Centered in the Gospel
The gospel is at the very heart of God’s redemptive plan. Although humanity’s fellowship with God was broken by sin and death, through Christ’s perfect life, substitutionary death, and bodily resurrection, communion with God is restored for all who repent and believe. Christ accomplished all that we could not in perfectly keeping God’s law and demonstrating holy living. On the cross, he bore the sin of the world and credited righteousness to all the Father had given to him. In his resurrection, he defeated the final enemy which is death. At the Father’s right hand, he reigns as king over all things and will return to consummate his kingdom.
As we eagerly await Christ’s return, we seek to reflect the good news of the gospel in our worship, fellowship, and outreach. The gospel has the power to restore, reconcile, and recreate and we desire to see the individual, the family, and the broader community experience the results of gospel-centeredness. This is accomplished through expository preaching, sound biblical teaching, faithful discipleship, and a missional orientation.
Grounded in Scripture
God’s Word, as given to us in the pages of Scripture, is without error and fully inspired by the Holy Spirit. It—when illumined by the Spirit of Christ—is sufficient in matters of knowing God, living and conduct, and corporate worship. Scripture is the basis for all of preaching, teaching, discipleship, and evangelism in which the local church engages.
As believers, we seek to know God through personal reading and meditation on Scripture as well as hearing and heeding God’s Word in the corporate setting.
Faithful in Worship
Consistently meeting together as the body of Christ is a biblical imperative. The corporate worship setting includes, but is not limited to, four important elements: worship through song, the reading of Scripture, prayer, and the preaching of God’s Word. This corporate environment prompts a deeper relationship with God and fellow believers through the exaltation of Christ by the people of God. The local church—as a microcosm of the universal Church and a shadow of the consummated Kingdom of God—is the chosen medium through which God’s people assemble together.
As those who are called to not forsake the meeting together, the corporate worship setting is a crucial aspect of the Christian life that cannot be ignored. Regularly and consistently engaging the body of Christ in corporate worship edifies, encourages, and builds up the body.
Authentic in Fellowship
God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit set the precedent for the fellowship we strive for as a community of faith. The Triune God is three distinct persons, but possess one unequivocally unified nature. We both recognize that those who comprise the local church are created in the image of God and therefore seek to reflect the divine unity of the Godhead, and also inhabit sinful flesh and must rely wholly on the Spirit of Christ to unite.
As God’s people, we are commanded to cultivate unity which requires a thorough investment in the lives of our Christian brothers and sisters as well as the life of the local church. As the body of Christ, we rejoice with those who rejoice, mourn with those who mourn, and spur on to greater godliness and holy living.
Radical in Mission
Jesus’ life and ministry set the standard as one that pointed to and accomplished redemption, restoration, and reclamation. Christ’s final commission to his followers was to make disciples of all people, to baptize them in his name, and to be witnesses of what he had done in the immediate community and abroad.
As those who seek to uphold Christ’s commands, the local church—in the power of the Spirit—ought to faithfully engage the community with and bear witness to the good news of the gospel desiring to see the reconciliation of Christ transform the world in which we live. The call to know God through Christ is universal and it is the responsibility of every believer to proclaim the unaltered, uncompromised gospel.
