We, the elders of Cypress Gonzales, have a vision for our church. In our vision, we see people coming to Cypress Gonzales and hearing the gospel of the kingdom; the same gospel that Jesus and His apostles preached. We see people understanding for the first time that there is more to being a Christian than coming to church on Sunday and trying to live a moral life. They are catching a glimpse of a higher calling: a calling to enter the kingdom of God through His Son, to become a disciple of Jesus, and then by the power and grace of God to become a kingdom bringer to their families, and their communities!

We see Cypress Church of Gonzales as a loving, steadily expanding community of disciples who are committed to one another’s spiritual growth, and to bringing the gospel of the Kingdom of God to all the people who live in the Salinas Valley. Our mandate is Jesus’ Great Commission of Mathew 28:18-20:

“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

We see Cypress Gonzales as a church that makes disciples and sends them out to plant churches in the Salinas Valley. We see Cypress Gonzales as the type of church described as an “Antioch style church.”[i] The church at Antioch was the church from which the apostle Paul launched his missionary journeys. We see equipping classes started, where disciples can learn theology; the classes growing into a school of ministry where men and women will learn how to teach the Bible, lead worship, make disciples, become elders, learn administration, and plant churches. We see us beginning our first church plant within the first five years, before the end of 2021.

     We see growing from Cypress Gonzales a vibrant Spanish speaking ministry and incorporating Spanish into the worship services with songs sung in Spanish,  announcements in Spanish, and broadcasting the sermon live in Spanish to those wearing headsets in the Sunday service. We also see the emergence of Spanish speaking small groups and triads. We see outreach taking place in the farm labor camps and among the workers in the fields in and around Gonzales.

     We see Cypress Gonzales actively participating in the community as volunteers in various capacities to make the community of Gonzales a better place to live. Our goal is that our faith and love would be made visible to the community by our actions.

     We see every ministry of Cypress Gonzales as part of a larger strategy of making disciples of Jesus. The Sunday service, Children’s ministry, Small Group Bible studies, Triads, Equipping classes, and all community service and outreach will have as its main purpose, making disciples of Jesus. Our goal for the church will be that every saint will be equipped to do the work of the ministry—to bring the gospel of the kingdom to everyone around them, and to be a reflection of the love and grace of our great God and Father through His Son Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit!