OUR VALUES & BELIEFS

Our Core Values

THE GOSPEL OF JESUS

We as a church are all about Jesus—he is the true Vine, our source and center, our beginning and end, our savior and king. Therefore, we desire to see all of life display the gospel of Jesus. The gospel is the good news according to the Scriptures that God’s kingdom has come in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus for the redemption of our lives, the reconciliation of a new multiethnic kingdom family, and the renewal of all things. The gospel is not about what we do for God. It's about what Jesus has done for us in love—dying in our place and bearing our sins to offer us forgiveness and new life. Therefore, we hold the gospel of Jesus to be the foundation and heart of our identity, ministry, worship, and mission as a church. (Luke 4:18–19; Romans 1:16–17; 1 Corinthians 15:1–10; Ephesians 2:1–22).

DISCIPLESHIP & SPIRITUAL GROWTH

We believe that Christ calls us to abide in him and follow him as his disciples. As we abide in and follow Christ together, God grows us by his Spirit in maturity and Christ-likeness, and he helps us to flourish in bearing the fruit of the Spirit. As disciples of Jesus, we commit to gather together regularly to worship God, edify and equip one another, and strive to live lives worthy of the gospel. We affirm that following Christ together involves a love for God above all else and an abiding commitment to hear, study, treasure, and obey the Word of God. We also believe that a life of following Christ together involves a commitment to prayer, repentance, confession, and sharing in the suffering of Christ. We seek to be a church that makes and multiplies disciples who make much of Jesus by making disciples who make disciples. And we desire to be a church that pursues God-glorifying, Christ-centered, and Spirit-empowered growth in all of life. (Luke 10:27; Acts 14:22; Romans 12:1-2; Galatians 5:22-26; Ephesians 4:13–16; 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18; 2 Timothy 2:15; Hebrews 10:19–25; James 1:22; 1 John 1:9).

MULTIETHNIC COMMUNITY

The redemptive story of the Bible reveals God’s heart for reconciling to himself a people from every nation, race, language, and culture. God created humanity—people of all ethnicities—in His own image, to bear the image of God. And though our sin brought enmity and division that separated us from God and one another, God has come for us in Christ to reconcile to himself the church—a new multiethnic, multicultural family called to love God and love one another. Therefore, we desire every area of our shared life to display God’s good and beautiful design for multiethnic and multicultural community: in our leadership, worship, discipleship, relationships, ministry, mission, justice, and mercy. While we know that fostering a multiethnic community is not easy, we aim to be a community of honesty, humility, care, and solidarity, where everyone is invited to bring our whole selves with our questions, our cultures, and our stories. In order to foster a multiethnic community, we intentionally pursue the practices of hospitality, empathetic listening, solidarity, repentance, and reconciliation. (Genesis 1:27, 31; Acts 2:42–47, 6:6; Romans 15:5–7; Ephesians 2:11–22; Col 3:10-11; Revelation 7:9–12).

WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH

In his conversation with the woman from Samaria, Jesus said that the Father is seeking worshipers who will worship Him in Spirit and Truth. We want to be these kinds of worshipers. We want all of our worship— gathered, family, individual—to be guided by the Spirit, centered on Jesus who is Truth incarnate, all for the glory of the Father. We seek to worship in Truth by anchoring ourselves in the biblical Christian faith, grounded in the ancient and eternal gospel of Jesus according to the true and authoritative Scriptures. We seek to worship in Spirit by prayerfully and creatively pursuing Spirit-led expressions of God’s kingdom for our particular cultural context and moment. We believe that biblical faithfulness gives us the clarity, conviction, and courage to collectively and worship and represent God in our Valley with creativity and humility. (John 4, Romans 12:1-2, Jude 3; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Colossians 3:1-4, 10–17).

LIFE ON MISSION

We believe that God is on a mission to redeem broken, sinful people and renew all things through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Therefore we seek to be a community sharing in God’s mission, representing Christ in our presence, words, and actions, as we make disciples and seek to advance God’s kingdom. We desire to joyfully and generously participate in the Holy Spirit’s work of redemption and renewal, seeking to walk in the reality that God is making all things new. We participate in God’s mission by pursuing the spiritual, personal, relational, and cultural flourishing of lives and communities in our Valley. (Isaiah 61:11, Matthew 28:18–20; Luke 4:16–22).

Our Beliefs

The Vine Church stands in a biblical tradition of Christian belief centered on the Triune God and the gospel of Jesus, anchored in the truth of the Scriptures, aligned with the church’s early confessional statements of faith, like the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds. To see a fuller picture of what we believe, please check out our Statement of Faith. But the best way to discover who we are and what we believe is come visit us! You’re always welcome!