It's all about Jesus Christ

When practically applied to the life of the church, this means amongst other things;

• This will always be the first “filter” by which we evaluate opportunities and ministries of the church.  Thus what appears to be the most effective idea, if it fails to bring glory to God, must be rejected (1 Cor 10:31; Romans 11:36).
• Our priority will be honoring God’s name by working to expand his kingdom, not just our local church. Thus we will be committed to embrace and celebrate ministries that will expand and further the greater church even if they do not directly benefit our local church body (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:6-8; Acts 8:1-4; Acts 13:1-3).
• We will be committed to doing what is right, as defined by the Bible, and to doing what most glorifies God, even if that course of action is not popular and/or if it appears that doing so will be to the church’s temporal disadvantage (Daniel 1:8-21; Acts 13:1-3; 1 Corinthians 8).
• Every aspect of our ministry will be defined by the highest degree of integrity and protected by a commitment to accountability (Acts 5:1-11; 1 Corinthians 5:1-6:11; Revelation 3:1-6).
• For the benefit of the spiritual growth of our members and to protect the testimony of Christ’s church, we will be committed to modeling, teaching, and applying the Biblical teaching on accountability and church discipline to deal with unresolved conflicts and ongoing patterns of undealt with sin within our church. (Matthew 18:15-18; Matthew 5:23-24; Galatians 6:1-2; 1 Corinthians 5)

When practically applied to the life of the church, this means amongst other things;

• Prayer is more than just a part of our ministry; it is a foundational element that must undergird everything we do. (2nd Chronicles 7:14, John 14:12-14, John 16:23-24, Acts 2:44-47, 1st Thessalonians 5:17)
• Prayer must be more than petition; it is our communication with God, our humble acknowledgement that we are completely dependent on His love and grace, and the process of surrendering to His will.  (John 15:7, Mark 14:36, Psalm 27:4, Philippians 4:6-7, Ephesians 6:18-20, Jeremiah 29:11-12, Jeremiah 33:3)
• The leaders of our church will be committed to modeling the priority and purpose of prayer in our personal lives, through our leadership of ministries and small groups, in our decision making, and through our proactive efforts to pray with and for those in need (Acts 6:4, James 5:14-15, Luke 6:12-13, Luke 18:1, Matthew 21:13)

When practically applied to the life of the church, this means amongst other things;

• In every area of our ministry we will rely on the Bible as our only authority, and employ the direct study of the Bible as our primary strategy, with an emphasis on both understanding and applying Biblical truth.  (2 Timothy 3:14-17; Hebrews 4:12; 1 Corinthians 10:3-4; Psalm 1)
• We will maintain our commitment to the expository and exegetical study of scripture as the primary method of study in our worship services.  The goal of this study must always be more than just increased knowledge, but changed lives. (1 Corinthians 8:1-3;  1 Timothy 1:5-7; 2 Timothy 2:15; 2 Timothy 4:1-5; Acts 17:11)
• The Bible is by its nature a practical book that demands application in every area of our lives.  But since our practice is a natural expression of our beliefs, we will teach the theology of God’s Word as the foundation and the basis for all our teaching on applying the Bible to our lives. (James 1:22-26; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; 1 Timothy 1:5-7; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; Ephesians 4:21-24; Joshua 1:8)

When practically applied to the life of the church, this means amongst other things;

• Intentional evangelism begins with prayer, thus we will encourage our members to pray regularly, modeling asking God to give them Jesus’ heart for the lost, to give them opportunities to share their faith, to make them aware of the opportunities He gives, and that God would give them the words to say. (Ephesians 5:19-20; John 14:12-14; Matthew 21:21-22; Matthew 28:18)
• We will model our commitment to preach the gospel every week within our church, while affirming that the Great Commission and Jesus’ example calls each Christ-follower to take the gospel outside the church by building relationships and meeting unbelievers on their turf.  (1 Corinthians 2:2; Romans 1:16-17; Luke 15:3-7; Luke 19:10; 1 Corinthians 9:19-23)
• We believe that we are called and empowered to share our faith, functioning as a missionary in our workplace, school, and neighborhood.  As such, we will encourage, challenge, and equip each other to share our faith, and to creating and promoting opportunities where we can bring unsaved friends to hear the gospel message.  (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; 1 Corinthians 9:19-27; Ephesians 4:11-13; Mark 1:17; John 14:12-14; 2 Timothy 4:5)
• Since we believe that evangelism is primarily the result of intentional relationships, we will encourage, teach, model, and celebrate the importance of building intentional and purposeful relationships with unbelieving friends, neighbors, and coworkers motivated by the purpose of sharing our faith. (Colossians 4:5-6; 1 Peter 3:15; Mark 1:17; Luke 15:4-7; Luke 19:10; Acts 2:24-27)

