VALUES

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO B.E.L.O.N.G.

BUILDING BRIDGES THAT CONNECT DIVERSE COMMUNITIES

The community of believers is diverse in gender, sexuality, race, age, background, etc. We desire our community reflect that diversity. This requires a listening posture and an effort to hear from individuals with differing experience. Committing to a diverse community means a commitment to the uncomfortable reality that our perspective is not the only perspective and that we need one another. Our love is stronger as it reflects the diversity of experiences that exist within our world.

EXTENDING THE MISSION OF JESUS

There is much darkness, despair, and grief in our world. We place our hope in a love that seeks to resurrect all to new life in the present and the beyond. We desire to extend this love and mission to all.

LEADING WITH LOVE

God is Love. Love is the center of everything. How do we know what love is? We look to Jesus, the perfect embodiment of love. Jesus is the exact representation of God. In Jesus we see how to be human and how to embody love. So we look to Jesus first and foremost. All of humanity has an innate need to be known, loved, and included. For us, belonging represents our commitment to know, love, and include others as Jesus did. No matter your gender, sexuality, race, age, background, etc. you belong. You are known, loved, and included.

OVERCOMING CHURCH STEREOTYPES

We value a flexible theology that is unafraid of real life questions. Elevating faithful questioning over unquestioning obedience. Everything is evolving, including our faith and connection to the Divine. Questions are the gateway through which we grow communally and individually. Just as a child is exploring their world and therefore engages their parents with question after question, we believe the community of faith should be a place where questions are not simply allowed, but invited. The community of the faith throughout history has had a number of beautiful, life-giving, and loving theologies and practices, but there have been, and currently are, many ugly, destructive, and hate-filled theologies and practices. It is our hope that the community of faith would continue to evolve toward a more beautiful, life-giving, and loving theology and practice. We do this by owning our past failures and seeking to reconcile that which has been broken, while embodying a flexible theology open to the leading of The Spirit.

NON-JUDGMENTAL ACCEPTANCE OF ALL

God’s ear leans towards those on the margins. We are reminded throughout The Scriptures that God is a refuge for the oppressed. Furthermore, the ministry of Jesus explicitly includes those who were marginalized by their culture: Samaritans, Women, Tax-Collectors, Prostitutes, Etc. This emphasis on the margins continues after Jesus when Philip invites an Ethiopian Eunuch into the faith through baptism and when James declares that the truest of religion ensures a care for the widow and orphan. As a community we must ensure that we never become so inward focused we refuse to include and consider the voices of those at the margins.

GIVING COMPASSIONATELY

The generosity of Jesus was birthed out of a compassion for others. We desire to grow in compassion for one another and see our generosity flow out of that compassion. We know that compulsory giving out of guilt produces a spirit of resentment and compassionate giving out of love produces a spirit of excitement and connectedness. There are many ways to give through volunteering time, providing a particular skill, or financial donations; it is our desire that all of these efforts come from a place of love rather than pressure.