Leading families to discover life in Jesus.
For the family.
For the neighborhood.
For the world.
Statement of Faith
Doctrine – We accept the Scriptures as our authority in matters of faith and practice, and adopt the following Statement of Faith as our interpretation of Bible Doctrine:
The Bible
We believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as verbally inspired by God and inerrant in the original writings, and that they are of supreme and final authority. [2 Tim. 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:21; 1 Thess. 2:13]
The Trinity
We believe in one God eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three in one, co-equal, which is the Trinity. [John 1:1, 14; Acts 5:3,4; 1John 5:7]
Birth of Jesus
We believe that Jesus Christ was begotten of God, conceived of the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary.” [Isa. 7:14;Luke 1:35; Heb. 4:15; 1 Cor. 15:47; 1 John 5:20]
Holy Spirit
We believe in the Holy Spirit, third Person of the Trinity, Who convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He is the life of every believer, and He empowers the preaching and teaching of the Gospel. [John 14:16,17;16:8; Acts 1:8; Acts 5:30-32]
The Resurrection
We believe in the resurrection of the crucified body of our Lord, His ascension into Heaven and His present life there as High Priest and Advocate for all believers. [Matt. 28:6,7; Acts 1:9-10; Heb. 2:17; 1 John 2:1]
The Return of Jesus
We believe in that blessed hope, the personal, and imminent return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. [1 Thess.4:16-18; Acts 1:11; Matt. 24:44; Rev. 20:6]
Satan
We believe that Satan is a person, the author of sin, and the cause of the fall; that he is the open and declared enemy of God and man. Satan is still working in the world to destroy the souls of men and he and all his angels and all who receive not Christ as their Savior will eternally perish in the Lake of Fire. [Job.1:6,7; Isa. 14:12-17; Matt. 4:2-11; 1 Peter 5:8; Rev. 20:10]
Sin Nature
We believe that man was created in the image of God, that he sinned, there by incurring not only physical, but spiritual death (which is separation from God), and that all human beings are born with a sinful nature which is manifested in thought, word, and deed.” [Gen. 1:26-27; 3:1-6; Rom. 3:10, 23; 5:12]
The Cross
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice, and that all who believe in Him are justified on the ground of His shed blood.” [Rom. 5:6-9; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3:13; 1 John 4:10]
Salvation
We believe that salvation is the gift of God, offered to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose precious blood was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins. All who receive Jesus Christ as their personal Savior are born again of the Holy Spirit and become children of God and heirs of eternal life. This is a relationship in which they are eternally secure. [John 3:16; Acts 20:20-21; Eph.1:13; 2:8-9; 1 John 5:11-12]
Eternal Life
We believe in the bodily resurrection of the just and unjust, the everlasting conscious punishment of the lost in hell, and the everlasting blessedness of the saved in heaven. [Matt.28:6-7; Acts 1:9-10; Heb.2:17; 1 John 2:1]
The Church
We believe in the Church, the Body of Christ, whose mission it is to make disciples of all nations by preaching the Gospel. (Matthew 28:18-20)
We believe that in all of its endeavors the Church should be supported by the love-gifts of the members. [Matt. 16:16-18; Matt. 28:18-20, Acts 2:41-42, 47; 1 Cor. 12:12-13; Col. 1:18]
We believe that the ordinances of the Church, given by our Lord, are baptism (by immersion following conversion) and the Lord’s Table (Communion). [Matt.26:26-30;28:19; Luke 22:19-20; Acts 8:36-39; 1 Cor.11:23-29]
Our Goals
Jesus-Rooted Families
Our goal is that each family at our church is first rooted in Christ. A Jesus-rooted family is not perfect but is a family that is committed to the mission of Jesus and to the community of Jesus-followers. We are asking God to fill this church with Christ-centered families so that the impact is generational.
Jesus-Saturated Neighborhoods
We want to see every neighborhood in greater Aurora have a neighborhood-centric community group. The more a neighborhood is saturated with Jesus-rooted families, the greater the impact on that neighborhood.
Jesus-Focused Giving
We want to lead families to discover life in Jesus both inside of our church and outside of our church. Our heart is to develop local and global ministry partners that have a like-minded vision. We will look for opportunities to pray for, give to, and serve these partner ministries.
Jesus-Centered Church Plant
As the Lord allows us to meet our goals, we will have more Jesus-Rooted families in Jesus-Saturated neighborhoods outside of Aurora. Therefore, our hope is that we would be healthy enough to consider planting another church in Northeast Ohio.
Our Motives
Keep Jesus Central
Jesus is not only first in the line of priorities for us as church, but he is the foundation of our church (Matthew 6:33). As a matter of fact, to know Jesus is to have life to its fullest potential (John 10:10). We believe that when someone makes Jesus the hub of their life, it transforms every aspect of their life. This discovery means that we should view everything through the lens of Jesus and his gospel. Every time we open the Bible, we will connect it to Jesus. Jesus transforms us forever at conversion, but he never stops changing us until we are with him in heaven. Everything breaks down if this motive is missing in anything we do as a church.
Build the Family
For better or worse, a person’s family of origin is the most significant influence in their life. That’s because God’s original plan for discipleship is through the family (Deut. 6:4-9). That means we will put a large portion of our resources into marriage ministry, kids’ ministry, and student ministry, emphasizing partnering with and equipping families to center their homes on Jesus. We believe healthy marriages and strong parenting are the building blocks of a healthy church. Everyone should understand that your family is your greatest gospel responsibility, and your family could be the greatest avenue to connect the gospel to others.
Depend on Each Other
We were not meant to go through life alone. From the beginning, God has existed in community, three persons in one God (Genesis 1:26, Matthew 3:16-17), and desires the same for us. Relationship with other Christians pushes us to become stronger in our faith (Proverbs 27:17, Hebrews 10:24-25). If you are trying to follow Jesus alone, you are depriving yourself of the essential spiritual oxygen you need to live as a Christian. We feel that if you build trust with other Christians, you can be transparent with them about your shortcomings and be challenged with the truth. We also believe when Christians live in dependent community, it has the power to bring more people to Jesus (Acts 2:42-47).
Live Sacrificially
One of the marks of the early church is their willingness to sacrifice for each other (Acts 2:45). They lived as if nothing they had belonged to them, but they always looked for ways to give to others. At this church, we want to develop a culture where everyone is open-handed and generous with their time, talents, and treasure. We desire to see our congregation viewing their home, neighborhood, workplace, and everyday life as a mission field to display the sacrificial love of Jesus. To accomplish this, we will ask all people to discover their God-given gifts and use them to serve the church and the community to advance the gospel (Ephesians 2:10).
Choose Integrity
As followers of Jesus, we are called to a life of integrity, not because Jesus will somehow love us more, but because Jesus has transformed our lives (Romans 6:1-2). Integrity means that we strive to be the same at home, school, work, and church. Integrity also means that the leadership of our church will be transparent in our communication and set the tone of integrity by being transparent with our lives, even if it hurts. The spiritual health of our people is more important than our personal reputation or the reputation of the church.
Strive for Excellence
Jesus calls us to love him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. As a result, we are compelled to put everything we have into the ministries we lead because they are an act of love for our Savior (Mark 12:30). Nothing we do is perfect, but we want to work hard to be as excellent as possible because we work for God (Colossians 3:23). A priority on excellence will be a part of our ministries’ planning, strategizing, execution, and evaluation. The gospel is our message, but we think delivering the gospel with excellence can make a big difference.