We will make it our aim to regularly be in one another’s homes.  We want to be quick to invite unbelieving friends and neighbors into our homes as well as into the church.  Steve Childers has said that the key to evangelism in the next generation is hospitality.  We aim to live that out.

13) We are committed to a financially lean budget that seeks to use resources in ways that strategically advance God’s kingdom, help the helpless, and display the beauty and glory of God to a watching world.

14) We are committed to seek to live in the power of the Holy Spirit.  The church in Acts was radically different than the group of disciples in the Gospels.  They had been given the power promised by Christ of the Holy Spirit.  We long to live in that power and see that power displayed.

15) We desire to live as though Heaven and Hell are real.  Though all Christians mentally assent to their reality, it is less common to live in ways that are consistent with that belief; we desire to so live.

16) We are committed to dealing seriously and violently with sin.  We take seriously the Bible’s call to put sin to death in our bodies, and we long to break free from the shackled hold that sin has on so many.  We believe that only a sober understanding of our flesh and the battle necessary to overcome it will allow us to truly walk in the holiness that God desires for our lives.  We aim to cultivate a culture of transparency, accountability and fellowship centered on the cross.  We long for God’s people to be set free from bondage to sin and to be freed to live in the peace and joy of the Spirit.

17)   We recognize that God has created each person uniquely and creatively.  He has given them gifts and talents that are fearfully and wonderfully made.  We embrace the priesthood of all believers and long for every person in our body to use the gifts God has given to them to build up the body and to be effective in witness and in love.

18) We are committed to extending ourselves to fulfill the Great Commission through a commitment to intentional giving and going in church planting, orphan care and world missions.

Our Families

19) We are committed to raising up men who renounce passivity and immaturity and embrace the responsibilities and high callings that God has given them.  We wholeheartedly desire to help men become the spiritual leaders of their homes as God has designed them to be.

20) We are committed to seeing women grow and bloom in the richness and beauty of Biblical womanhood.  We desire for them to cast off the destructive lies that surround them and live in the joy and beauty that God has for them.

21) We are committed to building spiritually strong families that will see children and grandchildren love and follow Christ. .  God is the great Healer.  In the midst of many broken families, we recognize that God is the one who brings forth new life and health.  We are committed to helping men and women become the godly husbands and wives God has called them to be, as well as the godly fathers and mothers who will lead their families spiritually and begin a legacy and heritage of godliness.

22)   We are committed to loving children and treasuring them as gifts from God.  We are committed to calling parents to grow in their own love for God to the end that they may be able to teach and instruct their children, in all of life, in a wholehearted love for God and a humble fear of God.   We are committed to helping our young people experience God and learn to walk with him in authentic and genuine ways.

23) We are committed to helping our single people grow in their contentment and satisfaction in Christ as they use their singleness for His glory.  We also aim to help them navigate the unique challenges they encounter with wisdom and joy.  We will also seek to fold them into the lives of our families.

Our Leadership

24) We are committed to Biblical shepherding.  The New Testament calls shepherds to watch over their own lives as well as those in their care.  We will take seriously the call to encourage, to exhort, to counsel, and to rebuke the flock.  We are committed to practicing Biblical church discipline for the good of the individual and the church.

25)   We are committed to Biblical eldership.  Elders are to be spiritually qualified men who give evidence of godly character.   They are to seek to lead in humility and with great love for the flock.  They are to be assisted by deacons who also evidence of godly character and are committed to serving God’s church.

26) We are committed to leading with love.  Christ is our great model of the great love of a shepherd.  We desire to cultivate Christ-like love in our leaders and throughout the body.

Our City

27) We are committed to loving our city.  We desire to seek the good of our block, neighborhood and city.   We will seek to be a blessing to the Phillips and Powderhorn neighborhoods in order that their residents may see our good deeds and glorify our Father in Heaven.

28) We are committed to the Bible’s call to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God.  We reject the ‘Social Gospel,’ but we embrace the reality that the Gospel clearly has social implications.  The Bible clearly calls us to not forget the poor and to understand God’s unique heart for the poor and the vulnerable.   We will seek to love the orphan, the widow and the refugee in unique ways.

