What We Believe

We choose to live the Way of Jesus.  If there is one word that describes Jesus and the Way of life he modeled, that word is love.  Love of God.  Love for all of creation.  We dedicate ourselves to Jesus’ Way of love, freely committing to follow his lead.  We choose to see God, biblical texts, ourselves, and the world through Jesus’ example.  This covenant leads to great personal and global hope, and also leads us to flip the tables of the status quo wherever destructive beliefs and systems exist.  This pursuit seeks the renewal of all things, resurrecting life from expressions of death, restoring everything and everyone to wholeness and wellbeing (the Jewish concept/word for this is SHALOM).  We celebrate this free choice, and lovingly encourage others to consider the same new way of life we embrace.   Following Jesus leads to life at its best for all, including all creation, of which we are a part.  What follows is what living as Jesus looks like…  John 1-2

To pursue a relationship with God is a choice to be continually stretched to new ways of thinking and being.  When Jesus was with Nicodemus, John the Baptist, and the Samaritan woman at the well, he stretched their thinking with love and respect, even though it required them to let go of the familiar.  Therefore, we choose to stretch as God grows in us, and we lovingly help others stretch toward God as God works through us.  John 3-4

Jesus served humbly without discrimination.  He served enemies of the state, touched untouchables, healed those who were broken, and fed those who were hungry.  Therefore, we choose to share God’s love by kneeling to serve as Jesus modeled, bringing healing to our world.  John 5-7

Jesus stood for lavishly extending grace to everyone, but especially to those who were feeling condemned.  Be it an adulterous woman caught in the act, or a blind man convinced that he was beyond grace, Jesus acted with and spoke grace into their lives to free them from condemnation in all its forms.  Therefore, we choose to stand with and for those who experience shame, to love instead of judge. We choose to take a stand on an individual level as well as corporately, speaking into larger cultural issues where injustice, inequality and inequity need to be addressed.   John 8-9

Jesus loved people deeply by connecting with them in their grief, joy, shame, pain, filth, denial, and even their betrayal.  Therefore, we choose to connect in community with others, living together through life's highs, lows, and everything in-between, honoring each other as equals, all part of a beloved community.  John 10-13

Jesus’ Way kept him in communion with God.  Jesus fostered an intimate, personal relationship with God by practicing a variety of disciplines (solitude, prayer; gathering for worship, service, and community life) that allowed God’s presence to guide and direct his steps.  Therefore, we choose to commune with God so that our primary influence in our lives is love,  clearly reflected in our thoughts, passion, and mission.  John 14-17

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