Our Values
Gospel
The gospel is the good news of all that Jesus is and all that He has done on our behalf. He died on the cross in order to die the death we should have died, and He rose from the dead that we might live in Him. This good news reconciles us to God, adopts us into His family, melts our hearts, and shapes our behavior. Growing as a disciple of Jesus is an ongoing process of repenting of sin and believing the gospel. (Titus 3:4-8; 1 Cor. 15:1-4; Eph. 2:1-10)
We’re on a journey of orienting our entire lives around this gospel. Each week in our gatherings we do this through worship and song, hearing preaching that brings us to Christ, and taking communion together. The biggest context this happens in, though, is in everyday relationships through community groups as we grow in pursuing Christ together.
We’re on a journey of orienting our entire lives around this gospel. Each week in our gatherings we do this through worship and song, hearing preaching that brings us to Christ, and taking communion together. The biggest context this happens in, though, is in everyday relationships through community groups as we grow in pursuing Christ together.
Community
Mission
The gospel not only saves and restores individual people; it brings us into the eternal family of God. The dinner table represents the kind of everyday community that Jesus is calling people into and the kind He Himself lived. Jesus was accused of befriending sinners and even “eating with them.” We all come to the table of Christ the same: simultaneously messy and beautiful. We’re messy because sin has wrecked and ravaged lives so that no one has it all together. But we’re beautiful because Christ considered us worth dying for. And it is in the community of Jesus, called the Church, that God is making new disciples and helping disciples grow into maturity. (Luke 15:1-2; Eph. 4:11-16)
For us, this is especially lived out in the context of our community groups as we enjoy meals together, build friendships, preach the gospel to each other, and serve the world around us. We are also the community of Christ gathered each week on Sundays to celebrate Jesus and grow together.
For us, this is especially lived out in the context of our community groups as we enjoy meals together, build friendships, preach the gospel to each other, and serve the world around us. We are also the community of Christ gathered each week on Sundays to celebrate Jesus and grow together.
Jesus was the ultimate missionary – leaving His comfortable home in heaven to be with us, serve us, teach us, and give up His life for us. He then calls His followers to live that way, to be present with people, love them, serve them, and teach them about Jesus. This isn’t so much about what kinds of things we do; it’s who we are in Christ. As the apostle Paul said, “The love of Christ compels us.” We always want to be giving of our time, money, and resources for the good of others. And we joyfully look for ways to tell others of all that Jesus has done for them. (John 20:21; 2 Cor. 5:14-19; Matt. 28:18-20)
We’re always looking for ways to be on mission in everyday life and together in community. Through our community groups we are committed to serving people in the Tri-Cities and extending grace in whatever ways we can.
We’re always looking for ways to be on mission in everyday life and together in community. Through our community groups we are committed to serving people in the Tri-Cities and extending grace in whatever ways we can.
Our Values
Gospel
The gospel is the good news of all that Jesus is and all that He has done on our behalf. He died on the cross in order to die the death we should have died, and He rose from the dead that we might live in Him. This good news reconciles us to God, adopts us into His family, melts our hearts, and shapes our behavior. Growing as a disciple of Jesus is an ongoing process of repenting of sin and believing the gospel. (Titus 3:4-8; 1 Cor. 15:1-4; Eph. 2:1-10)
We’re on a journey of orienting our entire lives around this gospel. Each week in our gatherings we do this through worship and song, hearing preaching that brings us to Christ, and taking communion together. The biggest context this happens in, though, is in everyday relationships through community groups as we grow in pursuing Christ together.
We’re on a journey of orienting our entire lives around this gospel. Each week in our gatherings we do this through worship and song, hearing preaching that brings us to Christ, and taking communion together. The biggest context this happens in, though, is in everyday relationships through community groups as we grow in pursuing Christ together.
Community
The gospel not only saves and restores individual people; it brings us into the eternal family of God. The dinner table represents the kind of everyday community that Jesus is calling people into and the kind He Himself lived. Jesus was accused of befriending sinners and even “eating with them.” We all come to the table of Christ the same: simultaneously messy and beautiful. We’re messy because sin has wrecked and ravaged lives so that no one has it all together. But we’re beautiful because Christ considered us worth dying for. And it is in the community of Jesus, called the Church, that God is making new disciples and helping disciples grow into maturity. (Luke 15:1-2; Eph. 4:11-16)
For us, this is especially lived out in the context of our community groups as we enjoy meals together, build friendships, preach the gospel to each other, and serve the world around us. We are also the community of Christ gathered each week on Sundays to celebrate Jesus and grow together.
For us, this is especially lived out in the context of our community groups as we enjoy meals together, build friendships, preach the gospel to each other, and serve the world around us. We are also the community of Christ gathered each week on Sundays to celebrate Jesus and grow together.
Mission
Jesus was the ultimate missionary – leaving His comfortable home in heaven to be with us, serve us, teach us, and give up His life for us. He then calls His followers to live that way, to be present with people, love them, serve them, and teach them about Jesus. This isn’t so much about what kinds of things we do; it’s who we are in Christ. As the apostle Paul said, “The love of Christ compels us.” We always want to be giving of our time, money, and resources for the good of others. And we joyfully look for ways to tell others of all that Jesus has done for them. (John 20:21; 2 Cor. 5:14-19; Matt. 28:18-20)
We’re always looking for ways to be on mission in everyday life and together in community. Through our community groups we are committed to serving people in the Tri-Cities and extending grace in whatever ways we can.
