Our Covenant

We have lots of friends in the city, many of them know Jesus and many do not. But for those who want to take things a step further and enter into a more committed relationship of living out the reality of this Faith together, we have set up this following covenant. This is just one way of saying that we agree to follow Christ together and love one another.

Covenant Values: 

1. Being straight up obsessed with Jesus (Jn 1, Col. 1:15-20, 2:3, Phil. 2 and 3).
2. Radical Discipleship: being committed to regular rhythms of walking with Jesus and growing in the gospel truths, rooting out idolatries in the heart, understanding our identities in Christ.
3. Missional/Multiplication DNA: building a “movement ethos” into our system from the beginning, we aim to reach the lost and make disciples as we go! It is expected that anyone who agrees with this covenant will make it their aim to live out a missional lifestyle in the city and call each other further into that lifestyle by equipping and partnering. We will seek to faithfully contextualize the gospel into each new tribe (subculture) we encounter. The goal is to equip each other to intentionally persevere in relationships with the lost, serving them and calling them to Jesus. Ultimately we aim to plant and multiply new missionally oriented communities throughout the city. As an extension of this value, we aim to be involved in church planting in our city, regionally (with Sent Network) and globally.
4. Loving One Another: This is especially seen in our, “IN” rhythms in our missional communities. We commit ourselves to a regular rhythm of gathering for fellowship within the missional communities. This is the environment where we encourage, care, serve, love, teach/equip, confess to one another, build each other up, forgiving one another and always seeking reconciliation/healing/restoration when conflict happens, for the sake of maturity, purity and unity, to the glory of God. We ask our covenant partners to be willing to follow biblical guidelines and wisdom regarding conflict resolution, to make every effort to restore relationships after conflict occurs.
5. Financial generosity: We expect believers to be worshiping the Lord in their finances by living out generosity through giving to movement of Christ in this world. We especially aim to focus our generosity towards impacting this city in a powerful way for the glory of Christ! This is done to equip the church to meet the needs of (a) the city, (b) the global church, (c) church planting endeavors (here and elsewhere). As a missional movement, we have low overhead which enables us to pour our finances toward kingdom advancement.
6. Doctrinal Statement: We believe in the Triune God (who is God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit, mysteriously three persons yet One God, transcendent yet present with us and accessible to us) who is described in the Scriptures and affirmed by the creeds throughout Church history. God’s Word is true and powerful (and being such, we aim to interpret it properly, but in humility, trusting the Holy Spirit to lead us to truth and love). God’s redemptive plan in history began with God creating everything (yet we do not debate how or when He created it, it is sufficient to know that He did create it and it was good). Man fell into sin and humanity was cursed and lost, but not without hope for salvation. In light of this, the details of how man’s freewill and God’s sovereignty work out are mysterious, we appreciate this tension as being biblical and recognize God as amazingly powerful and man as responsible to obey His call. The entire Old Testament looks forward to and anticipates a Savior, Jesus is that Savior (who is mysteriously both God and human) who provides salvation as a result of his death on the cross and resurrection. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to spark the Church to be light in the darkness of this world and to carry out His mission of love into the world. The Holy Spirit works in ways that are also beyond our understanding, so we seek to be open to His work, but cautious to make sure we are following His very Word, knowing that He has first chosen to reveal Himself to us within the biblical limitations. We are in a time when the kingdom of God is already here, but not yet completed and we eagerly wait with all creation for ultimate restoration. In Christ, we are being transformed, healed and given new hope and purpose and take part in the advancement of His kingdom in this world. While the details may be uncertain, we are certain that one day the Lord will be victorious over all evil and darkness and will bring his children into his eternal love and presence. In light of all this, the purpose of humans is to know God in an intimate relationship, honor Him, and enjoy life in Him.

A word concerning doctrine: While it is important to communicate our theological convictions, we want to refrain from creating unnecessary division among believers. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against the spiritual forces of darkness. Therefore we refrain from debating among ourselves, God is too amazing, the mission is too urgent, the harvest is too plentiful, and the laborers are too few, so we rejoice and celebrate unity together on the key issues, and have love in our hearts when disagreeing on secondary issues. We seek maturity in Christ, to walk in gracious understanding of one another, not to dogmatically impose our theological and ethical opinions on each other. We will not be the sort of community that is characterized by debate, hostility or endless arguments. 1 Corinthians 13 shows us that no matter what we do, if we do not have LOVE at the core of our motivations, then we are acting in fruitless labor. Paul encourages believers in 1 Timothy 1:4-7, not “to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which promote speculations rather than the stewardship from God that is by faith. The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.” And so we also aim to walk in love from a pure heart to one another. So it is within this context that we do have a doctrinal/ethical statement available upon request.