Our Beliefs and Values
As a Church, Immanuel stands in the tradition of Jesus Christ and the Apostles, following the Bible as God's word and seeking to follow Jesus' teaching and practice. As a Christian Reformed Church we stand in a particular branch of Christianity. Visit our denominational website for more on our collective beliefs (crcna.org).
As a local congregation we continue to grow into what it means to be the people of God who follow Jesus Christ and are led by the Holy Spirit. At present we are seeking to grow in what it means to be a church that shapes the community around us. We seek to be a people who make a positive difference in the spiritual emotional and physical well-being of those who live around us.
At a recent leadership retreat we talked about our focus and what we said can be boiled down to the following values. We are trying to grow into the following:
1. Led by God - We value learning to let God lead us. We read the Bible to hear from God. We pray to talk with Him. We talk and listen in community to sense where God is leading us. We believe that God sends people our way and puts us in situations that give us opportunities to serve Him and those around us.
2. Authentic Relationships - We value growing in our ability to be honest with God and with each other. We seek to practice vulnerability about our weaknesses as well as celebrating our strengths openly. We want to be a community where it is safe to be who you really are because we believe that honesty with God and others is the first step towards healing, restoration, and love.
3. Spiritual Accountability - We value giving others permission to support us and challenge us on our journey. We value teaching that stretches and activities that make us think. We gather with others to talk about these things and consider how to best move forward.
4. Community Engagement - We value using the strength and support we receive from being in connection with God and each other to make a difference wherever we go. At work, in our neighbourhoods, on teams, at school - we seek to help make the world the place of peace and truth God intended it to be.
These core values form an Action Statement that we hope describes us more and more over time.
Immanuel is LED BY GOD into AUTHENTIC RELATIONSHIPS of SPIRITUAL ACCOUNTABILITY for the purpose of COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT.
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