...as many people as possible to God and other Christ followers by building bridges to people in our surrounding community.

The Church is not a building; the church is a community. Church is not something you do, but rather who we are. Church is not just about one hour a week on Sunday. Following Jesus is about who we are all week long. We want to be friends-on-a-mission to follow Jesus together, and that means that we are engaged in all of life together as we connect with one another.

We desire to be a church that is impacting an ever-expanding and diverse community of people. Jesus was revolutionary in his ability to build relational bridges across typical dividing lines. We want to do the same. We believe we can help people who are new to the area and people that have been here all their lives. We can help people who are poor and people who are rich. We want to be a place where PhDs and preschoolers can learn from one another. We can help people from different political viewpoints, different cultures, and different generations. We will purposefully build bridges across dividing lines to connect with those that are not like us. We will model a respect and a reciprocal love for one another that goes beyond social politeness. We will show our world there is a better way to live together. Because we are only part of Godʼs work in the world, we will seek to establish partnerships in our community that will maximize our impact.

All people matter to God, so all people matter to us. We want to be a church that is impacting an ever- expanding community of people. We will do whatever it takes to connect people to Christ and help them learn to live for Him. When it comes to reaching people with the gospel, the essential message of the gospel will never change, but our methods of outreach will. Our cultural traditions are expendable, because we believe sacrificing for the gospel sometimes starts with giving up what is comfortable to us. We believe that if Christ left the comfort of heaven and clothed Himself in our flesh in order to reach us, we should be willing to do whatever it takes to reach others for Him. We want to connect with our unchurched, dechurched or poorly churched friends, so we consider those outside the church in all that we do.

There are two kinds of churches. One says, “You can come to us, learn our language, learn our interests, meet our needs.” The other says, “We will come to you, learn your language, learn your interests, meet your needs.” We want to be the second kind of church, following Christʼs incarnation as our motivation and our model. We want to create a missional movement.

Spiritual growth happens best with other people. Both our Scriptures and our experience tell us that you canʼt follow Jesus alone. Godʼs plan is for everyone to be relationally-connected with others in the church.

Authentic followers of Jesus love one another. Weʼre friends. We eat together. We play together. Weʼre there when children are born. Weʼre there when someone dies. Our members share with each other. We do life together. We are committed to bringing people together in these kinds of relationships, because: "Better is a neighbor nearby than a brother far away" (Proverbs).

We believe that our community ought to be a place where people know and are known. So, we are committed to growing "smaller" as we grow "bigger." We do this by developing local communities of believers that we call “Community Groups.” These groups gather regularly in homes throughout the area to study the bible together, learn from one another, pray for one another, encourage one another. Groups thrive when group members bring a heart to serve and minister to one another rather than to “get something out of the group.” It takes time and relational investment, but God does amazing things through authentic people who are seeking Him together. The meetings are just the just the beginning as community group friendships extend throughout life.

We are continually expanding and multiplying our groups to include as many people as possible because we want everyone who attends our church to experience these kinds of relationships. As a church, our success depends on how effectively these groups help people become Christ-followers.

We do not believe, however, in growing large at the expense of truth or the expense of a healthy church. Our "ultimate goal" is not gathering lots of people into a room on Sunday morning. Rather, we desire to grow authentic biblical community with as many Christ followers as we can effectively reach and teach. We believe God is looking not only at the breadth of our ministry, but also the depth. Thus, we must strive to connect and then grow.