MissioDei Life
Jesus Christ came to this earth with a purpose. He came to proclaim the kingdom of God, He came to pay the price for our redemption in demonstration of the Fathers love for us.
Theres a story of a son who goes to his father and says to him I want my share of your inheritance while your still alive. The father gives him his share and he leaves home. He goes out from under the care, instruction, and protection of his father and begins blowing his money. He spends foolishly, going to parties, buying the most expensive things, and having what he calls a good time. The good time only lasts for awhile though and before you know it he has spent everything. He then looses everything and when the money is gone so are his friends. Hes now homeless and struggling to find work. He finds himself trapped in a lifestyle and situation where there seems to be no hope.
He finally gets a job feeding pigs. Lonely, hurting , and hungry he is reduced to the point in his life where he goes through the pig slop trying to find what he can eat. Finally he comes to the point where he realizes his fathers employees have it better than him. I doubt my father would never let this go but maybe he will at least give me a job. When he returns to his fathers home, his father sees him in the yard and runs to him and embraces. He celebrates his sons return saying My son was lost, but now has returned to me.
God is just like the father in this story. He loves us and desires to teach us as any parent teaches their children. He gives us rules for our safety and protection, and He has an inheritance for us. All that is His is ours. Our problem is that we dont get what dad is trying to do, were like rebellious teenagers who just want to do our own thing. We dont get that He says and does things out of His love for us. Mans rebellion from God, not wanting His care, instruction, and protection is what is known as sin. Sin is the thing that keeps us separated from a loving Father. Just like in the story, the Father doesnt point to our sin and shame and tell us how horrible we are, He points to it and tells us it will destroy us and keep us from him. He also tells us theres a way out of it, we can be free from it. All we have to do is return to him. He made a way back for us in paying our debt through Jesus Christ. When we come to Him, He brings us back into the household and brings healing to our brokenness.
Our desire is to reach out to those who do not know about this relationship. To be a people that welcomes and seeks out those whose lives are broken because of their separation from God. We want this desire for healing and restoration to become the passion that identifies us as followers of Christ. We want to intentionally seek the broken, the outcast, the oppressed, the enslaved, the disenfranchised, and the hurting. We want to bring them hope.
Our mission is to worship God, and to join Him in His mission of seeing broken people who are far from Him reconciled to Him as we proclaim & demonstrate the good news of what Jesus has done for us.
We Believe
God
We believe in one God, eternally existing in three personsFather, Son, and Holy Spiritcoeternal in being, co-eternal in nature, co-equal in power and glory, having the same attributes and perfections (Deuteronomy 6:4, 1 Corinthians 13:14). He is the Creator of the universe (Genesis 1:1, Psalm 102:25). He has always existed, never having a beginning, never ending (Revelation 21:6), and never changing (Psalm 102:27, Malachi 3:6). He is holy (Isaiah 6:3), merciful and forgiving (Daniel 9:9), compassionate (Exodus 34:6), just (Psalm 67:4), and will judge the world in righteousness (Psalm 9:8).
The Bible
We believe the Bible, consisting of the Old and New Testaments, is the verbally inspired word of God, his truth (John 17:17), his heart (John 3:16), and his purpose for the world (Psalm 46:10). It is the final authority for faith and practice, inerrant in the original writings, infallible, and Godbreathed (2 Timothy 3:16-17, 2 Peter 1:20-21, Matthew 5:18, John 16:12-13).
The Person and Work of Christ
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God who became man without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary, in order that he might reveal God and redeem humanity (John 1:1-2; 14, Luke 1:35). We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through his death on the cross as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice and that our justification is made sure by his literal, physical resurrection from the dead (Romans 3:24, 1 Peter 2:24, Ephesians 1:7, 1 Peter 1:3-5). We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God, where, as our high priest, he fulfills the ministry of representative, intercessor, and advocate (Acts 1:9-10, Hebrews 7:25, 9:24, Romans 8:34, 1 John 2:1-2).
The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is a person who convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment and that he is the supernatural agent in regeneration, baptizing all believers into the body of Christ, indwelling and sealing them unto the day of redemption (John 16:8-11, 2 Corinthians 3:6, 1Corinthians 12:12-14, Romans 8:9, Ephesians 5:18). He is the one who comforts us in our pain, the one who counsels us in our trials, and the one who guides us to live in all truth (John 15:26). He produces fruit in us that does not earn our salvation, but rather that is evidence that our salvation has and is taking place (Galatians 5:22-23, John 15:8).
