What We Believe
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We believe God is calling His people to worship Him.
It was not many years ago, that a lot of us were satisfied with a service of worship that rarely varied, with the same forms of worship repeated week after week. While there is comfort in the familiar, some years ago, God began to allow us to hunger and thirst for more of Him, and for more passion in our relationship with Him.
As we began to grow in our understanding, the Lord
showed us that congregational participation is essential in the renewing of our worship. Of course, that meant there would be a degree of unpredictability in the course of worship.
When you invite participation, sooner or later you'll get it.
As a result, our services are longer, less structured, but with
a higher degree of ownership.
We believe the church was intended to be a place of healing for broken people.
We understand that we all come with a measure of brokenness, manifesting dysfunctional behavior because of sin. Jesus came to seek and to save people like us. He came to minister, to serve, to bring the forgiveness of God, and to save. Now, as we have received Jesus by faith, He calls every believer to manifest that same willingness to serve our community in His name. There is no comfortable pew where we can remain detached from this hurting and hopeless world.
We believe God wants us to know Him intimately, to receive His love personally, and to allow His life to be seen in our lives.
We do not want our expression of Christian faith to seem 'religious' and artificial. Instead, as Jesus lives His life through us, we will experience His life and we will be transformed. God calls us to personal holiness, a place where Jesus' life is lived in us. Holiness is nothing we can do in our own strength; it requires a life surrendered to God. We acknowledge that God is inviting us to leave our selfish pursuits and to take up the cross with Jesus, who said, 'Any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be My disciple' (Luke 14:33). We invite you to give up your life and receive the life of Jesus in exchange.
We believe God wants His house to 'be full'.
We want our lives and our church to agree with the heart of Jesus. Jesus 'saw' needs around Him, and He responded to them. His eyes were connected to His father's heart. As we find a need, our task is to ask God what He is doing in this situation, and how He wants us to respond. Our response, or ministry, is to be drawn from God's Word and His will, not from what our culture finds convenient. Further, God calls us to walk in humility, to allow the Spirit of God to convict us and to cleanse us of inconsistency, sin, and hypocrisy.
Our Values
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Here are some ministryvalues that have become part of the fabric of our church life.
The Lord is saying, 'Don't strive to be like Me; let Me live through you.'
Colossians 1:27b 'Christ in us, the hope of glory.'
> With one another
God has called us to provide a family atmosphere for those who need to be a part of a family. We are to build and strengthen existing families, and to provide a family to those who need one.
Psalm 68:6 'God sets the lonely in families.'
> With the world
In our outreach, God seems to be saying that we are allowed to take a non-confrontational, friendship approach. We offer ourselves to God to be as His agents, but it is the Holy Spirit who brings conviction.
1 Corinthians 3:6 'I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.'
