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AFRICA THE GALA
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Our Background
In 2018, we were sitting, as long-standing members, in a non-denominational megachurch type model church. Don’t get me wrong, we loved our church and still believe it has its place. In fact, we still seek to maintain healthy relationships with the people there and remain open to partner with them going forward should the Lord’s providence allow it. However, God was calling us to focus a little differently. Also, to be clear on this point, we do not take the position that our focus is right and the church we came from is wrong or that one approach is better to the exclusion of the other, but we merely believe that multiple approaches to discipleship are needed to reach different contexts. After much time and effort working with leadership there, it got to the point where we realized it was not going to work for us to focus our efforts in the way that God was calling us to do so within that institutional structure. So, we began to seek what God was doing outside of the organization, and He began to open doors for us into new networks of ministry leaders who were like-minded and leading the charge in efforts similar to what we felt God was calling us to do. And, through those relationships, the Lord helped us to grow confident in the fact that what we believed He was calling us to do was indeed informed by rich theology – the Holy Spirit was affirming us! A small group of Christ followers began fasting and meeting to pray and seek God and before we knew it, we had the resources pooled together and the GC Underground Missio Dei was launched.
The Mississippi Gulf Coast has over 350,000 people, and we believe 60-80% of that population (210,000 to 280,000) are unchurched and, for whatever reason, not being reached and/or are not interested in attending the traditional or institutional churches at their buildings in the community. However, we believe that an overwhelming majority of those 200,000+ people are poor-in-spirit, suffering from the injustices that result from sin AND wide open to learning about God and His plan in Christ as set forth in the Scripture. And, this leads us to our Vision & Mission:
GC Underground Vision:
Our Vision is 1) to reach every person along the Gulf Coast, who is poor-in-spirit and/or experiencing suffering caused by sin and the injustices of this world and is not being reached by the existing church structures, with the transformative Gospel of Jesus Christ, and 2) to help them experience the true love, as established by God’s plan in Christ through the Scriptures, that draws us to repentance and obedience to Christ according to the Scripture.
GC Underground Mission:
Our Mission, founded on prayer, fasting and 100% devotion to the Lord, is 1) to build intentional and healthy relationships with people in our contexts; 2) to train disciples of Jesus Christ among new contexts and networks of people; 3) help new disciples discover the objective will of God as well as the subjective call of God on their life; and 4) to equip and support every follower of Christ in accomplishing the Missio Dei in the context of their everyday life.
In the Underground, our Vision and Mission are not just fancy worded lines meant to be attractive. We have values through which we see everything through and components in place that provide the vehicle necessary to help accomplish our Mission and ultimately move toward our Vision. The components of our Mission consist of micro-churches, collectives, a mission’s hub, discovery Bible studies and intentional discipleship environments. These components combine to form a process for Christ-centered discipleship multiplication.
Discovery Bible Studies are one of the primary vehicles we use to reach people who are unchurched and/or far from God. DBS’s are groups that are started and facilitated by ordinary people in our hub network at different times and places in our community. The big idea is to reach people in their context and help them to simply read the Bible and discover what the Scripture says about God and His plan for mankind without being pressured in any way by the institution. People learning what the Bible says in this regard will lead to individuals surrendering their life to Christ and water baptism. The next step is our Intentional Discipleship Environments.
Intentional Discipleship Environments are hosted on a web-based platform provided by one of our partner organizations, Disciples Made, Inc. IDE’s create opportunity for people, in groups of 3 or more, to learn what it means to sit at the feet of Jesus in wonderful communion as the foundation for “being the Church” – i.e., living in regular rhythms of gathering with community and on mission in their context. These environments are where discipleship training takes place, and from there leaders, micro-churches and collectives can emerge.
