As the Church of Jesus Christ, we believe we are called to reach the unchurched, the dechurched, and the prodigal sons and daughters, so that we may:
As the Church of Jesus Christ, we believe we are called to reach the unchurched, the dechurched, and the prodigal sons and daughters, so that we may:
God had created us so that we may enjoy an intimate and reciprocal fellowship with Him and fellow creation. There is desire in us to be loved and to love.
We are a Church that is called to love—love God, love our neighbors, love ourselves, and love the planet we live in. Jesus explicitly links discipleship as the chief outward sacramentality of love (John 13:35). Being disciples of Christ means that we are called to love one another, because love is made known to everyone that has been born of God and knows God. Indeed, our loving of others is indicative of the reality that we acknowledge that God had loved us first (1 John 4:19), and if we fail to love our brothers, sisters, and the rest of creation, we lie about our faith (1 John 4:20). Therefore, we are a church that not only accepts all people of all stages, culture, ethnicity, and challenges of life, but we are a church that strives consciously to embrace and love all peoples.
We acknowledge that we live in a broken and fallen world. Therefore, those who live in it, even the saints of the Church, can never be perfect until God’s full consummation that will come at the end of time. Because we are fellow servants of God, we reserve judgement for God and God alone and understand that our primary telos on earth is to love and accept each other as we love ourselves.
Yet, we understand that we have a responsibility to encourage mutual sanctification in Christ. The Spirit enables us to live a holy life, and as witnesses of Christ it is our responsibility to reflect our inward holiness in our outward living. As iron sharpens iron, we commit to sharpening our brothers and sisters so that we may be pleasing to the eyes of God (Proverbs 27:17).
We recognize the mystery of God, and we only know what has been revealed to us through the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and what is recorded in Scripture. We strive to exegete what the Scripture means for us in the 21st century, but we recognize that all of God’s Word and Will is sometimes unfathomable or indecipherable. God is not put in a facile box that we can unpack and retrofit into our context. And during ambiguous situations, we--the church of Jesus Christ, will err on the side of love, trusting that that is God’s call for His people.
Loving our neighbour is not a passive declaration but a constant active effort of praying for and working so that God’s will might be done on earth as it is in heaven. God wants humanity and all of creation to flourish (John 10:10). The church is a representative of God who is called to go out and confront societal evils that systemically stifle shalom in their own lives and in the lives of others. This includes contributing to closing the gap between the dominators and the marginalized today, whether it be social, political, economic, or environmental justice; as we wait expectantly for Christ’s second coming when He will rule in peace and justice.
Being a disciple means embracing and demonstrating attributes, characteristics, attitudes, and practices that align Christians towards the direction of God, who is willingly participates in God’s mission to serve and transform the world. In following and worshiping God, being witnesses and forgivers to the world, and being a neighbour, prophet, and steward to those around us, we are effectively imitating Christ.[1] Therefore, when we become a presence of God to those around us, our lived lives become the very signs of God’s invisible grace to all of creation.
Disciples are followers of Jesus Christ. The life of discipleship is a journey of learning who Jesus is by being born again through receiving the gospel, then ultimately, living to imitate Christ as living sacrifices. We give Lordship to Christ and submit ourselves to his authority (1 Cor.15:28). Discipleship begins with receiving the gospel as truth and pursuing a godly life that is revealed to us through the divine text. Discipleship involves an active pursuit of understanding, communion and relationship with Christ.
The Church is the body of Christ, to which all believers belong (1 Cor. 12:12-14). The Holy Spirit discerns the gifts that are needed for the flourishing of the church and the broader community. While the gifts are given to the members of the body, these gifts are also indirectly presented to the community outside of the church through the lived lives of Christians.
We are all products of the Father’s craftsmanship (Eph. 2:10) and are fashioned with constellations of gifts that are individually unique. These individually discerned gifts come together to serve a single purpose: so that the church can holistically function for the works of Jesus Christ (Eph. 4:1-16). The body of Christ mobilizes in unity with the goal of participating in God’s continuous work of realizing the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. In doing so, we become faithful stewards of the gifts that God has entrusted to us (Matt. 25:14-29).
We, as the church, are convicted and called to proliferate the gifts of each member of the body by discerning, developing, and renewing the joy of these gifts so that each member can find their vocational identity, worth, value, belonging, and joyful participation in the broader body of Christ.
In the beginning, God created the universe and all that is in it. He meant for the universe to be full of life and goodness. He saw that it was good. He created humanity in His likeness, reflecting the Triune God, and blessed humanity to reflect the imago Dei, that we might care for and enjoy Creation. Being faithful stewards of the world meant being subject to God’s lordship. But we brought brokenness into the world by rebelling against God and insisting that we be our own gods. We have been separated from God because of our sin. Yet, because God created us to be in a loving perichoretic relationship with us, God constantly missions to us so that we may be reconciled to Him. Throughout history, God called on believers to join in and participate in His mission to the world. Participating in God’s mission, therefore, is the foundation of the church.
Our missional objectives are found in Scripture: Luke 4:16-20, Matt. 28:18-20, and Acts 1:8. As the church, we commit to witnessing the saving works of Jesus Christ, making disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey Jesus’ instructions--all the while maintaining dignity and the full humanity of each person whom we engage with.
“The Church exists by mission, just as a fire exists by burning. Where there is no mission, there is no Church; and where there is neither Church nor mission, there is no faith,” -Emil Brunner. Rather than falling into the temptation of self-preservation, being preoccupied with forecasting the death of the church and hoarding resources and energy, we are called to proclaim good news to the poor; proclaim freedom for the prisoners; recover sight for the blind; set the oppressed free; and proclaim the good news of the Lord’s favour to the world (Luke 4:16-20).
Ministry is concerned with the flourishing of humanity as God sees it. Jesus taught his disciples to be anthropocentric missionaries. Jesus did not only forgive sinners and preach the good news, but he also healed the sick, cast out demons, fed the hungry, clothed prostitutes, welcomed children, and restored the dignity of sinners. We cannot just care for the spiritual health of people while disregarding their dignity, culture, and differences, but we must also be concerned with their emotional, physical, and mental wholeness. The church is responsible for making the gospel known, but she is also responsible for living out the gospel by using her resources for the purposes of proliferating the flourishing and dignity of all creation.
[1] Cahalan, Practice of Ministry, Kindle Loc. 179.