We
believe the purpose of the church is not up for grabs. It was set when
Jesus gave us the Great Commission and challenged us to “Go into all
the world and make disciples”. It is not our job to determine the
mission of the church; it is our job to embrace it and come into
alignment with it.
For this reason, we’ve adopted as our statement of purpose the phrase
“Growing Passionate Followers of Jesus.”
For being a disciple of Jesus boils down to nothing more than following Him passionately!
The
question we must ask is, “What kinds of exposures and experiences must
people have in order to become a ‘passionate follower’?
What type of
involvements and interactions are necessary for a person to become an
eager and enthusiastic Christ-follower?”
While God uses anything and everything in our lives to shape us, we
believe there are three essential involvements that are non-negotiable:
-
LOVE GOD
When
done in the right spirit, worship facilitates an encounter with God. A
life of worship will develop a passion for God’s person and presence in
our lives.
-
LOVE EACH OTHER
God
made us social beings; we all need a place to belong. Thus, part of
the way God fashions us is through the relationships in our lives.
Involvement in a small group, and the fellowship that flows from that,
helps to sculpt us into the person He wants us to be.
-
SERVE PEOPLE
Jesus
said He didn’t come to be served, but to serve. He also said He’d be
glorified through our service. Service fashions our hearts in ways to
where our priorities shift and our values are more aligned with His.
And when our heart is in tune with His, we follow more passionately.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER:
We believe a person who maintains equal involvement in each of these
identified essentials (Love God, Love Each Other and Serve People) will
continually find his or her life being shaped in God-honoring ways. He
or she will increasingly become a “passionate follower of Jesus”. Our
intent, as a church, is to be structured around this simple,
straightforward process and, as a result, to intentionally and on
purpose “grow passionate followers of Jesus”.