Mission & Values
Our Mission is to make disciples of Jesus and incorporate them into biblical community.
Jesus gave the church very clear instruction regarding its mission in Matthew 28:18- 19. This passage, often referred to as the Great Commission, says, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” Making disciples includes going and finding new followers of Jesus as well as teaching current followers to actually do what Jesus has commanded us to do. A disciple is committed to becoming like his or her master (Luke 6:40). Our desire and goal is to be like Jesus Christ, or put another way, to be spiritually mature (Eph. 4:11-13).
The task of making Jesus known and becoming like Him is best done together, not alone. The church is simply a called out community bound together by Jesus Christ and committed to His great mission. Jesus’ desire is that His church would experience the kind of oneness, the kind of unity, the kind of community that He experiences with His Heavenly Father. In John 17, we have the longest recorded prayer of Jesus.
In verses 20-26, He prays for us — everyone who would believe as a result of the apostles’ teaching. He only has one request for us; that we would be one, just as He and the Father are one. Jesus lets us know that such unity is so important because it forms a powerful witness to the watching world that Jesus really is who He said He was—the Son of God! If Jesus’ singular request for us was unity, we ought to take that very seriously. At Faith Community Church we truly desire to be family to one another just like God has welcomed us into His family.
These two things, making disciples and building community, form the pillars of what this church is all about.
Our Values are threefold. We want to keep our focus on these because we believe they are essential to fulfilling our mission as a church.
We believe the Bible is God’s word (2 Tim 3:16; 2 Pet 1:20-21) and the ultimate source of truth (John 17:17). Therefore, we are committed to submitting our lives to its authority. We are committed to the renewing of our minds (Rom 12:2) through the study of God’s Word (2 Tim 2:12) for the purpose of bearing good fruit (Matt 7:16-20). Our goal is not simply to know, but to grow (2 Tim 3:17; Jas 1:22; Heb 4:12). We will speak God’s Word into each other’s lives with grace and truth (John 1:17; Eph 4:15, 25; 1 Cor 4:6).
We believe the primary purpose for our continued existence here on earth is to bring glory to God by proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ (Matt 28:18-20; John 20:21). Therefore, we are committed to aligning our lives around the gospel and its imperatives for us as Christ’s collective body. Every believer bears the responsibility of being the aroma of Christ in this world (2 Cor 2:15). This includes the verbal proclamation of the gospel and the charitable living that seeks to meet the needs of others (Jas 2:15-17; 1 John 3:17-18; Matt 5:16). We will make the personal sacrifices necessary to see the gospel go forth in power within our community and around the world. It is our commitment to the centrality of the gospel that will bind us together in our pursuit of Christ and His mission and maximize our effectiveness at bringing Him glory.
We believe that all true followers of Jesus have been adopted by God as sons and daughters (Rom 8:15). We are the family of God (Eph 2:19). This new family must be governed by love (John 13:35). Therefore we are committed to discipleship processes that are highly relational. We will band together to share each other’s burdens and joys (1 Cor 12:24-26; Gal 6:2) and join each other for gospel purposes (Acts 9:31; 2:47). Above all, we will seek to put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity (Col 3:14).