Knowing...Growing...Going
As the Word of God shapes our lives, we long to be a church devoted to Christ's kingdom by knowing Christ, growing in His grace, and going in His love.
Our Values
God-centered approach to church ministry growth
- Many of today’s ideas about church growth and ministry are man-centered and inordinately focused on numerical indicators of success.
- Local churches should be built upon faithfulness to God’s pattern for the church including worship, discipleship, fellowship, ministry, and evangelism (Acts 2:42-47).
- True church growth consists in movement toward maturity and ministry which reflects the fullness of Christ, not simply numerical increase (Ephesians 4:11-16).
Christ-centered expositional preaching and teaching of God’s Word
- All of Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for equipping believers (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
- Each verse of Scripture needs to be understood in its context.
- God’s people grow stronger and deeper when they are systematically fed from Scripture (1 Peter 2:2).
- Preaching and teaching should be Christ-centered and saturated with the gospel.
Meaningful church membership
- The Bible indicates that local churches had some sort of membership structure which identified individuals as belonging to that local assembly (1 Cor. 5; 2 Cor. 2; Heb. 10:25).
- Formal membership in the local church provides for mutual ministry and accountability for the spiritual well-being of the members (Matthew 18:15-17; 1 Cor. 5; Gal. 6:1-3).
- Meaningful membership involves relationships of mutual love, concern, accountability, and ministry to one another (1 Cor. 12:7, 14-26; Rom. 12:10-16; Eph. 4:32; 1 Thess. 5:11-15). The church is the community of those who embrace the Lordship of Jesus.
Increasing participation in missions
- Christ’s commission to the church is to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19-20).
- The church must seek to participate in this Great Commission both locally and globally (Acts 1:8).
- God blesses us so that we may bless others by declaring His saving work to all the nations (Psalm 67).
Elder-led congregational governance structure
· The New Testament pattern for church leadership is a plurality of elders/overseers/shepherds (Acts 20:28; Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:1-7;
· During times of decision making, the congregation also had input in the process along with the recognized leadership of the church (Acts 6:1-7; 15:4, 22; Matt. 18:15-17).
· The officers of the church have differing functions. Elders serve through oversight and teaching. Deacons serve through caring for the physical needs of the congregation (Acts 6:1-7; 1 Tim. 3).