When practically applied to the life of the church, this means amongst other things;

• Worship is coming to God, declaring his strength and his character, acknowledging and confessing our brokenness and need, and surrendering to His deserved place in our lives and relying on His gracious provision.
• Since the Bible teaches that we are created for worship (Isaiah 43:21; 1 Peter 2:9), and that worship will be our primary occupation in heaven (Revelation 4 and 19:1-5), we will emphasize the proper worship of God as an essential element of our corporate gatherings as a church, while also stressing the importance of worship in each believer’s personal life (Luke 10:27; Hebrews 13:15).
• While there is a place for personal testimony (both in word and song), our corporate worship, by definition, will be God-centered.  When applied to the content of our worship, this means that the focus of our singing will be songs to and about God  (Psalm 29:1-2 & 96:7-9; Ephesians 3:14-21; Revelation 4).
• God calls us to worship Him with all our heart, soul, and mind, or all of our emotions, intellect, and will (Matthew 22:37-39, Deuteronomy 6:4), and Jesus taught that true worship must involve our spirit and truth (John 4:23- 24)

When practically applied to the life of the church, this means amongst other things;

• In our relationships we will seek to follow the model of Jesus Christ who was “full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).  Thus we will be committed to lovingly speak truth into each other’s lives with the goal of “spurring one another on” and encouraging one another daily (Hebrews 10:24-25, Hebrews 3:12-13, Matthew 18:15-18, 1 Thessalonians 2:11-12, 1 Thessalonians 5:14).
• Our love for each other should be radically different than the type of community outside the church (John 13:35), with the uniqueness of our Christian love and fellowship is not defined primarily by the absence of sinful speech or actions, but our focus on the faith that unites us. (Acts 2:42-47, Acts 5:42, Deuteronomy 6:5-9, Philippians 4:2-3, Titus 2:6-8).
• We will work to develop numerous and diverse small groups and challenge each member and attender to get involved in one.  These groups will be designed to foster close relationships defined by transparency, which is expressed by sharing and meeting each other’s needs, praying for each other, confessing our sins, forgiving one another, bearing each other’s burdens, restoring each other when we fall and above all, “loving each other deeply” (1 Peter 4:8, Acts 2:42-47, James 5:16; Galatians 6:1-5, 1 Peter 4:8, Ephesians 4:32)

When practically applied to the life of the church, this means amongst other things;

• Just as Jesus ministered to the whole person (spiritually, physically, emotionally), so we as a church will be committed to building ministries that minister to the whole person (Luke 3:4:18-19; Luke 7:22-23; Ezekiel 16:49; James 1:27).
• We must remember that while our primary and ultimate purpose is to meet a person’s spiritual need, while seeking to meet their spiritual need we have a God-given responsibility to meet their temporal (physical, emotional, financial) needs. (James 1:27, Matthew 25)
• The Bible teaches that our first and primary focus should be on helping those within the church (Galatians 6:10, Acts 2:44-45, 4:32-35, 6:1-6), while also purposefully and responsibly showing love through acts of service and benevolence to the needy in our world (Matthew 25:34-45, Hebrews 13:2).
• Because of the unique and sometimes specialized nature of benevolence and mercy ministry, we will seek to intentionally and strategically partner with para-church ministries and other churches in the community to most effectively accomplish this ministry. (1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12:4-5, Ephesians 4:15-16, Philippians 2:30)

When practically applied to the life of the church, this means amongst other things;

• Understanding that our Great Commission as a church is to make disciples, we must give highest priority to developing and executing a strategy for intentional discipleship. This should include developing ministries focused on discipleship, evaluating those ministries by their effectiveness in growing people as disciples, and evaluating our church’s ministry by our effectiveness in getting each member and regular attender into a discipling community. (Matthew 28:18-20, 2 Timothy 2:2)
• The core value of discipleship should not only be affirmed in theory, but also modeled by the elders, ministry leaders, and ministry staff of the church.  To disciple others we must first be disciples, letting God invest in us through relationships, and then as leaders, we will intentionally invest in and disciple others as a lifestyle. (2 Timothy 2:2, 2 Timothy 2:15, Ephesians 5:1-2, Acts 9:26-28, Acts 11:22-25)
• Discipleship must go beyond the goal of teaching knowledge, but must also include modeling the process of living out of our faith.  This must be centered on the study and application of the Bible with a vulnerability that includes openly sharing our growth through struggles and failures, and with a commitment to each other’s spiritual health that is willing to risk speaking uncomfortable Biblical truths into each other’s lives, all in an atmosphere of grace. (Ephesians 4:11-16, Ephesians 4:25, Hebrews 10:23-25, Hebrews 13:7, 2 Timothy 2:15, 2 Timothy 4:1-5, 1 Peter 3:15)