mission & Marks

Ecumenical means: If you'd like to be here, we'd love to have you.

Centered means: Our approach to scripture & life is centered in the life, resurrection, and teachings of Jesus. Church is not something we build or support, but something we practice and steward together. We organize our church around eight practices passed on to us from Jesus, and acknowledge everyone starts somewhere.

Here means: Giving and receiving good news with those who receive the least amount of good news. The incarnation—God becoming flesh in Jesus—is the model and vision for the local church. Just as Jesus lived among people in a specific place and time, we think our faith must be embodied in the present, responding to the needs of local people while remaining connected to the broader mission of God.

WE HAVE UNITY

There is one Body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all… Ephesians 4:4-6 (NIV)

WE HAVE LIBERTY

Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall…So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Romans 14:1, 4, 12, 22

WE SHOW CHARITY

…and hold in my mind not only all human knowledge but the very secrets of God, and if I have that absolute faith which can move mountains – but have no love, I amount to nothing at all. I Corinthians 13:2

The Apostles' Creed

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended to the dead. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;  from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. 
Amen.

The Nicene Creed

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made. Who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the living and the dead; 
whose kingdom shall have no end.
And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceedeth from the Father [and the Son]; who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified; who spake by the prophets. And we believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and we look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. 
Amen.