These passages are found in Matthew 22:34-40 and Matthew 28:16-20. They are commonly referred to as the "2 Commandments" and the "Great Commission."

UPREACH: The First Great Commandment
1) Connecting with the Father.
Prayer, Praise, and Worship all constitute the availing of ourselves to the presence and the power of God. During this time of upreach we give place to God, allowing Him to move in our midst by the Holy Spirit. As we focus our whole heart, soul, mind and strength on exalting Him, He inhabits (dwells among) the praises of His people (Ps. 22:3). Is there anything that God cannot do? By giving place to Him we make room for the divine; for the powerful, room for the miraculous. Upreach does not only contain our blessing but provides a means by which we can bless the Lord. As we rejoice before Him for His goodness, expressing thankful hearts, He delights in His children rejoicing over them with singing (Zeph. 3:17). Upreach is people reaching to God. He supplies our daily bread. This is not only to be done corporately by the whole church but must be a continual, sustaining part of the believer's daily devotional life.

Jesus summarized the entire "law and the prophets" by saying that we are to love the Lord our God with everything that we have and are. Loving God is our most consuming and glorious calling. This has primary reference to commitment in Christ Community Church to be, above everything else, a worshipping community. We are committed to developing worship that is "in spirit and in truth." Reality, not mere ritual, is our goal. If we could be known for any one thing, we would want it to be that we are a family of believers who love our Lord openly and unashamedly. He alone is worthy of all of our affection.

INREACH: The Second Great Commandment
2. Connecting with the Saints
Jesus also gave a second "great" commandment, which he said was like the first. It calls us to "love our neighbors as we love ourselves." Love demonstrates that we are true followers of Jesus Christ. So we are committed to becoming a caring and discipling community. God has made us for relationship, with Himself and with each other. And yet, while there is nothing as satisfying as good relationships, there is nothing as hard to come by. Relationships require work. Relationships require openness, honesty, and vulnerability. And they take time. But these relationships are truly the foundation for the Body of Christ.

Each member of the body of Christ has a responsibility not only to the world, but to other members of the Church as well. We are to encourage each other in the faith and build one another up in our Christian walk. Every believer has made a commitment to Jesus Christ that must extend through and among each other. We are to love the brethren. Inreach also includes the personal development of the individual Christian. "Christian" actually means "Christ-like," as we must seek to be Christ-like in our thinking, behavior and actions. We must mentally, emotionally and, in the area of our character, strive to take upon ourselves the likeness of Christ. Christian maturity expresses itself in every aspect of our daily lives and can be simply summarized in one thought: Obedience to Christ.

OUTREACH: The Great Commission
3. Spreading the Word.
Jesus gave His disciples a great commission in Matthew 28:19 saying "Go...teach..." That same commission is extended to every follower of Jesus Christ. What God has freely given us we must freely give to others. If we hold to the truth that Jesus Christ is the only way of Salvation and the hope of eternal life, then anyone apart from Him is doomed to an eternity of hell with-out God. The Church is responsible to the world to sound the trumpet of warning. "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand." We are the light on the candlestick, the city on the hill. We are to carry His love in our hearts. The same love that led Him through Calvary is the love we need to share with a sinful, dying world. The need of those around us is the call for the church to take action. The darker the world seems to become, the brighter the Church needs to shine its message of truth and life in Jesus Christ and share it freely.

The very last words Jesus spoke to His disciples before He ascended were in the form of a parting charge. We have been commissioned to take the glorious gospel of God's saving grace to every nation. History, as we know it, is bound up with God's commitment to redeem for Himself a people from every race, tribe, tongue, and nation. So we are excited about both home and world missions; ministries of proclamation and demonstration; church planting; and being a "sending and spending" church to the far corners of the earth. One of the main ways that we demonstrate the reality of our love for God is by loving those for whom His son, Jesus, died.