And if they matter to God, they must matter to us. We choose to sacrifice personal comfort zones to connect with those outside of the faith. We will use methods and styles that unchurched people understand.
In addition, we will seek to help others reach their areas and realms of influence for Christ as well. We expect to be helpful in starting new churches. And we will support cooperative mission ventures worldwide with other congregations and organizations. Why? Because lost people matter to God.
Authenticity, honesty, and being genuine are of high value to us. We believe that a real God uses real people to do His work.
Being real means that while we aim to be relevant to those outside the church, we remain theologically sound and faithful to the truths of faith that never changes.
Being real means that our teaching should spur life-change. We do not aim to produce mere hearers of God's teachings, but those who do God’s teaching in reality. (James 1:22)
Community is a sense of belonging and of closeness with others that was evident in Acts 2. We believe it is a vital part of making church meaningful. And if it happens right, the church will grow larger and smaller at the same time. In the early church, as folks were brought to faith in Christ, they were drawn into loving community in smaller groups in homes. For this reason, we believe that in most places of the world, an emphasis on the rapid multiplication of house churches has the greatest potential for effecting life change in people.
Oswald Chambers once said, "Prayer does not equip us to do greater works; Prayer IS the greater work."
We believe our ministries need to be an expression of our prayer life and not the other way around.
We believe that it is natural for believers to want to learn and grow in their faith. We believe that every member should be a servant-hearted minister and that we serve best in our areas of giftedness. As stewards of what God has given us, we believe that we should do the best we can with what we've got. Our desire is to give God our best both financially and in ministry—not out of an attitude of trying to prove ourselves to God—but out of gratitude and love for what He has done for us.
We believe that if a Christian is not "going" in their walk with the Lord, they will get stuck spiritually. Like the Dead Sea, if we don't have an outlet, we can become stale, stagnant, and spiritually dead. Jesus' last words to his disciples were to "go."
"Go and make disciples of all nations..."
- (Jesus) Matthew 28:19
We believe that every Christian and every Church needs to take part in going out to share their faith. Whether it's across the street or around the world, we will encourage one another to "go" and share the good news of Christ with people everywhere.
We want love to rule in our hearts and in our actions. We know that apart from love, we are like clanging cymbals—all noise and no substance. Love is what motivates us to go. Love is what motivates us to worship God and be devoted to Him. Love is what motivates us to live in community with one another—being real and authentic. And it is love that motivates us to see how all people truly matter—not only to God, but to us. We are a people who will be motivated by love.