“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”                   2 Corinthians 5:17

What does it mean to be “in Christ”? It means we’ve been transformed. It means we’ve been born again (John 3:3, 1 Peter 1:23). When Christ has truly transformed our life, we no longer live for ourselves, but for Him. Transformation is not adding Jesus to our life, it’s re-centering our life around Christ. Instead of living for ourselves we live for Him. This is what it means to be “in Christ”. Many times as Christians we hope and pray that Christ would be “in” what we are doing, rather than discovering what God’s will is for our life and getting “in” what He wants.

None of this is as abstract as it may sound. At VALLEY Christian Church, we have established a number of mile markers in our church that help us measure and evaluate if transformation is actually happening in the life of those in the VALLEY Family or not. We measure the

Number of people:

• reporting improved marriages
• reporting improved and increased friendships
• reporting improved family
• serving other people in some venue
• being mentored or serving as mentors
• reporting improved spiritual life
• growing in financial giving to kingdom causes
• sharing life in small groups
• growing in confidence sharing their faith

Without some way to actually measure and evaluate a mission statement or goal, there is no way we can confidently say, “We’re doing what God has called and created us to do” and for us (at VALLEY Christian Church), it’s all about TRANSFORMATION.

What about your church? What is the Biblical goal or vision or mission God has given to you as a leader? How can you measure if you are actually fulfilling that goal or not? Is that goal something that can only be accomplished with God’s power? Have you settled for something less that transformation in your life and in the life of those you lead and desire to reach?