Our Identity
  1. God that we worship
    • ​​“You shall have no other gods before me….” (Exodus 20:3) 
    • All of our worship, awe, admiration, and honor is given to God, as Father, Son, & Holy Spirit. He is respected & glorified as the sole and greatest authority in our lives & the life of our church. We look to Him for our strength, wisdom, power & hope to fulfill our destiny as followers of Jesus Christ.
  2. Great Commandments we obey
    1. ​A question was posed to Jesus…”Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"
    2. He answered….
    3. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first & greatest commandment"
    4. He continued….
    5. “And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself”  (Matthew 22:36-39)
  3. Values we hold
    1. We value people
      1. Jesus came to give us more than a message. His teaching was demonstrated in the way He valued people—all people. In revealing His great love, He reached out to the “least of these”, and going against the flow of His culture, He extended love, respect and value to the sinner, the leper, the thief, the outsider, the broken and more. During His ministry Jesus was insulted and ridiculed because He loved the least, and like Him, we commit ourselves to continue to value and love all the people we encounter.
    2. ​We value the Scriptures
      1. ​The Bible is God’s treasure of spiritual truth and a sure guide for Godly living. We show how we value the Bible by not just studying it as an interesting book or an academic exercise, but by doing all that it says (James 1:22). 
    3. We value the Kingdom of God
      1. God has created the church as more than an organization or a nice group of people, but as people that represent Jesus on the earth as a part of His Kingdom. The Kingdom is God’s overwhelming love for the world, His rule over it and His actions to reach it. We are to value the Kingdom above all things (Matt 13:44-46), seek it first in this world (Matt 6:31-33) and share it with the world around us (Matt 28:19-20). We value all Great Commission Christians as we work together in unity to grow the Kingdom of God.  
  4. Areas of ministry we embrace to grow as disciples of Jesus Christ       
    1. Fellowship
      1. Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another”  (John 13:34-35)
      2. We accomplish fellowship by genuinely loving one another, by intentionally welcoming new people to our fellowship, developing friendships with those we worship with and by supporting one another through acceptance, relationship, prayer, encouragement and care.   
    2. Spiritual Growth
      1. “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the head, that is, Christ. From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows & builds itself up in love, as each part does its work”  (Eph 4:15-16)
      2. We accomplish spiritual growth by worshiping with a heart of love for God and applying ourselves to the intentional development of our faith.  We will participate in Bible study with others and we will keep a time of personal study and prayer. We will use our spiritual gifts and apply the knowledge God gives us in ministering to others. We will learn to trust God in our giving and stewardship of the resources God’s gives us. We will grow deeper in our love for God and worship of God.
    3. Outreach
      1. “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect”  (I Peter 3:15)
      2. We will concern ourselves with the growth and application of God’s Kingdom to our area. We reach out by caring about the spiritual condition of our area and allowing God’s love and compassion to flow through us and motivate us to share the gospel with and give loving compassion to others.  We will pray for the lost of our community, we will learn about sharing our faith and apply that learning to people we encounter. With God’s mercy we will meet spiritual, physical and emotional needs that God brings to our attention.
    4. Missions
      1. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth”  (Acts 1:8)
      2. We will apply ourselves to the task of reaching the ends of the Earth, from the edges of our community to the farthest land, with the gospel. We will accomplish our mission by praying for missions and missionaries on a regular basis in church and at home; by giving as generously as we can to mission offerings and missionaries that God places on our heart; and by going, as God leads, to lands other than our own, near and far, to share the gospel.