We want to be a community of Christians who trust God.
The real meaning of “faith” in the Bible is “trust.” It is the most important thing in the Christian’s walk with God. Paul wrote that our standing with God is determined by faith “from beginning to end” (Romans 1:17). Trusting God isn’t easy. It’s something you have to learn to do, and it’s something you grow into. But it is our goal to be seen as that kind of people – bold and not fearful, a people who talk to God, listen to God through His word, and obey God because we believe He knows best and has our best interests at heart.
We want to be a community of Christians who love one another.
Unity was a characteristic of the first Christians. They sold their possessions to make sure there were no needy people among them and they gathered in one another’s homes to eat together with glad and sincere hearts (Acts 2:44-46). An active care and concern for one another is a distinctive and required marker of every follower of Jesus (John 13:35; 1 John 4:20-21).
We want to be a community whose mission is the same one Jesus had: to make God known, save people from their sins, and bring them in to the community of faith.
About 26% of the book of Acts is comprised of speeches explaining Christianity and calling people to faith. Each one of them emphasizes the same thing: What God has done, He has done to save people from their sins (see Acts 2:38; 3:19; 5:31; 7:60;10:43; 13:38; 17:30 etc.) Sin is destructive to life. The best life on earth is one that knows what sin is, recognizes how debilitating it can be, turns from it, finds forgiveness and triumph through Jesus. We have found that forgiveness, and we seek to share it with others.
We want to be a community of whose hearts are set on eternity.
God’s people set their eyes on the Kingdom of Heaven, not a kingdom on earth. We know this life will end. We know that one day this world will end. Our longing is for a new heaven and new earth where God dwells and we don’t want to miss it because we are too attached to this one (2 Peter 3:13).