We treat church like a gym, not like a movie:
When you come to our church you should not expect to be entertained, though that may be a side effect. You should expect to participate and put forth effort into worship. We also have multiple parts during our service in order to hit different spiritual muscles (things commanded by scripture) – we don’t just do music and have a sermon any more than someone going to a gym would only exercise their biceps and stretch. As such we have been described as a healthy mix of contemporary and traditional Protestantism.
We take a stand against cultural evils but have compassion on those captured by them:
We believe that abortion, acting out on homosexual or transgender feelings, racism, sexism, and addictions (for example) are the result of sin. At the same time there are real humans struggling with real problems who need the love of Jesus in their lives in order to escape these sins and/or heal from the resulting guilt and shame. We believe that you can love people without affirming their sin.
We pray more than most:
Prayer is not an afterthought or merely something we get through. It is the bedrock of all our actions and we devote time to it.
We are strong in God’s word:
We read scripture. We use scripture for counseling. We preach through scripture. We strive to always obey scripture. We know that the promises of scripture are true. There is no place in Christianity for pop psychology sprinkled with bible verses. There is no place in Christianity for cherry picking from God’s word in order to feel better about what the world values or to make a point about our own opinions. Because God’s word is relevant we typically preach exegetically through books (instead of topically) on Sundays.
We send our people:
God’s kingdom does not spread by containing people in order to have a larger local church. We train missionaries and church planters to intentionally advance the gospel around the world. We have missionaries in West Africa and India. We have had long term missionaries in Mexico and Papua. We have planted churches in Wisconsin, Iowa, and Missouri. We mentor college students to advance the gospel as they are sent to begin their respective careers/callings.
We leave room for the Holy Spirit:
We are not charismatic, but we are not cessationist either. We do not put the Holy Spirit in a box. But we test the spirits and prophecies and do not confuse emotionalism with manifestations of God.
We are mostly creationists:
We believe that Genesis is a historical account and that creation science best fits the evidence around us. Those questioning creation or evolution are comfortable in our church because we do not believe that creationism is a requirement for salvation.
We are mostly classic premillennialists:
We believe the bible is sufficient but not exhaustive and most of our congregation sees classic premillennialism as the best end times theory. People who disagree are still comfortable in our church. We are also not swayed by every supposed sign that gains popularity. The bible talks about end times to bring encouragement and motivate us to righteous living, not so that we will spend all our time looking for clues to Jesus’ return.
We are mostly complementarians:
Scripture dictates that husbands are the leaders of the family and that males are the pastors of the church. At the same time we do not devalue the role, worth, or opinion of women or claim that they cannot be leaders outside of the family and church. Egalitarians are comfortable in our church but oppressors of women are not.
We equip parents to disciple their children:
Parents are the primary teachers of children and are responsible for growing their children in the faith. We supplement that and train parents toward that. We also minimize the separation of families by avoiding programs that isolate age groups. We provide opportunities for families to serve together. Throughout our services we emphasize critical thinking so that families grow in the faith together. We are homeschool friendly but it is important to note we are not anti-public school and believe that Christians should be salt and light there.