First Church

Core Values

RESCUED PEOPLE RESCUE PEOPLE

We will not stop doing what Jesus commanded us to do in Matthew 28:18–20.
We understand the harvest is plentiful (Matt. 9:35–38), and in that harvest are people we love and care about deeply. This is the greatest way we can worship and love God and love others. This looks like:

• Inviting/bringing others to church
• Building relationships with people far from God
• Equipping ourselves with the ability to share our faith and then doing it

SAVED PEOPLE SERVE PEOPLE

We will not stop doing what the Bible commands of us in 1 Peter 4:10.
We get the fact that the world is not going to be reached by a screaming church, but rather by a serving church. We are going to do whatever it takes to discover how God has gifted us in order to become more like Jesus (Matt. 20:28) and impact the world like never before. This looks like:

• Volunteering on any number of our church teams
• Serving in one of our missions

GROWING PEOPLE CHANGE

We will not stop praying Psalm 139:23–24 over our own lives.
We are fed up with religious attitudes that are extremely focused on the lives of others but refuse to deal with the sin in their own lives. We will not stop begging God to make us more like his son Jesus, to fill us with his thoughts and to show the areas in our lives where we fall short so we can repent and move forward in our walk with him.

PEOPLE NEED OTHER PEOPLE

We will obey what the Lord has instructed us to do in Hebrews 10:24–25.
We get the fact that we are not strong enough to make it on our own, that Christianity is not a solo sport, and the phrase “one another” appears over 40x in the New Testament. We understand that two are better than one (Eccl. 4:9) and that one can put a thousand to flight, but two can put ten thousand to flight (Deut. 32:30). There is power in numbers, so we are committed to large groups (Sunday services) and small groups at the same time. This looks like: Joining a small group or service team.

GRACE LEADS TO GENEROSITY

We will obey what God’s Word says in Malachi 3:6–12.
We refuse to be the church full of people who believe God’s Word in regards to salvation, but then refuse to believe the passages about financial blessings (Prov. 3:9–10, 2 Cor. 9:6–15).

We know that Jesus Himself said that money would be the #1 competitor of our worship of Him (Matt. 6:24), and we also know that people who love money wind up in a lot of trouble (1 Tim. 6:6–10). We’ve seen God bless our church and others through the generosity of people, and we know the best is yet to come. It’s not just going to happen—it is happening.