Micro-churches and collectives. Micro-churches are small gatherings of believers who are in covenant relationship with Christ and one another to live life as the Church gathering regularly and living on the Missio Dei in their context. This means they will worship, pray, engage in devotion to the Scripture, partake in communion and carry out the Missio Dei together as they share in all of life and walk in healthy Christ-centered rhythms with one another. A collective is merely a network of micro-churches that may share in leadership (elders) and resources (time, talents & treasures) unto the glory of God.
The mission’s hub ultimately runs on the gifts and passions given by God through the Holy Spirit to the leaders in our network. The hub exists to equip and provide support to all of the micro-churches, collectives and discovery bible studies in our network as they aim to multiply disciples of Christ in their context through regular gatherings and living on mission. The hub and/or the Collectives may organize larger expressions of gathering as they are led and able to do so whereby all of the micro-churches and other collectives may join in for a larger worship and/or equipping experiences.
Our focus and values, in combination with these aforementioned components, provide the lens through which we see all of life, which ultimately yields walking/living in the life rhythms of Christ.
Our Manifesto
Focus
Christology
Christ is God who came to earth in the flesh to die on the cross after living a sinless life to take the punishment that every human being deserved in order that God the Father’s justice may be kept perfect. We now have God the Holy Spirit dwelling with us to guide us in His wonderful plan of salvation, which comes through following Christ.
Jesus is the Word of God became flesh and dwelt among mankind to demonstrate God’s will for man (i.e. how God wants us to live in pursuit of holiness). All of Scripture points to Christ and is our sole and absolute authority for life. We believe it informs all that we are and do as we seek to develop rhythms in our daily lives that look and act like Jesus’ incarnate life.
Dan 7:13-14; Lk 4:18-19; Jn 3:16-17; Lk 24:46-47; Jn 1:1-14; Jn 5:38-47; Lk 24:27; Mt 28:18-20; Mt 4:19; Mt 8:22; Mt 9:9; Mt 10:38; Mt 16:24; Mt 19:21; Mk 1:17; Mk 2:14; Mk 10:21; Lk 5:27; Lk 9:23; Lk 18:22; Jn 1:43; Jn 8:12; Jn 10:27; Jn 12:26; Jn 21:19; Jn 21:22
As we consider Jesus’ incarnate life, we see two key components or focuses that we relentlessly center on in the hub.
First, Christ came to shift the focus off of the kingdoms of this world onto the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus rebuked His disciples countless times throughout the gospels and every rebuke was in the context of their lack of faith or being focused on the things of this world rather than seeing and believing in the eternal Kingdom. All of his teachings and parables centered on the Kingdom of Heaven. In the end, Jesus came face to face with the Jewish political leaders and the Roman government and was given the opportunity to claim a worldly throne. Jesus’ response was “My Kingdom is not of this world” making it very clear that our focus should be narrowly toward the Kingdom of Heaven in the way we live out our temporal lives.
Second, Jesus sets forth the way we are to narrow our focus toward the Kingdom by simplifying all rules and instruction for life down to two commandments being 1) Love the Lord your God with all that you are and 2) Love your neighbor as you love yourself. The one thing that both of these commandments have in common is their focus on relationship. At the hub, we focus heavily on relationships, both with the Lord and with people, and that focus is exemplified in how we live out our daily lives.
