In Matthew 22:37, Jesus says the greatest commandment is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.” More than anything, we want to be people who are deeply in love with God and are spending time in His presence regularly through daily Bible reading and prayer.
We believe that a church cannot be fully successful or healthy if the people are not personally meeting with God and enjoying His presence consistently. 1 John 2:3 and 6 says that “we can be sure we know him if we obey his commandments” and that “those who say they live in God should live their lives as Jesus did.” We also believe that when we draw closer to God, our love for Him, His Word, one another, the lost, and Jesus’ mission naturally grows and we become more of the church that God truly desires.
Jesus also said that "all people will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35). The body of believers should be closer to us than our own families (Matt. 12:46; Luke 14:26).
It is our priority to first know God and be spending time alone with Him regularly but we want to also genuinely know and love our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ in the way we are commanded to in the Bible. We want to be a community that shares openly and regularly about our lives, struggles, sins, and joys (Romans 12:15); a community that shares our possessions, speaks the truth in love, corrects in love, forgives, encourages, builds up, exhorts, and offers accuntability (Eph. 4:15; 1 Thes. 5:11; Heb. 3:12-13; Acts 13:15; Gal. 6:1-2).
Through prayer, sacrifice, and the empowering of Holy Spirit, it is also our desire that we would be able to exhibit the supernatural love and unity that Jesus prayed for in John 17 with every member of the body. In a true family, no one should be left out or feel alone and isolated. Every person’s needs should be cared for (Acts 4:32-34), and the family takes it upon itself to care for its members. This is the kind of love that points people to Jesus.
