VALUES
Gospel Centeredness
The Good News is that God is completely aware of our sin problem, and in and through the work of Jesus Christ, accepts us and changes us by the power of his Spirit. We have been saved from the penalty of sin (justification), we are being saved from the power of sin (sanctification) and we will be saved from the presence of sin. (glorification)
The gospel is not just the A-B-Cs, but the A to Z of Christianity. The Gospel is not just the way we enter God’s kingdom, but the way we thrive within the kingdom. We are not saved through the Gospel and then forced to maintain our salvation through obedience, but the Gospel is the way we grow (Gal. 3:1-3) and are renewed (Col. 1:6). It is the solution to every problem, the key to every closed door, the power to face every roadblock of life (Rom. 1:16-17).
This means the same power that saved us from the penalty for sin also helps us obey God now and to live a holy life. This results in my understanding that…I am more broken and sinful than I ever dared believe, and at the same time I am more loved and accepted than I ever dared hope, because of Jesus.
Fellowship
Participating in a community is one of the best ways to encourage spiritual growth. It is a big deal when someone is ready to connect to community here at Gospel Central Church. Following Jesus will radically alter the trajectory of your life. But it does not happen in isolation. The Bible teaches that spiritual growth happens best through relationships. At Gospel Central Church, we grow in community. Our experience with God and with one another grows out of the objective fact of our relationship with the Lord Jesus (Eph. 2:5, 6). Only those who are in relationship with one another (objective fact) can have true fellowship (subjective experience). We must first have a real living relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ before we can have experiential fellowship with God. This is also true in our fellowship with one another (2 Cor. 6:14-7:1)
Stewardship
As stewards we recognize that all we have belongs to the Lord and has been given to us by God to invest for His purposes. Believers share their material possessions for the promotion of the gospel and to help those in need. Good stewardship stems from recognizing our relationship to Jesus Christ, but it also means recognizing our partnership in Christ’s enterprise on earth.
In any good partnership, the partners share equally in both the privileges and responsibilities, the assets and liabilities, and the blessings and burdens. What kind of partnership would it be if one partner took all the income and enjoyed all the privileges while the other partner did all the work and paid all the bills? Partners are to share and share alike in all the aspects of their enterprise. They may not do the same things, but will be much more successful in their enterprise if they work and share according to their abilities, expertise, and training, while still sharing the load.