Mt 4:17; Mt 5:3; Mt 6:19-21; Mt 6:33; Mt 13:1-52; Mt 14:31; Mt 17:16-21; Mt 19:13-15; Mt 22:15-22; Mt 26:36-40; Mt 25:1-30; Mt 26:51-54; Mk 4:26-34; Mk 4:40; Mk 8:33; Mk 9:14-19; Mk 10:35-45; Mk 16:14; Lk 4:42-43; Lk 5:10; Lk 17:20-37; Lk 20:25; Lk 21:34-37; Lk 22:24-30; Lk 22:50-51; Lk 24:25-26; Mt 10:1-4; Mk 3:13-19; Lk 9:1-2; Jn 6:32-35; Jn 10:1-5/27; Jn 14:6-7; Jn 15:1-17; Jn 18:10-11; Jn 18:36-37
MISSIOLOGY & ECCLESIOLOGY
When looking at Jesus’ incarnate life, it boils down to living life on Mission (Kingdom Discipleship) with a circle of followers (the Church) with the goal of multiplication of the Kingdom through building relationships with both God and the people in our everyday path. We do believe that all of Scripture richly informs us as to what the Missio Dei and regular gathering should look like rhythmically in our lives. However, as we interpret Scripture around missiology and ecclesiology, we seek to filter all said interpretations through the lens of healthy Christology to avoid getting to a point where mission and gathering become mutually exclusive of one another in the way we live out our lives. The gathering of believers is not the exclusive focus. Mission is not the exclusive focus. Discipleship is the focus, which yields healthy rhythms of both gathering and mission.
One of the best charts we have come across that helps us to understand healthy missiology and ecclesiology is the Engel Scale:
Jesus’ incarnate ministry started with mission. The clearest way to describe the goal of the Missio Dei is to seek those who are far from God and/or unchurched and build a relationship with them through serving with the goal of “Discipling to Christ.” Without successful mission we have no ecclesia, which would mean no need for ecclesiology. Thus, missiology is critical to ecclesiology.
Christ informed ecclesiology is also essential because of its goal to disciple every individual, who makes a decision to surrender to or follow Christ, to maturity. We call this post-surrender discipleship “Discipling in Christ,” which simply means learning to live a life postured at the feet of Jesus (Christology) and from there ultimately learning to live out Kingdom Stewardship and Missional Living (objective truth) in their context (subjective calling and giftings). This process ultimately yields discipleship multiplication (Missiology/Eccesiology). Thus, healthy ecclesia is also critical to mission.
We consider it very important to state that mission and the gathering or community of believers cannot be mutually exclusive of one another. Where there is culture that makes the gathering of believers and mission mutually exclusive of one another (i.e., making one necessary with the other optional), it is a sign of an unbiblical view of Christology. This is why you will hear us say things like “church is not something we go to; we are the Church.” Some hear a statement like this and claim heresy on some sort of basis that it teaches to neglect the gathering. To the contrary, nothing could be further from the truth here at the Underground. While our approach to the gathering is simple, we believe it is actually one of the richest views on gathering. Bottom line, in order to be the Church in the healthiest sense, rhythms of gathering and mission are BOTH vital in the life of every Christ follower. Looking over at our values will give you a much better Scriptural foundation for how we live out our focus.
Values
CHRIST-CENTERED
We believe that the gospel is the answer to all of life regardless of the issue or circumstance. All authority has been given by the Father to Jesus, and every follower learning to submit to His authority in his or her own life personally is fundamentally essential. God never intended His people to be ruled like other nations. His intention has always been for His people to be ruled by Him. There was only one authority between God and man B.C. – the priest. And of course, we know Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection fulfilled the role of the priest once and for all, and now every believer is a part of the royal priesthood under Him as our Great High Priest. In Him alone is the power for all necessary transformation, which is why we practice the discipline of applying the gospel to every issue and circumstance of life.
Ish 53; Jn 1:1-14; Jn 3:16-21; Jn 6:35-51; Jn 5:18-29; Mt 28:18; Acts 15:10; II Cor 6:3; II Tim 1:8-10; I Jn 2:4-6; I Jn 3:19-24; Acts 4:19; Acts 5:29; I Cor 1:10-17; I Cor 2:15-16; I Cor 4:1-2; II Cor 1:24; II Cor 4:2-5; II Cor 10:13-18; Eph 4:13; Col 2:16-23; I Thes 2:6-9; II Thes 1:11-12; I Tim 1:3-4; Ex 12; Ex 28-29; Lv 6:8-8:36; Lv 16; I Sam 8:1-9; I Pet 2:4-10
WORSHIP
The Bible
We believe the Scripture, as given to us by God through the work of the Holy Spirit in the form of our Holy Bible from Genesis to Revelation, is the infallible Word of God. It is Christ and, from start to finish, points to Christ. In humility, we acknowledge that we do not fully understand God and the world that he has made, but we do trust that His Word is fully authoritative, reliable and truth. Full devotion to seeking obedience through the Scripture is how the gospel transforms our lives and brings glory to God through our lives. And, it is important to understand that we do not seek such obedience to obtain our salvation but because of what He did to accomplish our salvation. He is worthy of our full devotion, which is fully accomplished through, to and from the Scripture!
