Gospel-Centered
Our first core value is that we believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the central purpose of all Scripture and therefore should be central to all Christian discipleship. We teach the Scriptures as the whole counsel of God with the Gospel as the lens. The method of teaching we use in our public worship, in general, is expositional preaching with the Gospel as the lens.
Community-Oriented
Our second core value is that we believe the Church is central to the life of every Christian. Christians are called to live in and submit to the shepherding of a local Church (Hebrews 10:25-25). The Church is where Christians build intimate relationships, gain guidance and wisdom for life decisions, are held accountable to walk in the truth of Scripture, and also participate in the work of the ministry and furtherance of the mission of Christ.
Disciple-making
Our third core value is that we believe that discipleship is essential for every Christian. We believe that teaching the truth in Christ Jesus is the first task of the Church. We believe the Nicene Creed encapsulates the primary truths that all Christians should know and believe. The Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12) are the primary virtues Christians nurture in their hearts. Finally, we teach five Timeless Practices: giving, prayer, fasting, serving the poor, and Sabbath (Matthew 6 and Isaiah 58) as the means of grace that all Christians should practice as worshipers of God in the New Covenant.
Multigenerational
Our fourth core value is that we believe our generation has the responsibility to declare the Lord’s goodness to the next one. We seek to resist generational fragmentation and choose rather to willingly take the more difficult path of multigenerational corporate worship.
Historically Rooted
Our fifth core value that there is great value in the witness of the Church of the past, and since we are one with them in Christ by the Spirit, we wish to remain connected to that great cloud of witnesses. Therefore, we believe we should make frequent use of the best hymns, creeds, confessions, and catechisms as a part of our worship liturgy. We also believe that, “every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.” (Matthew 13:52 ESV) Therefore we do not confine ourselves to the old only, instead we choose to value it alongside the best traditions of our generation as well.
Incarnational Ministry
Our sixth core value is that we believe that we beliall Christians are to engage “good works.” Jesus and the Apostles explicitly tell the church (Matthew 25:31-46) to remember the poor. Therefore as a core value we will seek to establish and/or build strategic partnerships with non-profit Christian service organizations that aid the poor (widows, orphans, and refugees) in communities where we are located.
Church Planting
Our seventh core value is that we believe that our goal is to establish discipleship-oriented churches that will reproduce discipleship-oriented churches. We do not want to see how many people we can get into one worship gathering. We reject that model of ministry and the metrics that come with it. Our goal is to reach, disciple, and send disciples into church planting and incarnational ministry in the greater Nashville area, the U.S., and the world.