Our Shared Values
Worship: Biblical worship is like a conversation with God in which he speaks to us through his Word and we respond to him with our prayers and praises. Since we meet God in this way when we worship, we believe our attitude in worship needs to be consistent with God's character. Because God is holy and powerful, but also merciful and kind, we want to be both reverent and joyful in our worship services. We believe we should avoid both an overly casual and overly somber approach to God in worship.
Biblical Preaching and Teaching: God uses the preaching and teaching of the Bible to bring us to faith in Jesus Christ, and help us to grow to spiritual maturity. For this reason we are committed to in-depth Bible teaching combined with practical application to our lives. In our worship services, the pastors of the church typically preach through books of the Bible verse by verse, chapter by chapter, showing how each passage fits into God's larger plan of salvation through Jesus Christ.
Pastoral Care: God has appointed certain leaders in the church, called elders, to help God's people grow to spiritual maturity as followers of Jesus Christ. Our pastors and elders are committed to knowing the members of the church by speaking and visiting with them on a regular basis. In this way the leaders of the church are able to offer church members wise biblical counsel and pray for them more effectively.
Relational Evangelism: Evangelism is the great privilege of every follower of Jesus Christ. We believe effective evangelism is not so much a scheduled activity as it is a way of life. As we develop natural relationships with those who are not Christians, we have the opportunity through both our words and actions to lovingly introduce them to Jesus. We reject any tactics which involve pressuring or misleading people as being completely inconsistent with Christian faith. We believe that every member of the church should be able to give a clear, biblical explanation of the main message of the Bible to those who are not Christians. To that end one of our Christian education classes is devoted to training church members in how to explain the message of Jesus Christ.
Mercy Ministry: God has called us to show the love of Jesus Christ to the world not only by our words, but also by our actions. We believe that practical expressions of mercy and service to those in need can build significant bridges of trust and friendship that create opportunities to speak about Jesus Christ with integrity. God has appointed other leaders in the church, called deacons, to help our whole church show the love of Christ to a hurting world.
Church Planting: We see the church as the primary instrument God uses to lead men and women to faith in Jesus Christ, and to help them grow to spiritual maturity. For this reason we believe the establishment of new churches is essential to the spread of the Christian faith and its spiritual vitality. We are especially interested in planting new churches in the metropolitan Philadelphia area, and in working with others who are planting churches elsewhere in our nation and around the world.
World Missions: Jesus wants people from all the nations to believe on him. We want to partner in a significant way with a small number of missions works in different places around the globe. We hope to know the people involved in these works well, to pray for them regularly, support them financially, and exchange ministry whenever possible. We are especially interested in works that are engaged in church planting and training nationals to be leaders in the church.