of friends and followers of Jesus Christ

who belong, grow and serve.

This phrase addresses the question of “Who we are?”  We do not want to presume to be what we are not… and we can admit that we are not done yet.  So we are “living into being a community.”  We are in process.  We are expectant and dependant upon the transformation of the Holy Spirit. 

A relevant Scripture in this is Romans 12:1-2:  “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.  Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God – what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

·      a community of friends and followers of Jesus Christ

This phrase addresses the question “What we are called to?”  In a word, we are called to be disciples… friends and followers of Jesus Christ.  We chose to use this phrase instead of disciples to stress the relational reality of our faith.  From our Scriptures, we see three components to this.  We are to be:

1. In a love relationship with the Triune God - growing in our understanding of loving God and being loved by God through Jesus Christ (Matthew 22:37, John 3:16, and Romans 10:10)
2. In a love relationship with others – learning to love our neighbors and our brothers and sisters in Christ (John 13:34-35 and Matthew 22:39)
3. Loving the world – sharing God’s love for the world through service and witness in Christ’s name (Matthew 28:18-20 and Matthew 25:34-36, 40)

·      who belong, grow and serve

This phrase deals with the question of process or “How we are to get there (to friends and followers of Jesus Christ)?”  Here we identify three steps in discipleship.  We believe that this is to be our publicly understood pathway to maturing as friends and followers of Jesus Christ both individually and corporately.  The three steps we have called:

1.    belong - find identity and place in the love & worship of the Triune God and in the community of fellow Christians

2.    grow - growing in maturity and understanding of ourselves and the world in the light of God’s Word, God’s Spirit and God’s Church

3.    serve - serve the world and each other in stewardship, witness and service