We’re always looking for ways to be on mission in everyday life and together in community. Through our community groups we are committed to serving people in the Tri-Cities and extending grace in whatever ways we can.
Statement of Faith
The Scriptures
We believe the Scriptures of the Old Testament and New Testament to be the verbally inspired Word of God. We believe these 66 books are God breathed, complete, inerrant in the original writings, infallible and are the final authority for faith and life. (Psalm 119:97-104; Matthew 5:18; 2 Timothy 3:15-16; 2 Peter 1:19-21)
The Godhead
We believe in one Triune God, eternally existing in three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These three are one God, having precisely the same nature, attributes and perfections, and are worthy of precisely the same honor, confidence and obedience. (Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 28:19; Mark 12:29; John 1:1-4)
God the Father
We believe in God the Father: an infinite, personal Spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, power and love. He serves as the first person of the Godhead. He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of humanity, hears and answers prayer, saves from sin and death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ. (Psalm 90:2; Psalm 100:5; John 1:18; John 6:46; Romans 11:33-36)
God the Son
We believe in the total deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God. We believe in His incarnation, that He is “Immanuel” - God in the flesh. We believe Him to be fully God and fully man. We believe He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary (John 1:1, 14,18; John 14:8-9; 1 Timothy 3:16). We also believe in His sinless life, His substitutionary atonement on the cross, His bodily resurrection from the dead, His ascension into heaven, His priestly intercession on behalf of His people, and His personal, visible return from heaven to rule and reign as King. (Hebrews 4:14 & 15; 1 John 4:10; Hebrews 1:3; Matthew 1:18; Revelation 19:11-16; Hebrews 7:25; Luke 24:6 & 7)
God the Holy Spirit
We believe in the total deity of the Holy Spirit and that His ministry is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ (John 16:14). The Holy Spirit regenerates the sinner upon belief in Christ, baptizing the believer into one body of which Christ is the head. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, of God’s righteousness and of coming judgment. (John 16:8-11) The Holy Spirit indwells, seals, guides, instructs, fills, comforts and empowers the believer for godly living and service through individually bestowed gifts (Mark 13:11; John 14:26; John 16:13; Romans 5:5; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 2 Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 5:18).
The Church
Upon accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, a believer becomes part of His body, which is the church. There is one church universal, composed of all those throughout the world throughout history who acknowledge Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The Scriptures command believers to gather in order to devote themselves to worship, prayer, teaching of the Word, observance of the ordinances (baptism and communion), fellowship, service to the body through the development and use of talents and gifts, and outreach to the world in fulfillment of the command of Christ to make disciples of all nations (Ephesians 5:23; Romans 12:1; Acts 2:42-46; 1 Corinthians 14:26; Matthew 28:18-20). Wherever God’s people meet regularly in obedience to this command there is the local expression of the church – under the oversight of elders and other supportive leadership. The church’s members are to work together in love and unity, intent on the ultimate purpose of glorifying Christ. (Ephesians 4:16)
Sin
We believe man was created male and female in the image of God in innocence but, by voluntarily sinning, was separated from God. Consequently, all mankind is sinful. All people are sinful by birth and their own choice and therefore are under just condemnation without defense or excuse. We believe that every man and every woman is under sin and needs a Savior. (Genesis 3:1-6; Romans 3:10-19; Romans 1:18,32; Romans 5:1-2)
Salvation
We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose blood was shed for the forgiveness of our sins. Each person who receives Christ as personal Savior through faith is born again of the Holy Spirit and becomes eternally secure as a child of God. We believe the Holy Spirit baptizes each believing person into the body of Christ at the moment of salvation. (John 10:28-29; Romans 6:23; Romans 8:37-39; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Corinthians 12:13)
Man and Woman
Adam and Eve were made to complement each other in a one-flesh union that establishes the only normative pattern of sexual relations for men and women, such that marriage ultimately serves as a type of the union between Christ and his church. In God’s wise purposes, God created men and women with their gender at birth and are not simply interchangeable, but rather they complement each other in mutually enriching ways. God ordains that they assume distinctive roles which reflect the loving relationship between Christ and the church, the husband exercising headship in a way that displays the caring, sacrificial love of Christ, and the wife submitting to her husband in a way that models the love of the church for her Lord. In the ministry of the church, both men and women are encouraged to serve Christ and to be developed to their full potential in the manifold ministries of the people of God. (Gen. 1:26-28, Ephesians 5:21-33, Romans 1:18-32, Matt. 5:31-32, 1 Peter 3:1-7)
Angels and Satan
We believe angels are created beings and are therefore not to be worshiped. They were created to serve God and to worship Him. We believe that Satan is a created angel and the author of sin and all powers of darkness. He incurred the judgment of God by rebelling against his Creator. We believe he is the enemy of God and man, the prince of this world, and the god of this age who tempts men and accuses them before God. He has been defeated through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and shall be eternally punished in the lake of fire. (Isaiah 14:12; Zechariah 3:1; 2 Corinthians 4:4; Colossians 2:15; Revelation 20:10)
Heaven, Hell and the Return of Christ
We believe in the “blessed hope”: the personal, return of the Lord Jesus Christ. His return has a vital bearing on the personal life and service of the believer (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the saved and the lost. The saved are raised to eternal, conscious enjoyment in heaven (Matthew 25:34; John 14:2; 2 Corinthians 5:1; Revelation 2:7). The lost are raised to eternal torment in hell in conscious separation from God. (Matthew 8:11-12; Matthew 10:28; Matthew 13:49-50; Mark 9:47-48; Luke 12:5; Revelation 21:8)