Here is a summary of God’s calling on the church and its life together:
- We are called to worship God for His works of creation, redemption, protection, and goodness with joyful and fully engaged hearts and minds.
- We are called to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ crucified for the salvation of sinners.
- We are called to know, teach, live by, and delight in the Law of God.
- We are called to affirm and declare that we are redeemed, adopted, reconciled, and justified by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
- We are called to teach God’s Word alone.
- We are called to be in edifying community as members of Christ’s body here on earth.
- We are called to a thankful response to the mercies of God in Christ Jesus with sacrificial lives lived by the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us.
- We are called to baptize our children and new believers and to teach them all that Christ has commanded us. We gratefully take part in fulfilling the Great Commission, and we seek to do so corporately, in our families, and as individuals.
- We are called to be salt and light in the world, to maintian our God-given identity as distinct from it while meaningfully and substantially interacting with it in pursuit of its good.
- We hold morning and evening worship services that are Christ-centered and focus on the ministry of the Word and Sacraments (baptism and the Lord’s Supper). The services are grounded in and pervaded by Scripture and value heart-filled congregational participation.
- We celebrate the Lord’s Supper every Sunday morning in order to remember Christ’s sacrifice, proclaim His death until He comes again, and commune with Him and the benefits of His salvation by His word and Spirit.
- We seek the Lord together in prayer on a regular basis (Sunday services and Thursday nights) in order to commune with God, confess our sins, ask His forgiveness, lift one another up, pray for God’s Kingdom to come and will to be done, for his blessing on the church’s unity, purity, and peace, and on our nation, for Christ-reflective marriages, strength to raise our children in the discipline and instruction of the LORD, obedient hearts for children to obey their parents, for faithfulness and satisfaction in our vocations, His love to manifest itself in our lives before unbelievers, and for God to bless us and keep us faithful to His gospel and word.
- We sing Psalms and contemporary and traditional hymns and songs, and we value good music deeply rooted in Scripture for our instruction, joy, comfort, and God’s glory.
- We encourage all families to make spiritual education and regular family worship a priority at home (Deut 6:7; 11:19; Eph 6:4). We offer aid to members in order for them to carry out the biblical vision for their family joyfully.
- We encourage struggling members to seek out other members who can strengthen and encourage them in the faith.
- Elders function as examples, preachers, teachers, overseers, mentors, encouragers, and counselors, with the goal of building up the body of Christ in love (Eph 4:4ff.).
- Deacons function as emobodiments of God’s love, care, and mercy, serving the congregation and community with their time, energy, and church-gifted resources.
- We encourage each member to use their Spirit-given gifts for the body’s good (Eph 4:12ff.; Philippians 2; 1 Cor 12:7ff.).
- We encourage meaningful interaction between the younger and older generations of the congregation (TItus 2:3-4).
- We encourage members to value spending time with one another both within and outside of official church gatherings.
- We encourage members to pursue showing hospitality to one another with joy, as a practical and accessible biblical way that we can all serve the body’s members and form strong bonds of Christian love (1 Pet 4:9; Rom 12:13).
- We hold various bible studies, book studies, sunday school classes, prayer meetings, fellowship meals, and church events throughout the year.
- We engage in outreach activities and pray that God will use us as a light to work salvation and good in the community.