Deut 4:5-10; I Sam 15:22-23; Neh 8; Ps 18:30; Ps 119; Prv 30:5; Ish 40:8; Jer 15:16; Mt 4:4; Lk 8:21; Lk 11:28; Jn 1:1-17; Jn 5:24; Jn 5:39-47; Jn 8:51; Acts 18:11; Col 1:25; Col 3:16; I Thes 2:13; I Tim 4:13; II Tim 3:16-4:2; Heb 4:12-13; II Pet 3:14-18; I Jn 2:4-5; Rev 19:9
Prayer & Dependence on God
Full devotion to seeking obedience starts with developing a life-style of prayer and dependence on God. Without prayer and dependence on God, anything we accomplish will be in our own strength bringing glory only to ourselves rather than bringing glory to His name. Plus, we cannot truly build His Kingdom without the power of the Holy Spirit, Who is only accessed by healthy rhythms of prayer and intercession focused on Him and the world around us. It is the key to deepening our understanding of His love for us and the world. As we pray for the Lord of the harvest to send us and other workers out into the harvest we believe it stirs the Spirit of God and helps us to walk in step with Him which yields results that can only be accomplished through His power and for His glory.
Gen 32:22-32; II Chron 7:14; Ezra 8:21-23; Ps 17:6; Ps 37:4-5; Ish 26:8-9; Jer 29:12-14; Mt 6:9-13; Mt 6:33; Mt 9:38; Mk 1:35; Lk 11:9-13; Jn 6:35; Jn 7:37; Jn 15:4-5; Acts 2:42; Acts 6:4; II Cor 3:5-6; Eph 6:18; Phil 4:6-7; Col 4:2-3; I Thes 5:17; I Tim 2:1-3; Heb 5:7; Jam 5:13-16; Jude 20; Rev 4-5
Zeal & Contemplation
We value BOTH sides of this very important coin. Living out exuberance and zeal in worship, community life and mission can accomplish great things in revealing the majesty and glory of our God. They can also go a long way to create confusion for people around who God is and what His plan is for mankind if not balanced with rhythms of silence and solitude for personal contemplation and rest. We value each and both together, and we strive for a fusion of the two by living out a life that is both ablaze and unashamed for God as well as contemplative and aware of a quiet appreciation for God and His omnipresence.
(Zeal) II Sam 6:13-15; Ps 37:7; Neh 5:6-13; Ish 42:13; Mt 5:13-16; Mt 21:12-13; Mk 11:15-17; Lk 19:45-46; Rom 12:11; Tit 2:14
(Contemplation) Gen 37:11; Ps 46:10;Ps 48:9; Mk 6:31; II Cor 3:16-18; Phil 4:8; Col 3:2; I Pet 1:13
Passion & Humility
Passion and humility represent another very important two-side coin. Christ modeled the type of passion we seek to live with in His incarnate life. Obviously, none other than Christ can accomplish atonement through sacrificial death. However, we can develop a similar passion in the way we live out our life for His Kingdom and His glory by being willing to lay all of our own worldly pursuits and ambitions down to focus on Him. However, if not lived out in balance with humility, passion can create a pharisaical culture through things like spiritual pride, unhealthy comparison and individuals imposing their subjective calling and giftings onto others. We focus on the fact that “the greatest among us will be the servant of all” and that “He came to serve and not to be served.” We want those who live with His passion to help those who haven’t discovered it as opposed to running them over with it.
