“Our purpose is to become a radiant church by developing disciples of Jesus Christ who will love God first and others as themselves.”

We believe that this purpose statement embodies the Great Vision, the Great Commission, and the Great Commandment of God for his church.

The Great Vision of God for his church is that we would become a radiant church as seen in Ephesians 5:25-27, “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” (NIV). God’s vision for our lives is not just that we would be saved, but that we would become a transformed people, fully devoted to him and conformed to the likeness of Christ in our character (Romans 8:29). We understand that Christian growth can be slow, and that in this body it is an unending process, but we aspire to the attitude of the mature Christian as it is defined by Paul in Philippians 3:12-15, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. All of us who are mature should take such a view of things” (NIV).

The Great Commission of God for his church is that we would make disciples who don’t just know about what Jesus taught, but obey what Jesus taught. In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (NIV). We believe that Scripture clearly teaches that the church has only one mission: to develop disciples of Jesus Christ. Everything else that we do must serve that end.

The Great Commandment of God for his church is that we would “Love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind.” Jesus said that this is the first and greatest commandment, but that there is a second commandment that is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-38 NIV). The idea that the second commandment is like the first is illuminated for us in Jesus’ teaching from the parable of the sheep and the goats, which concludes with the words, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40 NIV). Ultimately, how we treat one another reveals something about the true condition of our relationship with God. Therefore, we believe that an authentic disciple of Jesus Christ is a person who does not just profess belief in Jesus Christ, but is so moved by their faith that they love God first and foremost in their lives and others as themselves.