True worship involves acknowledging our proper place before the almighty God. When we worship, we are glorifying God, while at the same time placing ourselves in submission to Him. He is our Lord and our Master; we are His humble servants, whose lives are entirely dependent on Him. It is God’s desire that we conduct all aspects of our lives in this worshipful manner, which makes us wholly devoted to the Lord and draws us closer to Him.

God has given us the amazing privilege of talking directly with Him. The Bible instructs us to pray on all occasions with all kinds of requests, intercession, and thanksgiving. The Holy Spirit uses our open and honest prayers to interact with us and leads us into a more intimate relationship with our Lord. Through prayer, we lay ourselves bare before our loving Father, submit our will to His will, and entrust our cares to His care.

The Bible is God’s direct revelation to us. God uses the Bible to teach, guide, correct, and encourage us. As we study and devote ourselves to Scripture, we are drawn closer to the Lord, and we learn to think and to act in His ways instead of our own. Our desire is to be so saturated in the Word of God that our minds are renewed, causing us to be transformed into the image of Christ.

To be in community means to belong to one another. The Church is a spiritual union of believers, bound by the Holy Spirit into one Body. Every member of the Body is a part of every other member, brought together for the purpose of mutual edification, building one another up into strong, mature, and faithful followers of Jesus Christ so that together we are transformed into the image of Christ. There are two primary tasks given to the Church to accomplish the building up of the Body.

To be in true fellowship is to share dedicated, consistent, and intentional involvement in the lives of the other members of the Body, for the purpose of caring for, encouraging, and supporting one another. As brothers and sisters in Christ, we help each other to grow in faith and godliness, “spurring each other on to love and good works”. Fellowship is the practical, daily living out of the fact that we belong to one another.

Fellowship is about being together with the Body.

Every member of the Body is called to use his or her unique gifts, talents, and abilities to serve the Body, administering God’s grace to His children. This is done in order that the members will be strengthened, built up to spiritual maturity, and equipped for further ministry.

Ministry is about working together in the Body.

The Church is called to go out into the lost and dying world with a message of hope, that reconciliation with God is possible through Jesus Christ. When people have an encounter with Jesus and turn their lives over to Him, they are transformed into new creations and become adopted sons and daughters of the King of Kings. Scripture talks about our calling to impact the world in two distinct but related ways.

Lost people need to hear the Gospel because that is the means God uses to bring salvation into their lives. God has given us the privilege and command to deliver this Gospel message to the people around us, to our community, and to the ends of the earth. The way we deliver the message may be adapted to the particular audience, but the content of the message is always the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

To be like Jesus is to have hearts full of compassion, to be able to recognize the needs of hurting people, and to be actively involved in meeting those needs wherever possible as the Lord gives us the means and the ability. We serve because we love people and because we want people to know that God loves them too. As we perform acts of service, it is our desire that people will see Jesus in us, hear about Jesus from us, and be drawn to God’s saving grace.