(Passion) Josh 6:15-21; I Sam 17:45-47; Ps 63:1; Dan 6:6-10; Mt 16:24-25; Mt 26:38-39; Acts 6:8-7:60; Rom 8:18; Rom 12:1-2; II Cor 1:5; Eph 4:1-3; Col 1:24-25; Col 3:17,23; II Tim 3:12-15; I Jn 3:16
(Humility) Gen 14:13-16; I Sam 24:5-12; II Sam 7:18-29; Ps 25:9; Ps 51:17; Ps 147:6; Pr 11:2; Pr 18:12; Pr 22:4; Ish 29:19; Ish 57:15; Mt 5:3; Mt 18:4; Jn 13:5-15; Rom 12:3; Rom 16; I Cor 10:12; II Cor 11:30; Gal 5:26; Eph 2:8-9; Eph 4:1-2; Phil 2:3-11; Jam 4:6; I Pet 5:5-7
COMMUNITY
One Another
We believe in and highly value the biblical principle of covenant relationship – first, with God through Christ by the Holy Spirit; second, in biblical marriage and the home; and third, as the body of Christ which is our extended spiritual family or fellow believers who we live life out with in our routine context. There are certain things that God wants to do in and through us for His glory that simply cannot be accomplished without entering into these covenant relationships. Ultimately, the outside world will know Christ by the way we treat one another as the body of Christ.
Prov 11:14; Prov 15:22; Ecc 4:9-12; Mt 18:15-20; Jn 13:14,34-35; Jn 15:13; Acts 2:44; Acts 4:32-35; Rom 12:4-8,10; Rom 15:5-6; I Cor 5; I Cor12:24-27; I Cor 13; Gal 6:2; Eph 5:21; Phil 2:3-4; I Tim 5:19-21; Jam 5:9; Heb 6:10; Heb 10:24-25; I Pet 3:8; I Pet 4:8-11; I Jn 3:7-12,16
Sharing & Giving
We love and appreciate when people want to support our mission through giving, and as you see on the Engel Scale under Christology above we focus greatly on Kingdom stewardship here in the Underground. However, sharing and giving as a value here focuses more on Christ followers in our community learning to live in rhythms of generosity and meeting needs that arise in their routine context. These rhythms promote relationship and sever the ties of possessiveness and materialism over our hearts. We encourage relentless sharing, generosity and Kingdom stewardship, and we aim to live this value out in the way approach and exemplify our corporate budget as well.
Gen 14:18-24; Gen 32:10-11; Ex 25:1-2; Ezra 2:68-69; Neh 7:70-72; Mal 3:10; Mt 25:14-30; Lk 3:11; Lk 21:1-4; Acts 2:45-46; Acts 4:32; Acts 20:35; II Cor 9:10-15; Eph 4:28; I Thes 2:8; I Tim 6:18; I Jn 3:17
Equipping & Empowerment
We affirm the priesthood of all believers. While we do not waiver on the objective truth of the gospel and what it means to surrender our lives to Christ, we strongly believe in God’s subjective calling based on the unique giftings, passions and story of every individual who has surrendered to Christ. Our goal is to help individuals develop spiritual habits and rhythms to the point where they learn to sit at the feet of Jesus and hear the voice of the Holy Spirit for themselves, and we believe the Biblical elder is purposed to this end – to help people get to this level of maturity in Christ and then to help one another maintain that level of maturity. We do not believe in any hierarchal spiritual authority outside of The Father – Jesus Christ – believer. Our biblically appointed elders merely seek, based on life demonstrative influence (not title), to help people learn to follow Christ for themselves, and the hub seeks to resource and support each follower’s subjective Kingdom call the best we can with the resources we have.
