Our DNA

As a collective of missional communities, we are highly creative and exploratory and resilient. We aim to live out our hope in an incarnational and influential way that all may know the love of Jesus. This especially means that we reach out to many subcultures in Richmond and carry the great news of Jesus into the darkness. At times, this is extremely difficult and sacrificial yet the grace of God empowers us and the fruit is glorious as lives are impacted!

Missional communities can range widely in size, focus, and methodology, but they all have the same core DNA. They are aimed at deep discipleship in grace, reading the Word together, and praying for one another while living out an incarnational lifestyle together. The goal is to focus on loving Jesus, growing together and never forgetting to love those around us who are without the hope of Jesus Christ. It is in these small tribes that we especially practice on being doers of the Word, and not just hearers of the Word. We always seek to maintain three directional values: UP (focusing upward toward the Lord, the good news, His Word, and Worship), IN (focusing inward on developing and equipping a community of people who love, support, pray for each other and enjoy life together), OUT (making sure to never forget to love those around us who are without the hope and deep love of knowing Jesus), BEYOND (constantly thinking about reproducing new leaders and communities, always looking to strategically multiply in order to impact new subcultures, keeping our vision in the forefront). Each missional community can and should operate as a micro-church, yet still be accountable to Arise RVA and the wider body of Christ in Richmond.

City-wide Celebration and Partnership: We aim to celebrate what the Lord is doing here in our city with each other and also with other like minded churches and ministries that are working alongside us to impact Richmond.