A New Blog!

I'm Kito Espiritu. I'm an associate pastor at Higher Rock Christian Church in Quezon City, Philippines. God has blessed me with a wonderful wife, Elynne.

What Is Upward Call About?

The UC blog is all about the church and its mission in the world. I want to think clearly so that I can serve confidently.

Why "Upward Call"?

The apostle Paul writes in Philippians 3:12-14:
12 Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians is a great book to study to appreciate how missions is essential to discipleship. It's hard to read the book seriously and overlook the very Pauline idea that to live as a disciple of Christ is to live as a missionary in this world -- or, as some would say, living missionally -- whatever your particular calling in life.

So when Paul speaks about his upward call, he's referring to his desire to know Christ (v. 8)
10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 11 in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
We often think of sanctification in parochial terms. This isn't wrong. In fact, it is absolutely necessary, and it's where we all have to start. But God's upward call to believers takes us beyond this to His worldwide purpose to gather the elect from every tongue, tribe, people, and nation and to unite all things under Christ.

This is my aspiration for myself, my family, and the church. Hence, the blog's title.

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Kairos, 4th Edition

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(Updated May 18, 2023) My first exposure to Kairos was in 2008/9 during IVCF's Missions Camp. I was unable to finish the course, but I kept the reader. Ten years and one edition later, I retook the course with a very specific question in mind: Could I recommend it to Higher Rock's leaders for our church members? ABOUT KAIROS The Kairos Course was developed by Living Springs International as a tool to mobilize the body of Christ for world evangelization. It uses material from two main sources: World Mission , edited by Dr. Jonathan Lewis Perspectives on the World Christian Movement , edited by Dr. Ralph Winter and Steven Hawthorne As I'm told, it started out as the Condensed World Missions Course , but was further abridged to make it more accessible to people. Now, here is my personal assessment of the Kairos Course, based 1) on the course materials, and 2) my own experience in taking the course. I understand that a different group of facilitators m...
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MSPG 9 - The Church's Task

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I don't pretend to be a missions expert, but the church has to start somewhere. The Lord has been teaching me more and more about missions since 2015, and I've spent a lot of time  in the last two years   exploring  this important aspect of the church's life. Since Elynne and I are planning to migrate soon to study at TMS, I don't have much time to share what I've been learning with others. So in the next five months, January to May, I'm holding a weekly "Missions Study & Prayer Group" (MSPG) to equip them to help in the church's developing missions program. For overviews and links to all the lessons in this ongoing series,  click here . THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE LOCAL CHURCH We’ve looked at Paul’s missionary activity and the example of a number of New Testament churches, and we’ve ways the local church can participate in missions: Praying Upholding biblical truth (Ephesians) Evangelism (Thessalonians) Raising mis...
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