I Pet 2:5,9-10; Rev 5:9-10; Mt 4:18-19; Mt 16:24-25; Jn 3:3-8; Jn14:6-12; Jn 15:1-8; Rom 10:9-10; I Cor 11:1; Eph 2:8-9; Jam 1:22; Jam 2:14-19; Jn 21:21-23; Rom 12:3-8; I Cor 12; Eph 4:8-16; Gal 5:25-26; Col 1:28; I Pet 5:1-11; Acts 14:23; I Tim 3:1-7; Tit 1:5,6-9; II Pet 1:5-15
Culture & Ethnicity
We believe that every culture and ethnicity collectively reflects the mosaic of God’s own image and together we better glorify and serve the God of creation. We value every people, language and culture on the Gulf Coast and around the world. We believe that the Church of Jesus Christ was meant to demonstrate the power of the gospel through reconciliation, unity, and the beauty of a multi-ethnic community. For that reason we do not just admire multi-ethnic community, but purpose to become one. We do not believe in being color blind, but rather, we hope to accept and include the beauty and wisdom of every culture on the Gulf Coast and in our communities.
Gen 1:27; Ps 67:2-3; Ish 42:6; Ish 49:6; Ish 52:10; Ish 56:7; Dan 7:13-14; Joel 2:28; Hag 2:7; Mal 1:11; Lk 24:46-47; Jn 8:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:17; Acts 10:34-35; Acts 17:26-27; Rom 14:11; I Cor 12:12-14; Eph 2:14-22; Phil 2:10-11; Rev 5:9-10; Rev 7:9; Rev 14:6
Simplicity
We affirm and adopt the simplicity Christ exemplified during His incarnate life into the Underground. At the time Christ walked the earth, the Pharisees and other religious leaders and scribes led the charge of one of the most complex religious systems of manmade standards in the history of mankind. Christ sought to boil those systems down greatly by simplifying all of their rules and laws into two simple commandments. Rather than worrying about how many sticks one could carry or how many steps one could walk away from home on Shabbat, Christ told his disciples “follow me.” We aim to avoid 1) complex budgets strained by property/asset maintenance and large salaries and 2) large complex corporate systems that require heavy burdens on volunteers. We focus an overwhelming portion of our budget on mission, and we aim to help people establish daily rhythms of walking with and worshipping Christ by gathering with other believers and living on mission in the context of their daily lives in simple but routine ways.
Mt 5-7; Mt 15:1-20; Mt 19:16-22; Mt 22:34-40; Mt 25:14-30; Mt 4:19; Mt 9:9; Mt 16:24; Mk 12:28-34; Lk 9:23; Lk 10:25-28; Jn 6:28-35; Jn 14:5-6; Acts 2:44-45,46-47; Mt 6:24; I Cor 9:11-18; Col 3:17; I Thes 4:11; I Tim 2:2; I Tim 6:8-10; Jam 4:13-15; I Pet 4:10: II Pet 3:16-18
MISSION
The Kingdom
We affirm the Kingdom of Heaven as the real eternal presence of our Creator. While it is a presence that we will not experience in its fulness until we experience the end of this life in the flesh as we now know it, the Kingdom of Heaven can and should be our focus starting immediately after we come to a saving knowledge of Christ and surrender our lives to Him. Christ is the King and the only mediator between mankind and the Kingdom, and He came to earth incarnate to be crucified as the only sinless man to ever live this life in the flesh after which He resurrected and ascended through the doors of the Kingdom alive to permanently overcome sin and death for all who believe and abide in or follow Him. This is the good news that we seek to permeate the world around us with because we believe it changes everything starting from the moment we lay our lives down to follow Christ and ultimately reaching perfection at the conclusion of this incarnate life. His eternal Kingdom is our greatest commodity!
