We covenant together to live out our S.T.O.R.I.E.S 

Scripture/ our roots 

We affirm the central truths of historic, orthodox Christian faith as expressed in the Apostle’s Creed and in particular, the Reformed tradition. We affirm the Bible as the story of God who has set apart a people for himself. We believe that we cannot truly know ourselves or life as it was intended outside of this story. We believe the Bible to be authoritative in our lives and the voices of many who have come before us, inspired by God to pass along their poems, stories, accounts, and letters of response and relationship with each other and the living God. We generously embrace and seek to humbly learn from Christians from many different denominations, cultures and languages, who proclaim Jesus as King.

Response: We covenant to be sent together embracing the authority of scripture and the roots of our faith.

Together/ our community

We value the image of God in all people, everywhere. We believe that we were created to live deeply with one another, carrying each other's burdens, sharing our possessions, to pray for and confess our sins to each other, to suffer and celebrate together. It's in these honest, loving relationships that God transforms us and truth becomes a reality. The way of Jesus cannot be lived alone.

Response: We covenant to move towards each other; embracing that we were made to live in community.

Others/ our serving

We believe that Jesus is God in human form and that the church is God's ongoing presence in the world. Led by the Spirit of God, we are passionate about bringing relief to those who sufferer, fighting injustice, and joining the God of the oppressed in living out the transforming message of the resurrected Jesus. Jesus calls his church to be a compelling force for shalom in the world. We believe that the church is at its best when it serves, sacrifices, and loves, caring about the things God cares about. We were created to live for something larger than ourselves.

Response: We covenant to be sent together to be agents of transformation in our world

Restoring/ our witness of shalom

We believe that the world was created by God and that is was completely good. Creation was in a state of shalom, life as it was intended. It was a world designed to forever flourish in harmony with God, with others, with self, and with creation. Yet in our selfish quest for control, people chose to live in a different way than God intended. Sin, the enemy of shalom, disrupted that world and continues to corrupt and diminish our lives and relationships. We believe that the “Good News” of the gospel is that through Jesus, God made it possible to restore shalom to the whole world. We believe that Jesus offers the world its only hope for the healing our relationship with God, with one another, with ourselves, and with all of creation. Salvation is not just something we receive for the life to come, but it is also something we can enter into right now.

Response: We covenant to be sent together in word and deed to offer a portrait of what life is supposed to be.

Include/ our offers of hospitality 

We make space for people in our communities, invite them into our homes to gather around a kitchen table as a meal is shared, authentic relationships are formed, and all are allowed to question and seek in our midst.

Response: We covenant together to create the fear free space of hospitality and honesty. 

 Eat and enjoy/ our celebration

We take great joy in partnering with God to change the world. Together, we embrace the truth that all of life is sacred, hope is real, and tomorrow can be better than today. We celebrate the divine in the daily, pursuing lives of hope, gratitude, and worship. God invites everyone everywhere into this way of life, and we believe it is the best possible way to live. 

Response: We covenant to live and move together in an atmosphere of joy and hope.

Scope/ our Gospel expanse 

The heart of the gospel is that Christ takes the broken, fragmented pieces of our lives and makes us into whole people. God wants to bring about a new humanity by redeeming every part of us. Yet the echoes of that transformation sound to the ends of all creation. The scope of the gospel compels us to believe that there is nothing too small or too large, too insignificant or too profane that cannot and will not be redeemed by Christ and the work of his people. We are called to redeem our vocations, our homes, our neighborhoods, and to care for the environment because they are all gifts from God. Our confidence is that God will one day renew the whole earth in Christ. Until that time we work towards that future, intentionally entering into the brokenness of our world to be God’s agents of restoration.

Response: We covenant to be sent together, taking up the call to bring redemption, restoration, and renewal to all of life.