About

We believe someone like you followed Jesus.

It might sound presumptuous to say so, but think about it- Thousands upon thousands of diverse people crowded around Jesus as He walked from town to town.

Crowds of rich and poor. Young and old. The in-crowd and outcasts. Religious and irreligious. Those convinced about who He is and those unconvinced. Thousands of people all following the most profound and remarkable person they had ever encountered.

So chances are, in that crowd, was someone like you who followed Jesus.

And we’re starting a church because we want to help you ask one simple question: Why?

You may not have the best response when you hear the word church, but it’s probably a bit different than we intend. Because we’re not talking about a building. Or even a religion. We’re talking about the image of a diverse group of people following a person named Jesus and reacting to what He does and says.

Someone like you.

God is a really big concept. So it’s probably best to start with something called the Apostle’s Creed, which are words followers of Jesus have been using since about 390 A.D. to summarize what they believe about God:

We believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.

We believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

Real simple, we believe mercy is NOT giving someone what they DO deserve, while grace is giving someone what they DO NOT deserve. Hopefully that didn’t sound too wordy, because we think it’s core to considering Jesus.

Mercy – NOT giving someone what they DO deserve.
Grace – giving someone what they DO NOT deserve.

Jesus taught that He was God’s ultimate act of mercy and grace—that God wouldn’t give us [mercy] the punishment our sins do deserve because He would die on the cross on our behalf. Even more, that God would give us [grace] the eternal life we don’t deserve because He would rise from the grave.

In 1517, a revolutionary named Martin Luther started the Protestant Reformation, which basically centered around these mysterious and profound concepts of mercy and grace. Luther suddenly realized there was nothing we could do for God to earn God’s mercy or grace. In fact, to do so would make it no longer mercy or grace, and Jesus’ death and resurrection would be, well, trivial.

Much to Luther’s chagrin, those who agreed with his ideas started calling themselves Lutherans. We also follow Luther’s teachings on mercy and grace, not because we follow Luther, but because we think Luther helps us follow Jesus.

We believe baptism is God’s promise to do something for you.

ORDINARY
To explain how, we should start by explaining that the word baptize simply means to wash. Like, to wash the dishes or to wash your hands. So there’s nothing magical about the word; it’s just an ordinary word. There’s also nothing magical about the water; it’s just ordinary water.

But the promises and commands Jesus attaches to baptism are anything but ordinary.

BAPTISM PROMISES
Jesus promised that baptism is being “reborn of the spirit” (Jn. 3:4-6), an entrance into your new life. Jesus also described it as a mark of His followers with the promise that, “whoever believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mk. 16:16).

Early Christians talked about baptism with a lot of different images. They talked about baptism as a promise of entrance into the Church (1 Cor. 12:3). Or the promise of entrance into the family of God (Gal. 3:26-27). They saw your baptism as a promise to be buried with Jesus into His death so you could rise with Jesus in His life (Rom 6:4). Another early church leader declared baptism now saves you, with the promise of a clean conscience before God (1 Pet. 3:20-22).

These promises are why we think baptism isn’t so much what we do for God, but something that God does for us. In fact, on the day the Church started, 3,000 new followers of Jesus were baptized immediately because “the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off” (Acts 2:38-40).

BAPTISM COMMANDS
With such great promises attached to baptism, it makes sense that Jesus would urge His Church to, “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt. 28:19). So we talk about baptism a lot because we take Jesus’ baptism promises and Jesus’ baptism commands to heart.

YOUR BAPTISM
If you have yet to be baptized, or if you have more questions about baptism, please contact us.

Communion is a simple meal of bread and wine, full of depth and meaning for you!

For centuries the people of Israel celebrated the Passover meal (Exodus 12) to both remember God's deliverance from Egypt and to also look forward for God's promised Christ, or Messiah. Just before his death and resurrection, Jesus celebrated the Passover with his closest followers and instituted a new celebration when he "took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” (1 Cor. 11:23-24) Next he took a cup of wine from the Passover table and, "when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." (Matthew 26:27-28)

His body is broken for you. His blood is shed for you. Which means communion is for you.

If you look around right now you'll see some lights are on. Those lights are bulbs shining from little wires somewhere, that are connected with an electrical cord to a circuit breaker somewhere, that's connected to a transformer outside somewhere, that's connected to a power plant somewhere. Unless you're an electrician, you don't understand how all that works—but you don't have to understand how all of it works in order to enjoy the benefits of the light right now. For us, that's how we like to think of communion

In communion, we believe God is doing something for you and your soul, promising forgiveness of sins and giving you what he says he's giving you–-his body and blood. Your role isn't to understand how he's doing it, your role is to simply celebrate and receive it in faith.