The faith community is called to live now as a preview of new creation—an assembly of many peoples, formed by prayer, shaped through worship, sustained by faithfulness, and bound together in love. Its mission is not escape from the world but be a witness to God’s renewal of it. In an age increasingly driven by the machinery of AI, the “Church” must resist the erosion of what it means to be human. We must not surrender our dignity, creativity, or vocation. Humanity is to be a community of image-bearers called to create, bless, and give life. It’s New Creation language.

And this is the year we must not give up our humanity.

Not our dignity.

Not our creation calling.

We are watching the erosion of what it means to be human. Algorithms decide, machines produce and people are reduced to data points and delivery mechanisms. What humans once created with care, skill, and imagination is now seen as inefficient or expendable. We are told that faster is better, cheaper is wiser, and profit is purpose. In the process, the world is losing its memory of beauty, vocation, and love.

Humanity was not created to be a receptacle for wealth transfer to others. Greed has become the operating system of the world. We were not made to hand over our knowing, our making, our wisdom, and our expertise so that a few might grow rich on the backs of the many. To surrender our creativity is to surrender our dignity. To stop caring for posterity and instead worship prosperity is to abandon our calling.

Scripture Speaks Directly New Creation.

At the end of Genesis, Jacob recalls a defining encounter with God at Bethel—Luz, the place where heaven and earth touched. He says to Joseph: “El Shaddai appeared to me at Luz, in the land of Canaan, and blessed me. And He said to me, ‘I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will turn you into an assembly of peoples, and I will give this land to your seed after you as an everlasting possession.’”

These are words of creation language. “Be fruitful” (parah). “Multiply” (ravah). This is the same blessing first spoken in the garden of Eden. Yet here, near the end of Genesis, the promise has expanded. The goal is no longer simply a family line or even a single nation. God promises to turn Jacob’s descendants into an assembly of peoples—a gathered humanity.

The biblical vision is communal, relational, and expansive. Humanity was created as an assembly, a kahal—a gathered people meant to reflect God’s life into the world. The Church stands in continuity with this calling. It is not meant to be a collection of private spiritual fiefdoms, but a congregation of peoples whose dignity, creativity, and purpose are restored.

This creation theme continues seamlessly into Exodus. Exodus does not begin with bondage; it begins with creation. Exodus 1:7 deliberately echoes Genesis 1:28: “The people of Israel were fruitful and multiplied and filled the land.” The same three Hebrew verbs appear—parah, ravah, maleh. Israel is reenacting the Edenic mandate while living in exile. They are living out Genesis inside Egypt.

The text goes even further. It uses an unusual verb to describe Israel’s growth: sharatz—“to swarm” or “to teem.” This is the same word used in Genesis 1 when the waters teem with living creatures. Israel is not merely increasing numerically; they are filling the land with life. This is a new creation moment. A family in exile is becoming a people. A people is becoming an assembly. They are being formed in the womb of Egypt, ready to be birthed through water.

This is why Pharaoh perceives them as a threat. New creation always threatens systems built on extraction, control, and fear. The world responds to fruitfulness with oppression. Yet God’s purposes cannot be undone.

New Creation on the Move

Genesis closes with another powerful image: a great procession. When Jacob dies, Joseph leads an immense entourage from Egypt back to the land to bury his father at Machpelah—at the heart of the promised land. Scripture describes a vast company: the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of Egypt, Joseph’s household, chariots, horsemen—an armed host. A company of nations ascends to honor the patriarch.

This is not merely a burial. This is a royal procession. A foretaste of enthronement. A declaration that the promises of God remain alive even in exile. It is followed by reconciliation, forgiveness, and the preservation of life. Joseph speaks words that define the vocation of God’s people in a dark world: “God intended it for good, to preserve the lives of many people.”

Mission statement of the Church

At the death of Joseph, the promise is reiterated: God will bring His people up from this land. Joseph’s bones are placed in an aron—a chest, a gathering place—waiting to be carried home. Even in death, the story is oriented toward new creation, resurrection, return, and fulfillment.

This is the story the Church inhabits. We are an assembly of peoples called to embody new creation in the midst of systems that dehumanize. We exist to preserve life, to create beauty, to serve one another in love, and to bear witness to a different economy—one rooted not in greed, but in generosity; not in extraction, but in fruitfulness.

This will be a hard year for many. The external pressures will touch nearly everything we hold dear. Forces are moving to imprison human life within digital systems. This must be resisted at every level because what is at stake is human dignity itself. Such resistance will demand a depth of faith and commitment beyond what most of us have yet known. It will stretch us past our familiar comforts. It will be costly. Many will grow weary. Some will lose heart. But we are not without hope. We know the One who has already overcome the world. And He has given us what we need to withstand fear, to endure doubt, to stand firm through hardship, and to walk through chaos without surrendering who we are.

So this year fulfill your God given mandate: Be fruitful and multiply and fill! Leave a legacy worthy of your calling. Our rallying cry is New Creation!