Living Life Around the Cross
Our Vision
The vision of our church is to glorify God through life transformation by the gospel of Jesus Christ. We believe this occurs as we practice gospel-centered worship, gospel-centered community, gospel-centered service and gospel- centered mission.
What do we mean by Gospel-Centered?
The word gospel simply means “good news.” We are gospel-centered because the gospel is at the center of God’s redemptive plan in history. It is also in the gospel that we see Him most clearly for Who He is and what He has done.
It is our goal to always emphasize the centrality of the gospel in all that we do and say. There will never be a time when we will never graduate from or outgrow the gospel. It is the very work of God for salvation from beginning to end.
In the gospel, we see the most comprehensive demonstration of God’s glory. In the gospel, we see more clearly the love and justice, wrath and grace, mercy and holiness of God. In the gospel, we see the humility of the Son, and we experience grace.
What does it mean to be a Disciple?
In the simplest of terms, a disciple is someone who is following and becoming like Jesus. A disciple is a person who has experienced God’s salvation by faith in the gospel of Jesus and is subsequently growing in a love for God and a love for others.
In giving the command to “make disciples” in Matthew 28, Jesus gives two qualifications. The first is baptism, which is the ceremonial entrance into the Christian life as a symbol of our participation in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The second is teaching that leads to obedience to all that Christ commanded.
What did Christ command? The Scriptures summarize the teaching of Christ in two ways: belief and love. A person who truly has faith and believes the gospel will love, and that person loves because they have first entered into relationship with God through faith.
This is the essence of “living life around the Cross.”