We believe the Bible is God’s inspired Word, and therefore is entirely trustworthy and authoritative. We take seriously its numerous commands to read, memorize, discuss, teach, and obey its message. Of course, doing this well means engaging the text prayerfully and carefully. We believe that God inspired human authors whose character and context profoundly shaped the Scriptures we read today. We labor to link the living Word of the ancient text to the dynamic circumstances of our daily lives. Ultimately, this means following all of Scripture’s prose and poetry to its culmination in the supreme revelation of God who is Jesus Christ.

Just after his resurrection, Jesus walked into a room full of his own frightened followers and said, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you” (John 20:21). Therefore Jesus, whom John says elsewhere is the very Word of God made flesh (1:14), is our model, and Jesus’ mission to announce the Good News of the Kingdom of God in word and deed to the whole world (Genesis 12:3, Matthew 24:14, John 3:16) has become our mission as well.

First, we imitate the model of Jesus when we serve others, moving toward them and contextualizing truth without compromising our convictions so that they might have the opportunity to understand the Good News of the Kingdom clearly and respond freely to his saving work and universal Lordship. This means becoming students of other cultures, just as the Apostle Paul “observed” the people of Athens (Acts 17:23), so that we might discover ways to communicate as effectively as possible. Moreover, we see how Jesus demonstrated God’s love through practical, non-coercive contributions to the common good. In the same way, when we talk about joining “the mission of God,” we are referring to the good works that introduce the love of God into our neighborhoods, the nations, and the next generation.

Second, we understand the mission of God is to the whole world. We share the Apostle Paul’s conviction to “preach the Gospel where Christ is not known” (Romans 15:20), thus looking to reach people groups who have less access to the Good News. Ever since the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, we have sensed a strong call as a church to prioritize relationships with Muslim communities precisely because many people–especially Christians–have not. We hope to build transparent and authentic relationships with Muslim communities such that we acknowledge the very real differences between our faith traditions even as we continue in friendship. We hope to see our Muslim friends come to follow Jesus, and we pray for the day when God’s Spirit will heal the current division and antipathy between our faith communities. Similarly, we are committed to understanding and appreciating what truth our Muslim friends already possess even as we seek to know God more deeply together.

We affirm the biblical design of marriage from the beginning as being a covenant between one man and one woman, and that sexual intimacy is reserved for the marriage relationship. At the same time, we face very real and very complex ministry contexts in which we are learning how best to love all people and share the Good News of the Kingdom with every person, regardless of sexual identity. All people live in our beautiful but broken world, and all people long to discover love, relationship, and wholeness. We unapologetically believe that Jesus is the way (and the truth, and the life) toward that wholeness. So, our primary focus is introducing everyone to Christ so that he can be the one to speak into and heal all the wounds that characterize human experience.

We see our world’s profound need for a just society characterized by the peace and well-being—the shalom—of God. We are committed to labor in the present toward God’s promised future: a redeemed community bound together by the love of Christ and representing every nation, ethnicity, race and language (Revelation 7:9).

We recognize we cannot accomplish Jesus’ command to “make disciples of all nations” without engaging multi-ethnic discipleship and real cross-cultural friendship. These relationships are built upon our recognition of universal human dignity (Genesis 1:26–28) and repentance from our universal rejection of God’s design that results in dehumanization, structures of inequality, and even enslavement of others (Isaiah 53:6, Romans 3:23). While this may seem an improbable task, the Apostle Paul tells us that the reconciling work of Jesus Christ tears down hostility and opens the way “to create in Himself one new humanity” (Ephesians 2:14–15, NIV). Therefore, within our church communities, we refuse to tolerate any kind of racial or ethnic discrimination, bias, or prejudice. Beyond the church, we are compelled by the love of Christ to fight injustice wherever we find it as we serve and speak out on behalf of the poor, oppressed, vulnerable, and forgotten (Luke 4:18–19, Proverbs 31:8–9, Isaiah 58:1–12).

We also recognize that a loving community is characterized by opposition to the exploitation and oppression of those with less power, those with fewer financial resources, and those on the fringes of society (Leviticus 9:13–15; Proverbs 31:8–9; Isaiah 58:6–12; Ezekiel 18:5, 7–8; Amos 8:4–6; James 1:27). We take seriously God’s frequent admonitions to protect and care for the orphans, widows, and foreigners in our midst (Leviticus 19:9–10, 23:22; Deuteronomy 14:29; Ruth 2:1–12; Zechariah 7:9–10). We commit to sharing the blessings God has given to us with those in need so that they too may experience the blessing of God (Job 29:12–17; Acts 4:32, 34–35). And we are mindful that inasmuch as we do these things for those that the world counts as the least, we do them for God (Matthew 25:34–43).

Finally, we will persevere in this work no matter the difficulty because we are confident that in the not-too-distant future Jesus will return to judge justly, wipe away every tear, and make all things new (Revelation 21:1–5)