OUR VISION

The vision-

To give no place to anything that fights to steal the spotlight from Christ. To stir one another to burn with jealousy over Him. To build all upon this- Christ is everything. His Word is sufficient. His means laid out in His Word are sufficient. (Col. 1:15-18; 1 Cor. 16:22; Luke 10:38-42; 2 Tim. 3:16-17, 2 Cor. 3:18-4:6).

That sounds like something everyone would agree with.

So, as to be clear, those distinctives about which we are passionate –

· To hold up Christ in all things in such a way that the aroma of Christ is clear and present, so much so that those who are being saved find it an aroma of life to life, but those who are perishing find it the smell of death to death. (2 Cor. 2:14-17)

· To rebel against the culture at every point where it tries to instill in us a worldview that is not in line with the Word. (1 John 2:15-17, Acts 17, James 4:4)

· To love the Bride of Christ enough to name idols and bring them to Him to slay, trusting that He will. (1 Cor. 5:12, James 4:1-5, 1 John 5:21, 1 Cor. 10:7,14)

· To preach repentance from sin and dead works, and call people to run from the works of death. (Acts 17:30, Mark 1:15, 2 Cor. 7:9, Rev. 3:19)

· To preach grace upon grace, all through Christ, in such a way that the sin we see in each other is not shocking or surprising, and does not lead us to condemn the struggling and repenting brother or sister (which is all of us), but instead push each other toward the unending mercies of Jesus at the cross, believing that seeing the Glory of Jesus dying for wretches like us will bring change. (1 Cor. 6:11, Gal. 6:1, Rom. 8:1, 2 Cor. 3:18, Hebrews)

· To come up with no programs or strategies designed to push professing believers to do what only true believers do when they have Christ set before their eyes- enjoy God more, and show Him more to the world around them. Believers will naturally be all that the church is meant to be as they set their eyes on the Head, Christ. (1 Cor. 1:23-29)

· To live in a world not our home, side by side, setting each other’s eyes on the future reward of Christ, and living as strangers and aliens, radically different from the world around us in our affections and hope. Our focus together shall not be mere entertainment or fun, but fighting the war we are left here to fight. We will be joyfully serious in the work our Father has left us to do, the work we long to do- the work of the church! (1 Pet. 1:13, Col 3:1-4, 2 Tim. 2:4, Hebrews 11)

· To jealousy protect the Bride of Christ as we heed Jesus’ command in Matthew 18 to carry out proper church discipline