The local church is the vehicle for the expansion of God’s kingdom. Jesus established the kingdom with the promise that it would grow[ii]. We read in Acts how kingdom expansion occurs through the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom[iii]. This results in the conversion of sinners and the establishment of communities of believers.
Our vision is for our church to be a group of covenanted believers, a community of saints. We desire to display God’s love to one another through encouragement, accountability, exhortation and discipline[iv]. We want to support one another and seek to alleviate each other’s needs whenever possible[v].
Our vision is to be a community of discipleship[vi]. We will practice discipleship primarily through older men teaching younger men and older women teaching younger women how to fulfill their callings. We desire to support parents as they raise their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. We will seek to serve God’s people within our community and in the kingdom of God at large with the spiritual gifts God has given us[vii]. We want to be known for our warm and hospitable fellowship, both as a church and as families[viii]. We will seek to be a community who can disagree with one another on non-essentials (meaning things that do not define one as a Christian) without dividing[ix]. Our vision is multi-generational[x]. We realize that the advancement of God’s kingdom is a long-term process, therefore we desire to be examples of faithfulness that future generations would desire to follow.
[i] Matthew 16:18
[ii] Matthew 13:31-33
[iii] Acts 1:3, 8:12, 14:22, 19:8, 20:25, 28:23, 28:31
[iv] I Thessalonians 5:14, Hebrews 3:13, Matthew 18:15-17
[v] Acts 2:45, 4:35
[vi] Titus 2:1-6
[vii] Ephesians 4:8-13
[viii] I Peter 4:9
[ix] Ephesians 4:15, Romans 14:3
[x] Deuteronomy 7:9
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