Our Values

Christ is magnified most when we treasure and enjoy Him most. Our purpose is what St. Augustine called “the motion of the soul toward the enjoyment of God for His own sake.” We long for more thirsting after Christ and to fulfill His redemptive purposes through a revival and reformation. We want to be forgiven much in order to love much. We want our souls to be saturated with the gospel in such a way that we love well.
 Our four distinctive ministry areas which focus our love for Christ and the fulfillment of His redemptive purposes are as follows:

God-centered Worship. This ministry area seeks to enable us, collectively and individually, to offer our whole being in ascribing supreme worth to God (Isaiah 6:1ff, 57:15; Revelation 5). Worship must be God-centered. As soon as we become man-centered or center on anything other than God in worship, our holy God will disrupt us, challenge the substitutes, and claim His rightful place again in the center of our worship (I Kings 18).
 God is jealous for our worship, and He alone is worthy of our worship. We appreciate those burdened to enable us, collectively and individually, to ascribe supreme worth to God in His presence in the ways the Bible directs.

Grace-centered Truth. This ministry area seeks to enable us to learn, teach, and think the truth in a way that magnifies God’s grace, leading to humility and gratitude (Colossians 1:7).
 Christ Church is ordained as a place for truth. We live in a post-enlightenment culture that has sadly given up on absolute truth. Our pluralistic society is rather intolerant to truth and would want us to embrace relativism. God has revealed what we are to believe about Him and what He requires of us in the Bible, although His creation also declares His glory and proclaims day after day the works of His hands (Psalm 19).
We earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to us by the prophets, apostles, and Christ as the foundation of the church. We are confessional and have adopted the Westminster Confession of Faith as the system of doctrine taught in the Scriptures. We appreciate and recognize those who are teachable and humble to think deeply, study hard, and creatively teach in total reliance upon the Holy Spirit who “works by and with the Word.” Those who understand and practice the truth are most humble and grateful because only by God’s grace can anyone know truth.

Loving Community. This ministry area seeks to enable us to demonstrate love for others resulting in a deep and abiding sense of community (Ephesians 4:2-3, 15-16). 
A.W.Tozer wrote, “Thirsty hearts are those whose longings have been awakened by the touch of God within them.” In an age of non-community, our thirsty souls long for a refreshing drink from a loving community where we can open up the Bible and talk about our lives as they really are without pretense and deceit. We want to develop a community that warmly invites growth in grace and reconciliation where income levels and positions are blurred by the dignity of each individual face and their stories.

Compassionate Missions. This ministry area seeks to enable us to be moved with compassion as laborers in Christ’s harvest field — engaged in spreading the love and truth of Christ to lost and needy people locally, nationally, and worldwide (Matthew 9:36-38).
 Missions exist because loving Christ doesn’t. We want every nation to love Christ. Any church that is not involved in missions cannot sense God’s pleasure and blessing. One of the primary reasons that missions is not a distinctive in many churches is that Christians lack compassion.
 Was Jesus moved with compassion when He saw the multitudes harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd? He tells us to beseech Him to send us forth as laborers moved with compassion for the lost and those in need.
 We are grateful to be engaged in compassionate missions locally, nationally, and worldwide. We thank God for those who go, those who give, and those who serve with hearts of compassion for others.