The Mission. The mission of the church is to go into the world and make disciples by declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit and gathering those disciples into churches, that they might worship and obey Jesus Christ now and in eternity to the glory of God the Father. (taken from Deyoung and Gilbert, What is the Mission of the Church?) (Matt 28:19-20, Col 1:28)
Focused. This means two things. First of all, we believe individual believers should be involved in all sorts of cultural activities (social work, sciences, music, dance, arts, etc.) as a reflection of God’s rule. However, we also believe that these things, although worthy endeavours, constitute a consequence of the mission of the church (as defined above) rather than the mission itself. (Acts 6:1-7, Eph 4:11-16, Lk 24:44-47)
Limited. We recognize that we are limited as a congregation and so we must focus our resources on what is most intentional, even if many things are good. (Phil 2:19-26)
Biblically Faithful. We will support like minded individuals or organizations that agree with our statement of beliefs, but also support and embody methods of ministry which are faithful to Scripture. (1 Tim 1:3, 4:16, Gal 2:11-14)
Church-Centered. Whatever type of ministry we support (church planting, theological training, campus outreach, medical, etc.), we will be intentional in choosing evangelism, discipleship and training efforts that work toward the establishment and building up of local congregations. (1 Tim 3:14, Eph 3:8-10)
Collective. The sending mission of our church is not the sum total of our individual missions, but rather what we prayerfully commit to as God’s people together. (Acts 13:1-6) Integrated Compassion and Culture. We believe that all Christian’s should act in love for their neighbours as they see hardship and need. Sometimes these acts of compassion or development will be the only means by which Christians can serve in an area. Even so, evangelism and discipleship with a goal of church planting or edification of a local body must remain central to the mission. (Acts 6:1-7)
Unashamedly Christian. We believe that the goal of missions is to produce believers and churches that explicitly confess themselves as Christian in baptism and gather in Jesus’ name, disavowing their former religious connections. This should be done with wisdom and discretion. (Rom 10:9-10, Rev 12:11)
Culturally Sensitive. We want to engage the mission of the church in ways that listen carefully and humbly to other cultures before speaking, while not compromising on biblical truth. (Acts 16:1-5, 1 Cor 9:19-23)
Sustainable. All mission efforts need strong people and financial resource support initially. However, continued staffing and financial support for the ongoing function of the church is not healthy. Local churches should move toward financial independence from the beginning. (1 Tim 5:17-18)
Embodied. Although we recognize the usefulness of print and digital media in communicating the good news and discipleship, we also affirm that our presence and actions play a crucial role in evangelism. True discipleship needs to be embodied by a person who is physically present. (2 Tim 3:10, Heb 13:7)