Mt 3:1-2; Mt 4:17; Mt 6:10; Mt 6:19-21; Mt6:33; Mt 16:28; Jn 18:33-37; Ps 51:10-13; Ish 53:1-5; Mt 9:35-38; Mt 13:44-52; Mt 24:14; Mt 28:18-20; Lk 9:1-6; Lk10:1-12; Lk 4:18-21; Jn 4:34,35; Jn 6:27; Jn 9:4; Jn 14:12; Jn 17:18; Acts 1:8; Rom 15:20; I Cor 15:58; II Cor 5:18-19; Eph 2:10; I Thes 5:6-11; Tit 3:4-8; I Jn 3:16-19
Every Nation & Tribe
God is not a respecter of persons or people groups. Christ endured the sacrifice of atonement for all mankind…for every nation and tribe. Despite common sentiment that America (or any other worldly nation) is God’s nation and His light unto the world, we affirm the Church as the only Nation under God, and we believe that it is made up by people from all people groups around the world. We also aim to support getting the gospel of the Kingdom to any and all people groups around the world who have not been exposed to it. The Kingdom is about EVERY nation and tribe!
Gen 1:27; Ps 67:2-3; Ish 42:6; Ish 49:6; Ish 52:10; Ish 56:7; Dan 7:13-14; Joel 2:28; Hag 2:7; Mal 1:11; Mt 12:18; Mt 24:14; Lk 24:46-47; Jn 8:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:17; Acts 10:34-35; Acts 17:26-27; Rom 14:11; I Cor 12:12-14; Eph 2:14-22; Phil 2:10-11; Rev 5:9-10; Rev 7:9; Rev 14:6
Righteousness & Justice
God’s perfect righteousness and justice were lost for mankind with the fall of Adam and the onset of sin. From the story of Cain and Abel until today, sin has created much injustice resulting in pain and suffering for everyone on some level involving deeper experiences for some individuals and people groups than others at different points in history. We believe that making efforts to identify areas of injustice experienced by people, taking the time lament with people and making efforts to restore righteousness and justice in their lives are fundamental action steps in advancing the gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus demonstrated this in the way that He walked out His life incarnate, and the Psalmist affirmed it by declaring “righteousness and justice are the foundation of [His] throne.” The restoration of righteousness and justice is fundamental to the way we train people in discipleship, understanding Christ and walking out the subjective call of God in our lives.
Gen 3; Gen 18:22-33,19:23-29; Ex 6:1; I Kings 3:16-28; Ps 9:8; Ps 89:14; Ps 96:10; Prov 31:9; Ish 1:15-17; Ish 56:1; Jer 29:7; Ez 34:16; Hos 12:6; Am 5:15,24; Mic 6:8; Mt 5:2-12; Mt 6:33; Mt 12:18; Mt 25:41-46; Lk 11:42; Lk 18:7-8; Lk 19:8-10; Jn 2:14-17; Acts 6:1-6; I Cor 10:24; Jam 1:26-27; I Jn 3:17-18
The Lost & The Poor in Spirit
Mission is all about seeking out the lost (those who are unchurched and/or far from God living life in full on pursuit of the things of this world) and the poor in spirit (those who have suffered great levels of injustice and pain that result from sin – i.e., the homeless, orphans, widows, addicts etc.) with the good news of the Kingdom. Though God’s subjective call for some may involve traveling overseas to literally reach people groups who have never heard of Jesus, we believe that for most, God’s subjective call will entail reaching the lost and poor in spirit who exist in their everyday path which should be walked out according to the gifts, passions and story of each individual. The lost and the poor in spirit are the ones that need the good news we have, and we believe it is our mission to find them and share it with them.
