Mission
The Glorification of God by forming disciples to be like Christ in their daily experience.
Matthew 28:19-20 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
John 15:8 “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
Biblical Values
1. Scripture – the authority of God and the guarantor of church health
We will proclaim firmly and without fear the truth about God and His Gospel, preaching Scripture in context, with total dependence on the Holy Spirit bringing change towards eternal life.
Proclamation, exposition and application:
- proclaiming – preaching the Word of God with authority and boldness in the power of the Holy Spirit of biblical text. (kerruso – Greek word).
1 Thessalonians 1:5 “because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake.”
- explanatory – organizational explanation of a material; explanation verse by verse of the biblical text taking into account the context of the verse, the historical, doctrinal, grammatical context.
1 Corinthians 9:20-23 “To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law. To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some. I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.”
Different approaches depending on the context (different contexts: historical, social, even doctrinal, etc.)
- applicative – determines a response in the listener’s life; we want not only information, but transformation. “Here’s what the text means to you.” “Here and now”
James 1:22 “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”
2 Timothy 4 “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.”
2. Passionate worship, “in the Spirit and in truth”
We will unite our voices and lives with worshipers of every nation and language to exalt the name of Jesus Christ in response to His greatness.
God’s people are called to worship Him – to experience His presence in their midst and His supernatural power to work in their lives. When the people of God gather together to worship Him, God manifests their glory in their midst and everything changes: these men become courageous disciples who share the gospel and become “contagious” to the community they live in.
John 4:23-24 “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
3. Fervent prayer
“… how they used to be” – The Acts of the Apostles.
We will seek the Lord, His will and His way with humble hearts before Him, trusting in His plan.
When prayer is not just a church program but part of the life of the disciples of Jesus, something is happening: the promise of Jesus of John 14 is fulfilled.
John 12:12-13 “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”
Ephesians 6:18 “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.”
1 Thessalonians 5:17 “pray continually”
The blind see the gospel of Jesus, and the weak walk to Christ. The sick are healed in the name of Jesus, and the deaf hear the good news. Prayer is not just an invitation to experience the presence of God, it is rather an invitation to share the presence of God.
4. Fearless / bold evangelism as a way of life
We will invade the darkness of the lost world by proclaiming the truth about Jesus and demonstrating His local and global compassion.
Ephesians 6:19-20 “Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt”
5. Disciples, not just sympathizers
We will give without giving up the multiplication and maturation of the disciples of Jesus to follow together the likeness with Christ.
Ephesians 4:11-15 “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves,and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.”
6. Strategic planting of churches
We will plant churches – unusual communities – dedicated to God’s worship, the training of disciples, and their sending to the world in desperate need of Christ.
The mission of the church, according to the biblical pattern, did not merely summarize evangelism, but rather church planting, so that wherever the apostles evangelized, they also laid the foundations of a new church.
That is why the church is the framework in which the disciples are formed, and our focus on mission will be primarily the planting of churches and then other para-church works.
In Matthew 16:18, Jesus says:
“I will build my church, and the gates of Hadeswill not overcome it”
The Church of Christ is manifested through local churches that have the same attributions as the Church as a whole. The local church is the community of people born again by the Holy Spirit by faith in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, united and organized under spiritual leadership to: glorify God by worship (prayer, singing, Mass of the Lord, giving, etc.); the building of the believers’ soul by fitting, teaching and fellowship (Ephesians 4: 11-16); evangelizing the unsaved by the Word and Living (1 Corinthians 11: 18-20, Hebrews 10:25).
Matthew 28:19-20 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
We believe it is the target, duty, and privilege of every believer and the entire local community of believers to glorify God by actively responding to the call of Jesus Christ’s Great Revelation to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28: 19-20).
Planted churches are in turn called to do the same, planting other churches for future generations and the glory of God.
That is why we will support church plantings that have the vision of planting other churches.
7. Leadership
We believe that the apostolic model of church leadership is the team of presbyters, God-qualified people, with the features of 1 Timothy 3: 1-7 and Titus 1: 5-9.
Our conviction is that new presbyters must be elected by existing presbyters and confirmed with the church after a thorough process and no hurry to assess.
The elders will account to the church for their regular activity.
1 Peter 5: 1-3 “To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.”