Core Values
Our vision is that as a church we will be a people “Glorifying God as we love, listen & live.” We define our core values as a church body by examining in closer detail the three areas we believe we are called to Glorify God in. These core values guide us as we seek to fulfill our vision as a church body.
We glorify God in our love. Love that flows from the death and resurrection of Jesus who is at the center of everything we do. This love is expressed for others in practical ways by a variety of means.
We glorify God as we listen. We listen to God by being committed to his word, to prayer, receiving those with Ephesians 4 gifts, and operating in the gifts of the Holy Spirit that are given for the common good of the body of Christ.
We glorify God as we live. Firstly, we must be a people led by the Holy Spirit so that we can value what God is calling us to: life in the church, unity, relationships, inter-generational connectedness, generosity and missions.
We expand on our vision of how we love, listen & live in more detail below.
We are called to Glorify God in our love.
We love because Jesus first loved us by dying on the cross for our sins. In order to love God we must also love one another. It is only through Jesus that we can truly love in a way that glorifies God.
We value Jesus at the center. Glorifying God in our love calls us to be Christ-centered. It is only through Jesus Christ that we have relationship with God and our lives are meant to function around Jesus instead of ourselves.
We value practical love. We seek to love in practical ways and means as a church body. We do this by supporting various ministries financially as well as with our time and effort. We also seek to love people individually as means of showing them Jesus not just with our words and but also with our actions.
We are called to Glorify God as we listen.
We value the Word of God. The Word of God is our authority for every single area of our lives. It is God’s revealed truth for our lives and as we listen and obey his word we glorify God and understand what it means to follow Jesus.
We value prayer. Prayer is about relationship with God. We believe that God’s Word teaches and models how we should pray and that through prayer we hear God’s will for our lives. Prayer is crucial for us to know God as individuals and as the body of Christ.
We value the Five-Fold Ministries spoken of in Ephesians 4 (Apostles, Prophets, Pastors, Evangelists, and Teachers). We believe these gifts are for today and continue to be the means by which God seeks to build his church, equipping all of us so that we grow in every way to be more like Jesus. Since it is seldom that all five gifts reside in a single church, we welcome outside teams that we are relationally connected with to minister in these areas.
We value the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We believe that the manifestation of the Holy Spirit is given to each one of us for the common good of others within the body of Christ. We welcome the gifts of the Holy Spirit in individuals to empower us as the church to share the message of Jesus with others and to give supernatural authentication of God’s truth.
We are called to Glorify God as we live.
We value being led by the Holy Spirit. We believe that only the Holy Spirit brings life, both personally and in the church. Apart from Him we can do nothing.
We value life in the church. We believe that the church is the representation of Jesus on the earth and that we cannot follow Jesus fully unless we are invested in a local church. The most common metaphor used to describe the church in the New Testament is as a family and we believe that God’s desire is for the church to be family.
We value unity. Jesus’ prayer in John 17 is our standard for unity and we believe that blessing flows from unity. While unity will vary based on spheres within the church body we believe it is crucial that there be a covering of relational unity amongst us.
We value relationship. We believe that relationship in the church is to be defined by transparency, integrity, and openness. We value listening to each other and hearing one another’s hearts. While relational connectedness will vary within the church we believe that Home Groups provide the opportunity for us to be intentional in building relationship and we encourage everyone to be apart of a Home Group.
We value inter-generational connectedness. Investing in younger generations is the key for the future of the church and we believe that every person in the church has a role to play in this area.
We value generosity. God is the ultimate giver and the ultimate gift of Jesus for us is our model for giving. We believe that we are called to be a people who generously give of our time and our resources to help others and be a representation of Jesus to others around us.
We value missions. We believe that we are called to fulfill the Great Commission commanded by Jesus to make disciples of all nations, both locally and globally. We believe it is important that we partner with others who are called to share the good news of Jesus in many areas of the world. We believe that the good news of Jesus is for all people in all nations.