A Glorious God
We
exist for the glory of God, especially as His church. We believe that a study of the glory of God
will awaken a passion to share His glory with the world. We must see our lives as a small mirror of a
big, sovereign, glorious God. We must
lose our lives for Jesus’ sake and the gospel’s (Mk 8:35).
Psalm
29:2; 72:19; 115:1; 148:13; Is 43:7; Hab 2:14; Eph 1:4-6
A Powerful Gospel
We
believe the good news of the gospel – that God is merciful to save sinners in
Christ! There is power in the preaching
of the gospel, and that power has transformed lives and turned the world upside
down in times past. We long to be part
of shaking the world again with the unstoppable gospel of the Kingdom of God
(Acts 17:6).
Isaiah
55:10-13; Luke 4:18; Rom 1:16; 10:15; 1 Cor 1:17-18; 1 Thess 1:5; 2 Thess 2:14;
2 Tim 1:10
A Great Commission
The
authoritative yet assuring words of Christ are the underlying premise of our
missions efforts. We desire our
obedience to become our delight as we proclaim the message of Jesus Christ to
the world empowered by the authority of Jesus Christ and encouraged by the presence
of Jesus Christ.
Matthew
28:18-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-49; John 20:21-22; Acts 1:8
A Universal Church
We
embrace the unity of the body of Christ, the universal church. Our love for the brethren in the faith must
transcend geographic and cultural boundaries.
We further recognize the autonomy of the local church, while joining
with all the redeemed to advance the gospel of Christ to all nations.
Matthew
16:18; Acts 2:40-47; Eph 5:25-27; 1 Peter 2:9-10; Rev 5:8-9
A Biblical Example
Realizing
that some claim Paul to be the model evangelist, others - the model missionary,
others still - the model church planter, we recognize the uniqueness of Paul’s apostolic
ministry and realize
that by examining the example of Paul and other missions passages we derive a
three-fold approach to advancing the gospel:
Gospel-witnessing: Acts
14:7, 21; Acts 1:8
Disciple-making: Acts 14:21-22; Matt 28:18-20
Church-facilitating: Acts 14:22-23; Acts 13-20
Acts
13-14 and 15-20
A Personal Responsibility
The
three-fold task of missions (gospel-witnessing, disciple-making and
church-growing) is the personal responsibility of every believer. Acts 1:8
Acts
1-12 lays out the explosive growth of the church due to the testimony of
believers who were not “vocational missionaries.”
Acts 2:1-4; 2:41-47;
4:4; 5:14; 6:1,7; 8:1,4; 9:31; 11:19-26; 13:1-3
