Mission Statement

Mission & Vision

Our Mission:

First Christian Reformed Church’s mission is

to make and multiply fully mature disciples of Jesus Christ

through gospel worship, discipleship, fellowship, missions and deeds,

as we spread a passion for His glory locally and to the ends of the earth.

Our Vision:
 

First Christian Reformed Church desires

to see our community, nation and world captivated 

by the person and work of Jesus

so that God is glorified, Jesus is magnified, and faith is multiplied.
 

Our Ministry Strategy

For God’s glory, First Christian Reformed Church is committed to seeing more and more people more and more captivated by the person and work of Jesus. To fulfill our mission, we desire to be a disciple making community that produces healthy Christians through:
o    Gospel Worship 
o    Gospel Discipleship
o    Gospel Fellowship
o    Gospel Missions
o    Gospel Deeds of Love and Mercy
 

Gospel Worship
All Christian Worship is gospel infused, shaped, and directed. Our worship will be bathed in and entirely shaped by Scripture, intentionally Trinitarian, Dialogical, Covenantal, and Christ centered. The means of grace are the primary ways that God has promised to work in the world today, including the preaching of the gospel in a faithful exegesis of the Word clearly and boldly applied to God’s people, prayer, and sacraments as the means by which the Holy Spirit confirms us in faith and nourishes and refreshes our souls for eternal life.
 

Gospel Discipleship
All Christian formation is gospel infused, shaped, and directed. Jesus’ Great Commission is to “make disciples of all nations, teaching them everything [He] has commanded”  in his Word. We will encourage and provide opportunities for people of all ages to grow up in every way into Christ, to full maturity in the faith.  We will identify, encourage, and develop leaders. We aim to develop fully mature Christians in their:
o    Character         (Personal formation)
o    Content         (Theological Formation)
o    Competence     (Ministry Skills Formation)
•    Such fully mature Christians will:
o    Worship authentically
o    Evangelize intentionally
o    Love purposefully
o    Learn consistently
 

Gospel Fellowship
All Christian Fellowship is gospel infused, shaped, and directed. We will encourage and provide opportunities for the entire community to develop deep relationships with one another in and around Christ in which they are encouraged, supported, challenged, and enfolded. 
 

Gospel Missions:
All Christian Missions and Evangelism is gospel infused, shaped, and directed. We will generously support and deeply engage with missionaries in our community and around the world. We will provide short term mission opportunities for our congregation. We will intentionally grow in enthusiasm, equipping, and engagement in local evangelism, with every member equipped to winsomely communicates the Gospel in a multiplication of evangelism and invitation. 

Gospel Deeds of Love and Mercy
All Christian mercy is gospel infused, shaped, and directed. Diaconal Ministries show generous compassion to those who need care, within and outside our community, as a means of showing the love of Christ and providing opportunities for the Gospel to be shared. The whole church is called to ‘diakonia’: God-glorifying service that is rendered to the world in obedience to Christ.  Such works of service lead to unity in the faith, knowledge of the Son of God, maturity, and the whole measure of the fullness of Christ being displayed and experienced in and through his people.
 

Our Ministry Principles

The Word of God
We believe in the Triune God of the Bible and the Bible of the Triune God. 
We believe without a doubt all things contained in the word of God,   
living under complete subjection to it.  
This inspired and infallible word is breathed out by God , perfect, sure, right, pure, and true; 
written that we may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,  
and that by believing find life in his name.  
Creation speaks truly, clearly, authoritatively and sufficiently about God’s divine nature,
But is wholly insufficient for sinful creatures to truly know God or find salvation.
Scripture alone reveals God personally, directly, truly, perspicuously, and sufficiently,
    as much as is necessary for us to know in this life, to his glory and our salvation. 
All scripture is a revelation of the person and work of Jesus Christ; 
made living, active  and effectual  by the power of the Holy Spirit, 
so that we might be born again  and sanctified in the truth.

