OUR VALUES AND PRIORITIES

WORSHIP

Our highest priority is to worship the Lord.  By "worship," we mean a lifestyle of closeness and communion with Jesus seven days a week.  Our worship "service" is only a small part of this broad relationship which affects our entire way of life, both individually and as a group.  In our gatherings, much emphasis is given to the development of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  We encourage each other to "stir up the gift of God," as evidenced in 2 Timothy 1:6.  Congregational worship, the most complex and powerful worship, expression, brings us into Jesus' presence where major healings of all occur.  the Bible describes a wide range of vocal and bodily expressions of worship.  one my stand, sit, kneel, raise his hands, clap, dance, meditate, or speak to Jesus as the Holy Spirit leads. 

     A unique aspect of our worship service occurs once a month when we observe "Believers' Teaching Sunday."  A pastoral message is not preached.  Instead, teaching from the congregation is encouraged in accordance with 1 Corinthians 14:26 which states that, "When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation."  

GRACE

The grace of God is God's unmerited favor towards us.  All good things -- food, clothing, shelter, friends, provision, healing, special skills, even the desire to obey Him -- come from this grace.  We want our church to be one in which people live by this grace, discover the rest and relative ease of it, and spread its peaceful effect to others.  Grace prompts us us to be a loving, accepting, forgiving, growing church where the Holy Spirit teaches us individually what to eat, drink, see, or wear, as well as where to go and with whom to keep company.  Where the scriptures call for order, we seek the minimum necessary; when discipline is needed, we do it mercifully.  

THE KINGDOM

We view the kingdom of God as the "rule' or "kingship" of God.  When Jesus' kingship confronted the devil's, a violent struggle ensued, and healing, provision, and well-being replaced sickness, poverty, and despair.  These dramatic encounters usually drew crowds and were the primary means used by Jesus to expand His kingdom.  Therefor, we endeavor to be supernatural Christians who can train others to effectively pray for the sick, cast out demons, and perform miracles.  We are onlyone small part of God's master plan.  We yearn to cooperate with and love other local churches to promote unity in the Body of Christ.  As the Lord directs, we plant churches locally and beyond.

Youth

We involve our children in all that we do.  Our branch groups welcome and accommodate them, from infants and toddlers through teens.  In our congregation meetings on Sunday morning, we incorporate children into one of several "youth branches" which contain some adults and a variety of children of varying ages . The natural order present in a human family, with Grandma and Grandpa, mom and dad, older teens and younger teens, and elementary age children all present, is a better learning environment that the classic Sunday School in which the immaturities of younger children are amplified by gathering them into same-age groups.   Older teens and adults act as helpers and instructors.  The smallest children are the ones to whom the teaching is geared.  Everyone learns as the youngest are served, either by teaching or being taught.  We conduct special youth field trips, outings, and service rips, and recreation events each month involving the same general family variety of ages.