29) We aim to strengthen the many good things that God is already doing in these communities through prayer, encouragement and participation.

Our Leadership Vision

Isaiah 66:2  But this is the one to whom I will look declares the Lord:  he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at My Word.

In Scripture we see the main character is God.  He is Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer.  He is the just Judge and merciful Substitute.  Before Him and His Word we tremble.  We are small servants of a great God.  By His mercy He will do great things.  Because we serve a great and powerful God, we long to attempt great things for God and expect great things from God.

Romans 11:36  For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever.   Amen.

Spilling out of Bethlehem’s vision to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples, this proposal lays before the church at BBC a fresh vision of outreach to a neighborhood that has been on the heart of the church for many years.  Jubilee Community Church will target the Philips and Powderhorn Park neighborhoods with a goal of bringing back into clear view the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Utilizing the '16 33' building, the church will build upon the foundation of BBC's efforts in the last three years to awaken the neighborhood to a gospel that is relevant to the whole person.

Urban neighborhoods are often complex.  The Philips – Powderhorn combination is no exception.  This presents unique challenges to a church planting effort.  Jubilee is seeking to bring together a leadership team rich in experience that will partner closely with Bethlehem, BUI, Hope Academy and others currently working in this area to blend together and focus many good efforts.  The church will provide the shepherding, biblical teaching, mission, and worship foundation necessary to empower the neighborhood for good from a God-centered perspective.

Jubilee will not be 'the' answer to urban ministry, but it will be one answer among many.  Territorial thinking of 'us and them' will blur as the resources of many are utilized in a spirit of unity and partnership to see the established goals attained.  For example, community development through BUI will be blended with missionary training of BBC's nurture program candidates in intercultural community exchanges that will further the vision of BUI and develop the candidates seeking to be sent out by BBC while all these efforts are pursuing the stability of a church plant for those whose lives are lived out in this neighborhood.  This is the kind of partnership model Jubilee is seeking to develop.

Colossians 1:28-29  Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.  For this we will toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within us. 
Note the 'we' in Paul's letter to the church at Colossae.  Throughout the New Testament, ministry is most often done in the context of teams.  Even when Barnabas and Paul split up, they went with new teams.  Through teams God provides strength, encouragement, wisdom, and a plurality of gifts.  We believe that God is raising up a team to lead the work of Jubilee Community Church. 

This team consists of one full time pastor, and one pastor serving in a part time role, one elder who is supported for urban ministry and will seek to do that ministry in partnership with Jubilee along with other non-vocational elders and leaders.  We believe it is a team that blends significant experience, complimentary gifts, and united vision.  It is a team that seeks to be lean while at the same time recognizing the massive challenges of church planting in the inner city.  Our leadership team has a passionate vision and commitment to reach and raise up indigenous leaders for the future. 

We are committed to walking in unity, love and transparency as a congregation.  Communication that is effective in building ownership across the church family is a high priority.  We believe that by the grace of God shepherding with love and humility will help us to bridge some the cultural gaps we will face.

Summary Statement

The vision and leadership team of Jubilee is unique.  The neighborhoods of Philips and Powderhorn are also unique.  We are seeking to blend together in partnership the resource of many people and existing ministries to accomplish the end of seeing a vibrant church reaching out and bringing about change in this challenging environment.

The partnerships with which we begin show a flavor of the unique direction we are headed.  Jubilee will second Dan Porch to Bethlehem to help the Global Outreach team develop a ministry arm that grants nurture program candidates opportunity to learn and grow in cross-cultural relationships while at the same time helping to plant the church of Jesus Christ. BUI will send Kurt Swanson to work with Jubilee with a job description calling forth creative ways for the neighborhoods to meet needs with dignity and a God-centered focus.

This effort will be very difficult.  This is an area that is economically challenged and negatively labeled by society at large.  This is a people who are ethnically divided.  But the vision of BBC for many, many years has been to see Christ exalted in these places.  By God’s grace we are pursuing the impossible, and as he works through many others, and us, the many will glorify him as God of this city.