Christ leads his church into a life-giving relationship with the World. He calls the church His "body” and then he says to his disciples “you’ll do greater things than me” (John 14.12).
We believe this understanding of the church has an enormous influence on our vision and direction.
- What we believe about the church gives us confidence that Christ is with His church, leading us as a church (Ps. 23, Mt. 28.18-20). We all know the church is a mess - hang around with us long enough and you’ll see that about us (and yourself!) too. That’s why we must know that nothing will stop Christ from building his church (Mt. 16.18), not even our weakness, ignorance, sin, limits, failures, set-backs, barriers, or difficulties.
- What we believe about the church tells us what kind of church we seek to be here - a missional
church. A missional church is one that believes the church is not a building that people go to but the people who go (ref. Conn) to love and serve the world in Christ’s name. This means that all of our regular programming will have an outward face towards our neighbors and community (especially toward those that do not believe or struggle to believe.
- What we believe about the church informs us what to do as a church in Memphis. It directs our practical ministry programs (See sidebar for further information on those programs). What we "do" can be summarized this way - worship, nurture, outreach.