Who Are We? (Core Practices)
Jesus First – Jesus is the reason for what we do. While there are many good things that we can be involved in, we believe that anything that distracts us from the simplicity of the truth “Jesus loves me” can take us in the wrong direction. The Church has for too long concerned itself with institutionalism, control, religious ritual, greed and seemingly irrelevant arguments. Therefore we are committed to reaching people with the simple but life-changing message that Jesus came to remove our sin, reconnect us to God and give us new life and eternal hope. Listen to the Sermon
Inspiring Worship – By “inspiring worship” we actually mean two things: that our gatherings would both be “inspiring” to personal faith and also “inspire” worship in our lives. We believe the good news about Jesus is a cause for joy and celebration. Because of this, we are committed to creating a bright and exciting worship experience through inspiring culturally sensitive music and stimulating messages that speak as much to Monday through Friday as they do to Sunday. It is our passion to see people reconnect with God during our worship services in ways that make a difference in every area of their life. In close connection, we are also committed to providing the traditional Christian sacraments of baptism and the Lords’ Supper in a way that offers the worshipper a deeper experience of worship and opportunity to respond to God.
Celebration of Community – We see the Church as a spiritual family, what we call the family of God. We do not think coming together to sit in a room with a bunch of strangers who do not seem like they care about us was God’s plan for the Church. We are God’s people and with this, he has commanded us, above all, to love one another. Therefore while our Sunday worship is a highpoint of our worship week, we are dedicated to helping people learn to love, serve and care for one another through various other opportunities such as small groups, discipleship classes, and other social events.
Biblically Focused – Jesus told the Church to go make disciples. But what does it mean to be a disciple? It means taking a journey to connect with God by following the life and teaching of Jesus. Unfortunately, the Church has often lost this focus. At times this got so bad, that the Church even discouraged people from reading the bible, which is God’s collection of love letters to us. We believe that teaching the bible is a non-negotiable for the Church to be faithful to God and it is God’s pathway on the sacred journey of faith. Because of this, we are dedicated to not only excellent bible based messages, but also other learning opportunities to help individuals to study and understand the bible more fully in a way that offers life-transformation. Besides Bible rich Sunday messages, some of these opportunities will include home-based bible studies and discussion and formal discipleship classes on the spiritual life.
Every Member on Mission – God has a divine and spiritual purpose for every person. But sometimes the church has become consumed with clericalism where “the ministry” was only done by professionals and everyone else became spectators sitting on the sidelines. We believe this is a fundamental misunderstanding of God’s plan for both individuals and the church. For this reason we are committed to every member of the Church being an active participant in the advance of the God’s Kingdom. Since the New Testament treats all members as “called” and “in ministry,” we want to empower every person live out their God-given calling to personally be a part of the advance of God’s Kingdom of Peace on Earth. In keeping with Ephesians 4, the pastors of the church do not merely do ministry for the Church, but are called to lead and equip God’s people in their mission to the world. We believe a healthy church is an empowered one where each and every person is encouraged to make a difference in this world for God by being a representative for Jesus in her or his sphere of influence.
