AS CHRIST-CENTERED PEOPLE, WE WILL LIVE BY FAITH IN PURSUIT OF DEEPLY TRANSFORMING LIVES THROUGH JESUS FOR THE SAKE OF THE WORLD.
AS CHRIST-CENTERED PEOPLE
2 Peter 1:3
By his divine power, God has
given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of
this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his
marvelous glory and excellence.
Colossians 3:17
And whatever you do or say,
do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God
the Father.
- We live in active pursuit of a growing,
personal, vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.
- The Truth, grace and love of Christ
is the center of all we value in life.
- We live with one ultimate goal: that
Jesus gets the glory. It’s not wrong to pursue personal goals, but the glory of
Christ is the orienting compass that gives direction to all others. Because we
want Christ to be known, loved, honored, worshiped, and obeyed, we submit every
other attainable goal to Him.
WE WILL LIVE BY FAITH
Hebrews 11:1
“Faith is the confidence that what
we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot
see.”
We believe:
- Faith is first belief and then
action. Hebrews 11:1 (see above)
- Faith is available through life in
Christ. “We
are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ.” Romans 3:22
- Faith is a choice. “Lord,
increase our faith.” Luke 17:5
- Faith pleases God. “And without faith it is impossible to please God.” Hebrews 11:6
IN PURSUIT OF DEEPLY TRANSFORMING LIVES THROUGH JESUS
Matthew 22:36-40
“Teacher, which is the
most important commandment in the law of Moses?” Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your
God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first
and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as
yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on
these two commandments.”
1 John
4:15-21
All who declare that Jesus
is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We
know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love,
and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not
be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because
we live like Jesus here in this world. Such love has no fear, because perfect
love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this
shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first. If someone says, “I
love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t
love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love
their fellow believers.
> We value deep, beneath the surface
life transformation. We aren’t about doing the same old things with a religious
veneer. We aim to grow deeply in love for God, others, and ourselves.
> We are all invited to look beneath the surface
of our lives to experience the deep, transformational power of Jesus.
- We do this practically in a variety
of ways including: pursuing maturity in our faith journey that involves our
heart, soul and mind; going back to go forward, and learning how our families
and past experiences have shaped us over time so that we can become more truly
who God has made us to be, examining any spiritual walls that threaten to
impede our faith journey, learning to grieve losses in light of Christ’s hope,
taking time for slowed-down spirituality, developing spiritual rhythms and
disciplines that sustain our faith practices. These principles are taught in
our Emotionally Healthy Spirituality classes.
> We value a spirituality committed to
loving well. At the core of the Christian faith is love. Jesus commands us to
love God first and with our entire being. He also commands us to love our
neighbor as we love ourselves. We learn to love God well when we slow down our
lives to cultivate a deeply loving union with Jesus. Our pursuit of deep loving
transformation involves learning skills that help us love others well,
including ourselves, as we communicate honestly, authentically and with
integrity. These skills are taught in our Emotionally Healthy Relationships
classes.
> Our emotional health and spiritual
life in Jesus are intricately connected. We have discovered it is impossible to
be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally immature.
Ephesians
4:15-16
Instead,
we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like
Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body
fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the
other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of
love.
2 Peter 3:18
Rather, you must grow in the grace and
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to him, both now and
forever! Amen.
1 John 2:14
I have written to you who are God’s children because you know the
Father. I have written to you who are mature in the faith because you know
Christ, who existed from the beginning. I have written to you who are young in
the faith because you are strong. God’s word lives in your hearts, and you have
won your battle with the evil one.
FOR THE SAKE OF THE WORLD
John 3:16-17
“For this is how God loved the
world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him
will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not
to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”
Matthew 28:18-20
Jesus came and told his
disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on
earth. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach
these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of
this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
John 14:6
Jesus told him, “I am the
way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me.”
Luke 19:10
“For the Son of Man came to
seek and to save those who are lost.”
- We seek to offer ourselves as a gift
to our families, neighborhood, community, and the world. We believe that every
Christian is called to “full-time ministry” – serving Christ in every sphere of
life.
- True transformation is dedicated to
helping people find and follow Jesus and experience his boundless love and
forgiveness. It is our mission to create
opportunities to encounter Jesus because he is the only way to salvation. He is
the way, the truth and the life.
- We believe Jesus has command us to
be His disciples who create disciples. We seek to follow the model Jesus gave
us which is to make disciples who are maturing and equipped to go out and make
disciples. This process is taught in our Real-Life Discipleship classes.