Our
Values

We depend upon God’s leadership (or guidance) in our lives which is available through the Holy Spirit. We all need regular devotional and prayer times to connect with God in solitude. We seek the will of God through prayer, Bible study, circumstances, and the Church. We acknowledge the reality of spiritual warfare, where the battle is raging in the heavenly realms, and commit ourselves to praying so that God might use us to battle against the forces of darkness (Ephesians 6:12). Pray for yourself, your family, your community, people in authority over you, the sick, the poor, the crippled, the needy, etc. We show our need for God and our desire to grow our relationship with Him and others when we pray. It is through prayer and the guidance of the Holy Spirit that God uses our lives to influence others. We respect the spiritual authority and guidance of those God has placed in positions of authority and servanthood in our lives to help lead, guide and shepherd us along our journey of faith, and commit to seeking out their guidance as well. This includes the principle of maximum connection to God.

We are saved by Grace through Faith in Jesus Christ – and this not from our own works – so that no one can boast (Ephesians 2:8). Christ followers understand and have individually received Christ’s saving, sustaining, and enabling grace. Our focus is on the resurrected Christ and His Spirit who saves us, is at work changing us, and empowers us to do God’s will. Therefore, we are gracious and patient with people in our relational worlds that, like us, are on a journey of faith. As God’s ambassadors, we reach out and share His grace with people He brings into our relational worlds and help them grow in faith. We believe in relational evangelism and believe that the Gospel is best shared person to person through the power of community. This includes the principle of authenticity and being real.

We recognize faith as a process and are committed to challenging ourselves and others to grow to maturity. Maturity means taking hold of all that is Christ (Philippians 3:12) and through His enabling Spirit, doing works of service which move us toward the goal of life. This goal is being the fullness of Christ in us (Ephesians 4:12), pleasing Him in every respect (1 Thessalonians 4:1). We need to surround ourselves with mentors and partners who will love, challenge, and provide guidance to us as we grow in faith. We desire to be diligent students of Scripture, and allow God’s truth to be impressed on the very fabric of our lives. We look at our lives holistically, and allow the mental, emotional, physical, spiritual and social dimensions of our lives to be transformed by the Holy Spirit. As we mature in our faith and God entrusts people to our care, we will strive to be good mentors to the people in our lives who look to us for guidance and discipleship. Leaders will strive to be submitted to those they lead and will also have regular discipleship and accountability times with their mentors. This includes the principle of discipleship chains.

We lead lives of worship and bring glory to God in all we do when we humbly follow the guidance He provides. Excellence brings glory to God, so we submit ourselves to God’s guidance so that He can work through us. We will strive to increasingly submit our lives to God and live lives of humble submission to His will. We will participate in regular times of worship where we can submit ourselves to God and refocus our lives on His Lordship. God calls us to be a royal priesthood of believers who go to Him for guidance and empowerment, and we will be held accountable for the way we live our lives both personally and corporately (1 Peter 2:9; Hebrews 4:13; Romans 14:12). As God’s saints, we will strive to live lives of submission to God and identify our lives with Him. This includes the principle of being before doing.

We are committed to living our lives together in groups where both the vertical (you and God) and horizontal (you and the world) components of the Christian life will be lived out and growth is optimized. Christ calls us together as a people belonging to God (1 Peter 2:9), a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), established in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:24), who in community are to show forth His praises (1 Peter 2:9). God desires that we learn from one another’s diversity, therefore our groups should be willing to be diverse in every way: ethnic, racial, cultural, sociological, economic, etc. Differences and diversities easily divide, but we are called to follow the master in our microcosm of God’s kingdom. We are commanded to live lives of humility, patience, love, and forbearance (Ephesians 4:2) as Spirit-people through whom His fruit will be seen in community. The fruit of the Spirit cannot be seen apart from community (Galatians 5:22). We all need to become a member of a small group and a local fellowship (local expression of the family of God, local church). By entering into covenant relationship with others, we are placing ourselves in the optimal environment to experience life change. We will strive to live out the “one anothers” of Scripture together as God’s family. This includes the principle of unity in diversity.

We are committed to discovering our spiritual gifts and passions and using them to serve and build up the Kingdom of God. Like our Master, we don’t come to be served but to serve, and to give our lives for one another (Mark 10:45) in love (John 15:12) and unity. We do this so that the watching world will believe that such a One as Jesus in reality did come (John 17:23). God calls us to use the gifts, talents and resources that He has given us to help build up His church. We are all called to serve in general and in specific. Our general calling of servanthood includes getting involved in service projects with our community and striving to model Jesus Christ’s life of servanthood. Our specific calling of servanthood is where God has uniquely gifted us to build up His church. We are all created for a purpose, and God has given every believer at least one spiritual gift so that we all might contribute to the building of His church.

We understand our relationship to God and this world as that of stewards or managers, and strive to be good stewards of our whole lives as God leads us. Christ-followers realize that they have been bought with the price of Christ’s blood, and that everything they are and have belongs to Him. In light of this, we live as managers or stewards of all that God entrusts to us. We view our time, talents, and treasures as precious resources which need to be faithfully managed according to God’s will, principles and priorities. In response to Christ’s abundant giving, we increasingly submit our resources to His Lordship and display a spirit of generosity and cheerfulness. We are willing to share the resources God has entrusted to us as He leads (Luke 16). This includes following God’s priorities for living and managing our lives in balanced and God-honoring ways. Where our treasure is, there will our hearts be also (Matthew 6:21). As God leads, we will accept and strive to faithfully serve in ordained leadership positions within the body of Christ. People are God’s most precious resource and the pinnacle of His creation, and therefore, we will take the overseeing responsibilities in our lives seriously. We will strive to lead and guide others with gentleness and respect.