Submitting ourselves to the claims of Jesus Christ, together we seek
to honor Him, embody His presence, and proclaim.
His gospel with
authenticity, humility, and love.
Our Mission Explained
Submitting Ourselves means we are followers first. Our identity and
purpose is determined by the one who calls us to follow him.
The Claims of Jesus Christ means that we value Jesus'
statements about himself more than our own statements about him. We are
convinced the claims of Scripture are true and
that they transform our lives.
And Proclaim His Gospel means we actively communicate
what we believe; that the message of God's
love and grace revealed in Jesus' life, death, and resurrection is the
means by which we are saved from sin.
With Authenticity, Humility, and Love means that we
acknowledge our own brokenness and need for God, yet we remain
unequivocally devoted to the cause of Christ and our delivery of his
gospel message.
Beliefs
▪ A Brief Statement of Faith
▪
In life and death we
belong to God. Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, we trust in
the one triune God, the Holy One of Israel, whom alone we worship
and serve.
We trust in Jesus Christ, fully human, fully God. Jesus
proclaimed the reign of God: preaching good news to the poor and
release to the captives, teaching by word and deed and blessing the
children, healing the sick, and binding up the brokenhearted, eating
with outcasts, forgiving sinners, and calling all to repent and believe
the gospel. Unjustly condemned for blasphemy and sedition, Jesus was
crucified, suffering the depths of human pain and giving his life for
the sins of the world. God raised Jesus from the dead,
vindicating his sinless life, breaking the power of sin and evil,
delivering us from death to life eternal.
We trust in God, whom Jesus called Abba, Father. In
sovereign love God created the world good and makes everyone
equally in God's image male and female, of every race and people,
to live as one community. But we rebel against God; we hide from
our Creator. Ignoring God's commandments, we violate the image of
God in others and ourselves, accept lies as truth, exploit
neighbor and nature, and threaten death to the planet entrusted to our
care. We deserve God's condemnation. Yet God acts with
justice and mercy to redeem creation. In everlasting love, the God
of Abraham and Sarah chose a covenant people to bless all families of
the earth. Hearing their cry, God delivered the children of
Israel from the house of bondage. Loving us still, God makes us
heirs with Christ of the covenant. Like a mother who will not forsake
her nursing child, like a father who runs to welcome the prodigal home,
God is faithful still.
We trust in God the Holy Sprit, everywhere the giver and
renewer of life. The Spirit justifies us by grace through faith, sets us
free to accept ourselves and to love God and neighbor, and binds
us together with all believers in the one body of Christ, the church.
The same Spirit who inspired the prophets and apostles rules our faith
and life in Christ through Scripture, engages us through the Word
proclaimed, claims us in the waters of baptism, feeds us with the bread
of life and the cup of salvation, and calls women and men to all
ministries of the church. In a broken and fearful world the Spirit gives
us courage to pray without ceasing, to witness among all peoples to
Christ as Lord and Savior, to unmask idolatries in church and culture,
to hear the voices of peoples long silenced, and to work with others for
justice, freedom, and peace.
In gratitude to God,
empowered by the Spirit, we strive to serve Christ in our daily tasks
and to live holy and joyful lives, even as we watch for God's new heaven
and new earth, praying, Come, Lord Jesus! With believers in
every time and place, we rejoice that nothing in life or in death can
separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
