Our beliefs

everyone gets to be near Jesus

Everywhere Jesus went he was surrounded by people who didn’t belong together: religious people, sex workers, day laborers, tax collectors, revolutionaries … all invited to come be near him. Jesus didn’t say “clean yourself up, figure things out, and then you can follow me,” he just invited them to learn and listen and watch and belong. We want to be a community like that too, where everyone gets to be near Jesus and we’re all figuring out what that looks like together.

God is always speaking, and everyone can hear

God is always speaking, but the busyness and noise and anxiety of our world makes it hard to listen. This is why we spend time together on Sunday mornings slowing down, being still, and learning how to hear what God might be saying.

we can agree, disagree, and say “I don’t know”

We believe the Bible is God’s word and absolutely true, but that doesn’t mean it’s a detailed handbook with precise answers about every single facet of our lives. While there are some core values we hold as absolute, there are also quite a few times when we will disagree or even say “I’m not sure.”

The Nicene Creed does a good job of outlining the core beliefs of who we are. We hold everything else with open hands.

our weekly benediction

At the end of every Sunday morning service a blessing is prayed over our community. This benediction is in many ways the heartbeat of our church:

As you enter a world of scarcity and fear, may you remember that God is good, and will provide you with all that you need.

When you doubt that God is good, may you turn your eyes toward Jesus, and see the fullness of who God is in him.

When you are told to hoard your money, may you remember you a free to give it away generously instead, and when you are told to hate your enemy, may you remember you are free to love them instead.

May you remember that Jesus is not the property of any political party, and that we are to love our neighbors, which includes those we passionately disagree with.

And may you remember that you are a child of the King of this world and the next. That the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in you. And that where you go, the spiritual powers of this world must flee before the presence of the resurrected Jesus in you.

May you be filled with Holy Spirit, and may you shine brightly in your homes, at your work, and in your life.

I claim this blessing over you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.