ESSENTIALS
The Gospel
The gospel of Jesus Christ is the greatest of all treasures. It is the power of God unto salvation and the greatest revelation of God’s manifold wisdom to both men and angels. The gospel is Christ and He is so valuable, that He’s worth forsaking all, to possess all the spiritual blessings in Him. Do you understand the good news of Jesus, the Messiah?
Consider the words of Paul Washer:
“In accordance with the Father’s good pleasure, the eternal Son, who is equal with the Father and is the exact representation of His nature, willingly left the glory of heaven, was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of a virgin and was born the God-man: Jesus of Nazareth. As a man, He walked on this earth in perfect obedience to the law of God. In the fullness of time, men rejected and crucified Him. On the cross, He bore man’s sin, suffered God’s wrath, and died in man’s place. On the third day, God raised Him from the dead. This resurrection is the divine declaration that the Father has accepted His Son’s death as a sacrifice for sin. Jesus paid the penalty for man’s disobedience, satisfied the demands of justice, and appeased the wrath of God. Forty days after the resurrection, the Son of God ascended into the heavens, sat down at the right hand of the Father, and was given glory, honor, and dominion over all. There, in the presence of God, He represents His people and makes requests to God on their behalf. All who acknowledge their sinful, helpless state and throw themselves upon Christ, God will fully pardon, declare righteous, and reconcile unto Himself. This is the gospel of God and of Jesus Christ, His Son.”
(Paul Washer in the “Series Preface” to Recovering the Gospel)
Community
God did not set out to redeem "a person" but "a people." Because of this, we see that the Gospel actually creates a new community of people who share in the love of Christ together. This community is what we understand as the Church. With this in mind, we will seek to share our lives with one another and help one another live out the many implications of the Gospel. We will do this through corporate worship, Life Groups, and simply allowing our everyday lives to overlap. Therefore, we will strive diligently for relational unity within the church so that we may display the glory of Christ to the world.
Mission
God's plan to redeem a community of people to Himself through the Gospel also includes that they would be His ambassadors. Thus, we are a redeemed community active in the Mission of God. We will seek to take part in God's mission by seeking to display the Gospel in our families, workplaces, schools, and communities. We will seek to be involved in strategic ways in our community so that we may be a "City on a Hill" that attracts people to Christ. However the message of the Gospel of God must not be confined to our city but must go out to every nation and people group. We will seek to be active with international missions. With this goal in mind we will seek to be a reproducing church involved in taking the love of Christ to the world.