The Church
We believe that the church, which is the body and espoused bride of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of all born-again persons of this present age (Ephesians 1:22-23; 5:25-27, 1 Corinthians 12:12-14, 2 Corinthians 11:2). The church is not something we go to, nor is it something we do. Instead, the church is something we are. Jesus is the head of the church, and we are members of his body (Ephesians 1:22-23).
We believe that the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament scriptures (Acts 14:27; 18:22; 20:17, 1 Timothy 3:1-3, Titus 1:5-11).
While the church is universal, comprised of all believers throughout history, we believe in the autonomy of the local church, free of any external authority and control (Acts 13:1-4; 15:19-31; 20:28, Romans 16:1,4, 1 Corinthians 3:9; 3:16; 5:4-7; 5:13, 1 Peter 5:1-4).
We recognize a believers baptism and the Lords Supper as scriptural means of testimony for the church in this age (Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 2:41-42, Acts 18:8, 1 Corinthians 11:23-26).
We believe that the church is meant to bear witness to the good news of the gospel and love of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:14-20). This mission is not something that is just done overseas; rather mission is something that is done every day of our life (Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 1:8). As God is on a mission to redeem humanity, to bring hope out of desperation, to bring freedom out of bondage, to bring life out of death, so the church is on mission to be a light to all people (Matthew 5:14) of every race and every nation (Psalm 46:10).
Baptism
The sacrament of baptism is primarily about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. In addition to communicating the sovereign work of God, participation in baptism demonstrates ones obedient response to faith in Jesus.
We see Gods commitment to restoring broken sinners to fellowship with Him in the often-repeated phrase, I will be their God, and they shall be my people (Genesis 17:8; Jeremiah 24:7; 31:33; 32:38; Ezekiel 11:20; 37:23, 27; Zechariah 8:8). In the Book of Revelation, upon seeing a vision of the new heavens and the new earth, John hears a loud voice saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God (21:3). All of Scripture bears witness to our Gods commitment to covenant relationship with His redeemed people.
Baptism is one of the ways in which an individual takes ownership for their part in the covenant relationship. By participating in the sacrament, an individual publicly declares both the authority and intimate presence of Jesus Christ in their lives. It is as if one is responding, He will be my God, and I will be a part of his people. As the sacrament expresses ones union with Christ, it necessarily expresses ones union with his body, the Church. For this reason, we readily incorporate baptisms into our worship gatherings and emphasize the public nature of the sacrament.
Salvation
We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose precious blood was shed on the cross at Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins (Ephesians 2:8-10; John 1:12; Ephesians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:18-19).
Eternal Security and Assurance of Believers
We believe that those who are truly redeemed are kept by Gods power and are thus secure in Christ forever. We dont believe in once saved, always saved; we believe in if saved, always saved (John 6:37-40; 10:27-30, Romans 8:1, 38-39, 1 Corinthians 1:4-8, 1 Peter 1:5). We believe it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of Gods word which clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as an occasion for the flesh (Romans 13:13-14, Galatians 5:13, Titus 2:11-15).
The Ministry and Spiritual Gifts
Empowered by the Spirit
The Holy Spirit empowers believers for Christian witness and service. The promise of the Father is freely available to all who believe in Jesus Christ, thereby enabling them to exercise the powers of the age to come in ministry and mission. The Holy Spirit desires to continually fill each believer with power to witness and imparts His supernatural gifts for the edification of the body and the work of ministry in the world. All the gifts of the Holy Spirit at work in the church of the first century are available today and are to be earnestly desired and practiced in an orderly manner. The gifts are essential to the mission of the Church in the world today. (1 Corinthians 12:7, 11, & 13; Ephesians 4:7-8).
We believe that God does hear and answer the prayer of faith, in accord with his own will, for the sick and afflicted (John 15:7; 1 John 5:14-15). We believe it is the privilege and responsibility of all believers to minister according to the gift(s) and grace of God given to them (Romans 12:1-8; 1 Corinthians 13; 1 Peter 4:10-11).
