Looking Forward . . .
The Strategic Planning Committee has prayerfully considered who we are, both from an historical perspective and from the perspective of what we aspire to be. The Core Values stated below are guiding principles of our vision for the future.
Core Values
Jesus Christ, Savior, Lord and Leader of the Church: We acknowledge that foundational to who we are as a church is what we believe about Jesus Christ. Christ is "the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation," (Colossians 1:15). Jesus is our Savior in that, through his death and resurrection, he saves us from our sins and restores us to a right relationship with God. Jesus is Lord in that the foremost priority we have, both as individual believers and as a church, is to follow his will for our lives, not our own. Through communion in prayer with Christ and study of his word, we are led by Christ's spirit and empowered with spiritual gifts to accomplish his will for us.
2. Bible-based: We believe the Old and New Testaments to be the inspired word of God and the authoritative standard upon which we live our lives and conduct our ministries. We seek—in our study, teaching and preaching—culturally relevant applications of the lessons found in the Bible.
3. Discipleship-focused: The ministry to which all followers of Christ are called is to go and make disciples. We achieve this through using our spiritual gifts in the ministry and mission of the church. Disciples already in the church continue to grow through the ministries of the church increasing their spiritual maturity. Disciples outside the church are grown through the mission of the church proclaiming, in word and deed, the good news of Jesus Christ.
4. Building a church family: Through caring relationships established in our church experience with one another—from small groups to corporate worship, church retreats to private visits, and care giving ministries within Shepherding Groups—we seek to become a close-knit family united in Jesus Christ.
Showing compassion for our community by extending grace, hospitality and care to all persons: The gospel of Jesus Christ is open to all. God does not show favoritism (Romans 2:11). Thus, persons from all stations in life—persons of every race, color and creed, persons of great faith and persons of cynical unbelief—all are welcomed, received with love and invited to join us in the search for spiritual answers to life's most difficult questions. The church as part of a larger community also seeks to be a good neighbor, participating in the life of the community, responding to needs expressed within the community and making ourselves available to serve the community in the name of Jesus Christ.
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