Purpose & Values
Even though we are
non-traditional in style, we are deeply
committed to the timeless truth of Jesus and the
Bible. We are a Christ-centered, Bible-believing,
non-denominational church who loves God and
people.
Our
Mission
"We exist to bring glory to God by growing a biblically
healthy spiritual family of fully devoted followers of
Christ."
We seek to achieve our purpose by helping each of our members focus on five key priorities in their lives:
- Worshiping God as a way of life
- Connecting with the church regularly
- Growing in maturity daily
- Serving other people unselfishly
- Sharing our faith effectively
Our Vision
Our vision is simply to be the church. We want to be a place where people are accepted in an atmosphere of love and grace...
- A place where people share their hearts & resources, and support each other through life's pain...
- A powerful place where Bible teaching brings a God-focus and direction to life
- A place where lives are transformed
- An authentic place where worship is meaningful
- A place where everyone is empowered to serve so they can contribute in a significant way
- An exciting place to which people can invite their friends who have never been to church in hopes they will understand and accept the boundless grace of God and His offer of a great life now and forever
Our Values
We believe that where our hearts live, our lives will follow. Our core values listed below outline the timeless passionately-held, biblical convictions that define the culture we desire to build at Christ's Church:
We are committed to the passionate pursuit of lost people.
We believe that lost people -- people who do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ -- greatly matter to God and therefore must matter to us. Each believer has the opportunity and obligation to share the good news of Jesus Christ with people who have not yet made a faith commitment. Therefore, we will train, equip, and encourage the people of our church to share their faith whenever and wherever God leads, but primarily with those in their circle of influence.
We are committed to becoming a biblically functioning community.
We believe that spiritual growth takes place best in relationship with others. Each of us needs strength, wisdom, accountability, and acceptance if we are to become all God desires for us. Therefore, we will encourage and expect unity -- not uniformity -- among the members of the church. We will build healthy, God-honoring relationships and model genuine life-to-life community. We will encourage every person in the church to be part of a Connection Group; our vision is to be a church made up of a network of Connection Groups, rather than a church where groups are merely another program.
We are committed to transformational teaching.
We believe that the Bible has the power to change lives, and that the purpose for which God gave us Scripture is less "information-transfer" than "life-transformation." We will be open and up-front in teaching what the Bible has to say. However, we also believe that it is essential to communicate the ancient truth of the Bible in new and fresh ways that speak to today's culture. Therefore, while we will hold the Bible at the heart of our ministry, we will use a variety of approaches and styles to equip people for life through the application of biblical principles.
We are committed to equipping people for ministry.
We believe that God has, according to His wisdom and grace, given each believer a "divine design" to be used for serving God and others. The biblical mandate given to church leadership is to equip the people of the church by helping them discover, deploy, and develop their ministry gifts and abilities as difference-makers in their world. Therefore, we will provide opportunities for every person to be involved in a ministry that matches their unique divine design, and provide ongoing training and development opportunities. We will encourage a spirit of teamwork and cooperation within and between ministry teams.
We are committed to authentic, culturally-adaptive worship.
We believe that human beings were made to worship God, and that we are to worship both corporately and individually in spirit and in truth. We believe that the forms of worship should reflect the language and trends of our culture, yet without compromising biblical absolutes. Furthermore, we believe that worship, properly understood, involves more than just music or an event that occurs once each week; rather, worship is a lifestyle of love for, reverence of, and obedience to God, fleshed out in the everyday things of life. Therefore we will provide opportunities for the church to worship together, and encourage and equip people for worship individually. We will constantly seek to find fresh ways to connect people with God, and we will strive to help people honor God in their everyday lives.
We are committed to creativity and innovation.
We believe that God is creative, and that one aspect of the image of God with which each of us is endowed is the ability to be creative and innovative. Therefore, we will be more concerned with effectiveness in ministry than adherence to tradition. We will encourage wisdom-guided risk-taking, value "successful failures," and provide a safe environment to try out new forms and approaches to ministry.
We are committed to ministry excellence.
We believe that excellence in ministry both honors God and inspires others. We acknowledge that perfection is an unbiblical, unrealistic, and unhealthy expectation, but agree that we are obligated to bring our very best efforts to ministry. Therefore, we will seek to honor God in our ministries by refusing to settle for second best, and will constantly evaluate our ministry effectiveness. We will provide training designed to help people serve with excellence and will seek to ensure that people serve in ministry areas where they can succeed.
We are committed to a sense of optimism and fun.
We believe that "with God all things are possible," and that God fully intends us to be joyful and enthusiastic in all we do. Therefore, we will intentionally celebrate what God is doing in and through us. We will strive to ensure that people have fun even as they are challenged to grow spiritually. We will maintain a positive outlook, trusting God with the results of our ministry, and confident in the belief that God's plans for Christ’s Church will be fulfilled.
We are committed to godly servant leadership.
We believe that God intends churches to be led by people with gifts of leadership, and that the people of the church have a right to expect the leaders of the church to exemplify a godly life and leadership style. Therefore we will identify, and develop gifted, Christlike leaders from among the people of the church. We also believe that genuine leaders are lifelong learners, and that when a leader stops learning, he or she loses the privilege of leadership. Therefore, we will create a wide variety of leadership development opportunities, and encourage leaders to participate in both internal and external opportunities to grow in their leadership potential.
We are committed to maintaining a Kingdom perspective.
We believe that God is doing much more in the world than simply building Christ’s Church. Therefore, we will seek out and create opportunities to partner with other churches and ministries in our community, in our region, and around the world. We will not allow an "empire building" mindset to develop among the ministries of our church, but will foster a spirit that puts the needs of other ministries ahead of our own. We will willingly share knowledge, material, and human resources to ensure the success of all of our ministries.
A significant part of our vision is to expand the impact of the local church, and dream of recruiting, training, resourcing, and planting a network of churches throughout the greater Martinsville area and around the world. We also desire to partner with other ministries in reaching "the ends of the earth" through training and assisting local, indigenous ministries worldwide.