Gen 3:9; Gen 22:17-18; Ish 52:7-9; Mt 4:23; Mt 5:2-6; Mt 10:5-8; Mt 18:14; Lk 15:3-7; Lk 19:10; Rom 10:14-21; Rom 15:20-21; Gal 2:10; Jam 1:27; Deut 15:7-8; I Kings 17:8-24; II Kings 4:1-7; Ps 82:3; Ps 140:12; Prov 14:31; Ish 61:1; Mt 11:4-5; Mt 25:40; Mk 2:17; Lk 4:18; Lk 6:20-21; Lk 7:22; Lk 14:23
Contextualization
Every individual and/or people group come from different backgrounds with different experiences that will cause them to come from different angles or vantage points when approaching God. While we certainly stand on all Scripture as being authoritative truth, we understand that different passages and verses will be relevant starting points for the diverse number of people who have not come to a revelation of who Christ. For those who do not know Christ, we seek first to get them to a point where they understand who He is and what He came to do. For those who do proclaim Christ we stand on the truth of God’s Word in grace. Based on Christ’s example, we believe it is very important to know our audience when discussing Scripture, and in order to know your audience you have to spend time with people, break bread and live life with them. We find it extremely valuable to focus on how Christ approached different types of people (i.e., the lost, His disciples, religious/political leaders) and let those differences inform us in how we approach and disciple one another. It is sacrificial Christianity…It is what it means to lay down our own lives and follow Christ. Our motto is being relational and relevant when it comes to where we start with people while standing on truth and grace when it comes to the goal or desired finish line with every person. Contextualization is fundamental to successful mission and discipleship.
I Cor 5:12; I Cor 9:15-27; I Cor 10:32; Acts 16:3; Acts 17:22-34 vs Acts 21:40-22:21
(Jesus addressing disciples) Mt 5:1-7:28; Mt 10:1-42; Mt 13:10-52; Mt 14:22-33; Mt 17:1-21; Mt 18:1-35; Mt 24:1-25:46; Mt 28:16-20; Mk 4:35-41; Mk 6:7-13; Mk 13:1-36
(Jesus addressing the lost) Mt 9:9-13; Mt 19:16-22; Mt 20:29-34; Mk 2:15; Mk 5:1-20; Mk 10:46-52; Lk 7:36-50; Jn 4:1-26; Jn 5:1-14; Jn 6:1-15,22-59; Jn 8:1-11
(Jesus addressing the leaders) Mt 12:1-14; Mt 12:22-45; Mt 15:1-20; Mt 16:1-12; Mt 21:12-22; Mt 21:23-22:46; Mk 3:22-30
MICROCHURCH
We believe every follower of Christ should be seeking to live in healthy daily rhythms of 1) worship, 2) mission and 3) community centered on the Gospel of Jesus. Organization that overemphasizes one to the detriment of the others can lead to man created religion and/or extremes such as christendom and/or syncretism. Furthermore, merely evaluating whether an institution has these three components falls short as well if they are compartmentalized and/or the individuals that make up the institution are not learning to personally live out all three in balanced life rhythm in their daily context. For these reasons, we highly value Christ-centered worship, mission and community as vital for every person to “be the Church.” And, we believe that these rhythms can be accomplished best in smaller groups of individuals who naturally live out life together in community. Microchurch is the most basic expression of ecclesia, and by keeping our ecclesiology simple it can allow for those in our context to experience the richest sense of being locked-arms with other believers and maintaining gospel focus while living out quiet and peaceful rhythms in their daily lives as Christ followers on mission. We do affirm biblically appointed leadership. Furthermore, we do not believe the larger expression of gathering is unbiblical, we simply believe it exists to serve the smaller and not the other way around.
Jn 4:23-24; Col 3:16-17; Mt 28:19-20; Lk 10:1-3; Acts 2:42-47; Acts 12:2; Acts 20:20; Rom 15:5-6; Rom 16:3-5; I Cor 3:16; I Cor 14:26-33; I Cor 16:19; Eph 2:22; Eph 4:15-16; Col 3:16-17; Col 4:15; I Tim 3:2-7; Tit 1:5-9; Heb 6:10-11; Heb 10:24-25; I Pet 2:5,9; I Pet 5:1-5; Rev 1:6
