Core Values
- God Glorifying
We believe that our highest priority and delight in life, worship, or ministry is that God would be glorified. He is the source of everything we are and have. He created us, He owns us, He gifted us with talents, He authors our story, and every blessing that we receive comes from Him (Gen 1; Acts 17:25; James 1:17). In everything we do we have the joy of being to the praise of God’s glorious grace (Eph. 1:6, 12). We will endeavor to maintain and promote a high view of God through study and reflection upon His attributes, character, and work. Every aspect of our ministry will be God-focused rather than man-centered.
- Christ-Centered
We believe that Jesus Christ and His Gospel must be at the center of all things and the motivation for all we do. Christ is the source for our justification and our daily righteousness. We have no internal desire or moral ability to live up to biblical standards on our own, but in Christ, we have everything we need for godly living (2 Pet 1:3). Therefore, we desire that those who lead and serve in the ministry to be people who have an intimate and personal relationship with Jesus Christ and can clearly articulate the Gospel. They need to understand that the fundamental need of each man, woman, and child is an accurate understanding of God (Num 14:18; Isa 30:18; 1 Pet 5:7), the problem of sin (Matt 7:11; John 3:19; Rom 3:23; Jer 17:9), and the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the only remedy (John 14:6). There is great hope in Christ. He deserves the glory.
- Spirit Dependent
We expect the powerful presence of God in our ministries. We believe in His promise that if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. He draws near through His Spirit who indwells us individually (John 14:16-18; 1 Cor 6:19) and the Church corporately (1 Cor 3:16-17).
We depend upon the Spirit to convict the world of sin (John 16:7-8) and regenerate hearts (John 3:5). Further He seals believers for the day of redemption, unites them with Christ, and empowers them for ministry (Acts 1:8). He is the believer’s Helper (John 14:16-18) who enlightens eyes (Eph 1:17-18), teaches (1 John 2:27), prays for (Rom 8:26), leads (Rom 8:14), imparts gifts to (1 Cor 12:7-11), and produces fruit in Christians while preserving their unity (Eph 4:3). Therefore, it is incumbent upon everyone to bathe every aspect of ministry with prayer.
- Scripture Saturated
We believe that the only true and lasting change in our lives will be brought about by God’s Spirit through His Word. Considering the multitude of ways our minds, eyes, ears, and consequently our hearts are bombarded with sin and error, it is vital that we become soaked, saturated, and satiated with Scripture. The Scriptures should be treasured in our hearts (Psalm 119:11) and acted upon in our lives (Matt. 7:24-27). They should be the joy and delight of our hearts (Jer. 15:16). We live by the Word of God (Matt. 4:4) and need its piercing revelation of the thoughts and intentions of our hearts (Heb. 4:12). It should be our meditation all day long (Psa. 119:97). Therefore, every ministry servant should believe in and understand the authority, infallibility, inerrancy, sufficiency, and Christ-centeredness of Scripture. Each ministry must have a view toward teaching and applying the Bible. When it is taught it should primarily be expositional where teachers endeavor to unfold the meaning of Scripture through explanation that is contextual, careful, clear, and engaging.
- Gospel Cultured
The Gospel is the biblical message of divine grace for the undeserving. God, through the perfect life, atoning death, bodily resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, rescues all His people from the wrath of God into peace with God, with a promise of the full restoration of his created order forever – all to the praise of His glorious grace.
Our desire is that all our interaction would be impacted by the gospel in such a way that the vibe, feel, and tone of our ministry would be one of sweetness, grace, forgiveness, humility, honesty, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, cheerfulness, and self-control.
Faithfulness to the gospel requires more than doctrinal purity in our church. It also requires relational beauty. This culture will be established and maintained through building loving relationships. This means that every ministry servant needs a loving relationship with God and others.
- Disciple-Making
A Christian is a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 11:26). A disciple is one who loves, believes in, learns from, follows, and grows in a relationship with the Lord (Luke 9:23). He has given each of us a commission to make disciples who in turn will make other disciples (Matt 28:19-20; Mark 13:10; 16:15-16; 2 Tim 2:2). A disciple-making church is marked by a committed group of disciples meeting regularly to hear the word of God, so that from the overflow of their hearts they might “teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God” (Col. 3:16).
- Outreach Oriented
The proclamation of the Gospel is for everyone in our ministry. First Corinthians 15:1-3 tells us that the Gospel was delivered “as of first importance.” It is important for those “being saved” and is crucial for the maturity of believers: “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ” (Col 1:28). Yet, there also needs to be an emphasis on communicating the Gospel to the lost in order to make disciples (Matt 28:17-20).
- Missions Mentality
The concept of missions originates in the plan of God to build his church (Matthew 16:18), by calling out of the world a people for his name (Acts 15:14). The people that God has called out of the world and placed into the Church, the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13, 27; Ephesians 4:12), have been given a mission. “Missions” as used here, refers to the responsibility of the local church in carrying out the command of our Lord to go into all the world (Mark 16:15) and make disciples of all nations (Matt 28:19-20). Each ministry must be in some way tied to missions.