Every church plant has DNA. The biggest question for many church plants is whether they can replicate that DNA. Experiences by many planters over the past few decades has shown that in order to replicate that DNA and multiply church plants, there need to be people who believe in that vision, live out those core values, and desire to see them reproduced.
Mission
God clearly lays out the mission for His people throughout the Scriptures, that they are sent to bring the news of His great redemption to all nations. God has a plan to redeem all of Creation and is working through that. Thus, the Church is the ultimate display and means of that through her proclamation and demonstration of the Gospel until the day Christ returns to consummate His Kingdom and restore all things.
Vision
Our vision is that each church plant is a family of people whoʼve been called from darkness into Godʼs marvelous light through the once-for-all work of Jesus Christ on the cross. In Jesus we found the healing for our brokenness, the comfort for our troubles, the strength for our struggles, the payment for our debt, the forgiveness for our wrongdoing and, ultimately, the newness for our dead lives. Because of Jesus, we are alive to walk with God together through all the ages until He makes all creation new.
Core Distinctives
Constant Gospel – We believe that the Gospel is meant to be heard by all people, everywhere, at every point in their lives. That applies both to non-believers and followers of Jesus. The message of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, to bear the consequences of our wrongdoing and to give us the precious gift of His goodness and relationship with God is the greatest treasure the Church has and we believe God desires us to share it as often as possible.
Commitment to the Church – We believe that God has intended for us to be part of the local church, a community of followers of Jesus Christ committed to meeting and ministering together. The local church is designed to demonstrate the Gospel in its unity, love, faith, and work in the community, and as an expression of the worldwide fellowship of followers of Jesus. For the same reason, we believe in the importance of church planting and sending people out to continue the work of the Gospel in other communities.
Creating New Community – We believe that the Church is not an island of people who happen to look the same, think the same, or live the same ways, but that God has called people from all ethnicities, generations, cultures, and walks of life to join together as part of the new humanity that Jesus created with his death and resurrection. Just as Revelation gives us a picture of people from every language and people praising God, we want to be a people who bring the lessons and talents and gifts from our cultures that have been redeemed by Jesus to bring Him praise.
Continuing in the Power of the Spirit – We believe that God the Holy Spirit is active in our lives beginning with calling us to God and applying the sacrifice of Jesus to us. We also believe that He continues to convict us of sin and enable us to surrender more and more of our lives to Jesus. He also gives us gifts that make us effective and faithful in the demonstration of the Gospel. These gifts are expressed in many ways, including encouragement, healing, prophecy, generosity, and others. The purpose of these gifts is not to make Jesus’ followers great or proud, but to allow us to serve each other and strengthen the local church.
Creational Redemption – We believe that Jesus’ death and resurrection means the renewal of all things, and that Jesus has called his people to be salt and light. We want to be actively seeking change and redemption in the culture around us, so that Christ can be Lord of all that we do, in the arts, in the business world, in education, in science and technology, in our neighborhoods and, ultimately, in our hearts. We’re committed to this because we have been appointed by Jesus to be his representatives for healing, to the glory of God.