Therefore, we commit to:
1.    letting the Word direct and shape all we are and do personally and corporately, at home and school, work and community, married or single, doing everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, loving God by obeying him in all things as declared in his Word.  
2.    bible-saturated worship, education, missions, and personal piety, using the Word itself as much as possible, trusting it will never return empty.  
 

Gospel Proclamation
We believe that since all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory,  
and the wages of sin is death, 
our only hope is reconciliation with God  through the person and work of Jesus Christ.
In his incarnation he united his divinity with our humanity, true God and true man. 
In his life he perfectly obeyed the law in our place through his active obedience. 
In his death he fully paid for all our sins in his substitutionary atonement. 
In his resurrection he won the complete victory over sin and the curse, earning us eternal life. 
In his ascension he brings our very nature into heaven, there interceding and reigning for us. 
In his return he will judge the living and the dead, bringing the fullness of his kingdom. 
In his eternal mediation he grants us God himself as the ultimate gift of our redemption. 
This gospel alone, sufficiently and effectively, in this life and for eternity, 
is the very power of God unto salvation, 
by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone to the glory of God alone.

Therefore, we commit to: 
1.    passionate Christ-centered, gospel-saturated preaching, teaching, and living.
2.    the defense and bold exaltation of Christ’s substitutionary atonement.
3.    the highest standards of preparation and development for gospel ministry and proclamation.
4.    prioritizing gospel preaching, missions, and church planting as a central part of God’s purpose for His church and the only hope of the world,  proclaiming the gospel to every tribe and language and people and nation, until all God’s elect are gathered by their great shepherd Jesus, the only name under heaven by which we can be saved.  
 

Church Life
We believe God is the greatest possible good, in whom is all our delight, glorious in all he is and does,  
We see his Glory most clearly in the face of Jesus Christ. 
Our Lord Jesus Christ is the only head of the church, to be passionately loved and served in all things. 
Jesus loves his bride, giving himself up for her that he might sanctify her. 
As he who called us is holy, we are to be holy in all we do , 
being imitators of God,  conformed to Christ,  and transformed by the Spirit, 
seeking purity in thought, word, and deed in every aspect of our life,
personally, communally, and as a denomination.
We seek for God-glorifying, Christ-centered, Spirit-directed worship, 
in the tradition of the Reformation, 
regulated by and permeated with scripture,
not worshipping him in any other way than he has commanded in his word, 
intentionally Trinitarian, Covenantal, and Dialogic, 
in communion with the church of all times and places.
We conform our church polity to the Word of God under Christ, 
with a Presbyterian form of government  
in which we are accountable to one another in life and doctrine 
through the offices of the church, 
as they serve as under-shepherds of Christ and by his authority 
at the congregational, classical, and synodical level.
We have a resolute and joyful adherence to the three Reformed Confessions 
as a true interpretation of the Word of God, 
shaping and governing our shared life and ministry,
guiding all our preaching and teaching as office-bearers.

Therefore, we commit to:
1.    meditating on his Word,  personally and in small groups, with eager obedience to and complete trust in the goodness of all his commandments.     
2.    devoted and fervent personal and corporate prayer. 
3.    treasuring Christ and spreading a passion for his glory, longing for the day we will enjoy Him forever.
4.    faithful and diligent participation in the life of the church, with enthusiastic church attendance,  and the sharing of our gifts in a communal life of sacrifice and service.  
5.    joyful commitment to and sure confidence in the ordinary means of grace in worship, trusting that God’s power will surely be made present and effectual. in and through the elements of worship He prescribes.
6.    distinctly Christian discipleship and accountability, teaching, admonishing, and disciplining in ways that are biblical and Christ-like. 
7.    joyful and diligent teaching of the Scriptures as summarized in the Reformed Confessions.
8.    guarding the good deposit handed down to us as faithful stewards, unwaveringly passing along the faith, in word and deed, from generation to generation, that God’s name may be glorified, His kingdom come, and His will be done,   Amen.