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Sovereign Grace is a Christ-Centered Evangelical Family that Exists to Glorify God and Enjoy Him Forever
Christ-Centered
We believe that Jesus’ virgin birth, perfectly obedient life, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and future return, are all central to human history and deserving of our wholehearted belief and devotion. All things were made by Jesus, are upheld by Jesus, and are made for Jesus’ glory. Our union with Christ by faith is what makes us “Christian”. He is our righteousness, sanctification and glorification. We seek to worship Him as our Prophet by trusting in His Word as truth. We come to Him as our Priest for salvation from sin and to find strength in our daily battle against sin. We honor Him as King by constantly seeking His kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven.
Evangelical
The term “evangelical” comes from combining the Greek word for "gospel" or "good news"(evangelion), from eu- "good" and angelion "message." To be “evangelical” means that we believe in the good news of the Gospel. We believe that God created all things good, but that Adam’s sin made the human race liable in our enmity and strife with God. Jesus came to restore what was lost and succedded in His mission. His righteousness was reckoned to us and our sin was accounted to Him in His crucifixion. He conquered death and ascended to the right hand of His father, from where He has sent the Holy Spirit to regenerate the hearts of lost sinners. Being “born again”, we are enabled to respond to the Gospel message through faith and repentance, thereby “justified” and reckoned as judicially righteous in His sight through our union with Christ. We are also “adopted” as children and enabled to cry out to Him as a Father. We also begin the ongoing work of “sanctification” in our conversion, thus glorifying God by bearing the fruit of the Spirit.
In a broader sense, the term “evangelical” has come to characterize those who have a high view of the Bible. We treasure the Bible as God's perfectly inspired Word and gladly recognize its authority in our lives. Because we believe that the Bible is sufficient to direct us in every area of life, Bible study and Scriptural application are vital to how we walk out our faith and care for one another. We believe that preaching should expound upon the text of Scripture and also point to Jesus.
In short, we believe the Bible and the main story of the Bible, which is the Gospel.
Family
We are not a building, though we meet in one. We are also not just a bunch of isolated individuals who happen to gather together. The Church is the “ekklesia”, or “called out ones”. We are a “called out” community of believers. We are all individual members which make up a single body, meaning that each and every single person is important to God’s plans and purposes for the Church. We seek to be a multi-ethnic, multi-generational body of believers that represents people from all walks of life. We reject any philosophy of Church growth that isolates its mission to a specific type of people. As adopted children of God, we strive to be a “household” of believers, serving one another in mutual love and concern.
Glorifying God and Enjoying Him Forever
This highest calling upon all of creation is to glorify God and Enjoy Him forever. The same is true for the purpose of the Church. Pastor-Author John Piper said,
Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Mission exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever.
We embrace the high calling of outreach and missions only because we believe that our God is worthy to be glorified and is the source of all joy. If we didn’t prioritize the glory of God in our worship and lives, then all efforts of outreach and missions would actually be a pathetic demonstration of a God who is not all-glorious and worthy of our lives. It would be like a salesman selling something that he doesn’t personally find worthy of his business.
We therefore strive to be a radically “doxological” community that displays the excellencies of our great God. We are passionate in our worship and seek to make much of God, believing that He is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.
Worship is the fuel for outreach because we want others to experience the glory of God in Christ Jesus and find Him to be the all-satisfying treasure in their lives. We are therefore a missionary people who serve a missionary God. God works through the mission of the Church in gathering worshippers from every nation, tribe, and tongue. We gladly embrace this mission and seek to share the Gospel, baptize new believers, and nurture glad-hearted God-glorifying disciples.
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