Our vision is to establish a regional church in the North Valley that would one day help plant other churches. We see imago dei as becoming a training center or a mission outpost for the North Valley by equipping and empowering believers to saturate our city with a presence of the gospel, from the board rooms to living rooms to class rooms in local schools!
We are working to raise up a new generation of leaders to influence and impact our city with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We will be a church that…
- Preaches primarily through books of the Bible as well as covers topics
- Provides ongoing theological/Bible education for lay leaders
- Places the highest values on establishing healthy Sunday Morning Celebration Services and Missional Communities that meet in homes throughout the month.
- Serves the poor and needy in our area
- Sends missionary teams both locally and globally
- Plants churches
- Empowers everyday people to make disciples in their sphere of influence
We will not be a church that….
- Has lots of programs to offer. Rather we will encourage our people to find those in community centers, YMCA’s etc.
- Teaches topically every week. We will teach through books of the bible and cover theological and other culturally relevant topics as needed.
- Seeks to be one homogeneous people. We will seek to reach and reflect the people in the North Valley. Therefore we will not be content to simply reach people that are just like us!
Purpose Statement
Our Purpose is to “Make disciples who live out gospel-centered lives.”
We believe that a gospel-centered life (see image) is centered around the cross of Christ. Our lives are forged and shaped around the good news (the gospel) that Christ died for sinners, was buried, and resurrected on third day! He saved us, and sends us! We are His disciples commissioned to the make more disciples, who will live out His commands in our city!
As a result of this gospel, we see ourselves as a people who are “Made in His image” (imago dei) designed to be worshipers, missionaries and family. In short, we live in light of the cross. This is the gospel-centered life we believe mankind was created to live. The gospel-centered life calls us to be Worshipers, Missionaries and Family, here is what we believe that should look like.
Worshipers
- Know: As worshipers we seek to know Jesus Christ both personally and corporately. We discipline ourselves to know God by reading in His word, studying theology and practicing prayer. Corporately, we gather for Sunday morning celebration services for the exaltation of Christ.
- Live: As worshipers we seek offer our whole lives as an act of worship, living according to God’s word in daily life and seeking to apply the scriptures.
- Give: As worshipers of Jesus we want to be good stewards of everything that God has given to us. We offer not just our finances but our skills for service to God’s work and mission in the church and in our city. We are generous people with all we have been entrusted with and regularly seek to give in order to further God’s work both locally and globally.
Missionaries
- Cultivate: We believe that participating in God’s mission for humanity requires that we as Christians take an active part in cultivating relationships with the people in our city, not just people who are like us, but all people. We seek to cultivate relationships with the people in our work places, neighborhoods, schools etc. that would ultimately help them grow in a relationship with Christ.
- Plant: We believe and have seen that God uses ordinary people to plant seeds of His gospel to do extraordinary things!
- Reap: We believe that God will save many people, yet he calls on us to be participators to help people make decisions, that would glorify God, choices that would challenge them to take the next step to grow closer to Christ and be reconciled to both God and man.
Families
- Expose: We believe that God is our heavenly father and we are His children. As a family we are called to live a life that is open and authentic to our brothers and sisters in Christ. We believe that spiritual growth happens best when there are genuine relationships with other Christians.
- Coach: We believe that we grow when there are coaches in our lives, and when we are coaching others as well. Not only in our work places but in our spiritual life as well.
- Reproduce: We believe that reproduction is part of a healthy spiritual life. We actively work to discover, develop and deploy new disciples into our city.
