Values & Beliefs
Values
We believe that the entirety of the written Word of God is to remain preeminent in all aspects of life and ministry. It is both the Logos and Rhema that is the standard and conviction maker, it is the truth that we build on and from, through the grace and power of the Holy Spirit. We believe that we must not reduce the Gospel to fit our experience but rather we continue to grow until the fulness of the Gospel is our experience. We hold the preeminence of Biblical truth above all cultural, worldly or compromising doctrines.
Matthew 21:13 says, “My house shall be called a house of prayer”. A healthy church must teach, equip, and practice fervent prayer, supplication and intercessions with endurance and thanksgiving. We seek to teach, inspire, challenge, and encourage each member of the body of Christ to ask the Holy Spirit to teach them how to pray and grow in their communion and fellowship with God daily. If we are not a praying people, we are an ineffective people. When we pray according to God’s Will, things change.
The Local Church is called to be the Body of Jesus Christ on earth to fulfill the Great Commission through the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. The Church describes the Body of Christ globally, but it is made of local bodies called to geographic communities for local impact. We teach that the local church is not something we attend, but rather something we become. We seek to involve ourselves at every level and at every age in the work of the local Church. It is our personal responsibility to teach that every believer is called to be a royal priest unto God and every believer carries a crucial part as a Body member to the Body as a whole. When every member does their share as called by God, we can fulfill His purpose on the earth.
We believe that worship is vital to our experience with God, just as is prayer and the Word. Our worship is not performance based and neither is it reduced to singing songs. Our lives lived in fellowship with God and one another is also our worship and we seek not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds and present ourselves as living sacrifices unto God. We teach that we should worship in spirit and truth as a wholehearted response to God’s presence in the midst of His people. We believe Worship is a key element of the believer’s experience with God both individually and corporately.
Every believer is called to make disciples who make disciples. We don’t believe in simply making converts; We believe in walking with people through life and discipling them into Christ. We believe this happens through authentically connecting with people’s hearts and walking through life together. We believe we must encourage others to put their knowledge into practice and that experience is often the best teacher. We seek to see believers trained, equipped, and continually growing towards deeper maturity in their walk with God. We don’t believe in making disciples of First Love Church or disciples of our denomination, we believe in making disciples of Christ. We desire all our lives to represent and reflect the One we say we are following and to train others up in a likewise manner.
We believe in the importance of Godly character above natural and spiritual gifts, talents, and abilities as the key to success in life and ministry. We believe that as we abide in Christ and yield our lives to the Holy Spirit, we should be abounding in love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faith, and self-control. A person’s character is developed through relationship with Holy Spirit, the righteousness that comes from God by faith, the Word of God, prayer, discipleship, a Christian worldview, and how they respond to God in difficult circumstances. Our goal is to help build godly, upright, humble and teachable character into the lives of all members of First Love Church as they pursue their destiny in God.
As believers of God’s Word, we believe in all the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We believe that these gifts are given to equip believers so we can love people and help them see how real God is in their lives. We believe in the importance of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which makes us effective witnesses to the world. We believe that our God has not changed and that He still desires to fill His people with boldness to preach the Gospel and see signs, wonders and miracles touch the earth as the Lord stretches out His hand to confirm His word. We also understand that great gifting does not equal godliness, therefore we desire to see those who are moving in the gifts of the Spirit to do so with the fruit of the Spirit. We believe it is right to desire the gifts, and yet better still, to pursue becoming love.
We believe in and value community. The Church is a place where believers can stir each other up into love and good works while relating to, encouraging, protecting, and admonishing one another as we grow in our faith and experience God’s grace. Community is a safe place where values are shared, healthy relationships are established, families are raised, and vision is accomplished.
We believe that the Great Commission is at the heart of God’s work and every believer is called to share the Gospel in their own spheres of influence. Our goal is to cultivate a heart for evangelism to the extent that it causes ministries and strategies to be created, resources to be released, the people to find fulfillment in Christian service as the world is impacted by the message of salvation. Acts 1:8 describes the purpose of the Church’s empowerment is to fulfill the Great Commission locally, nationally, and internationally. We believe that every believer is called to be equipped by an evangelist from the five-fold to do the work of evangelism.
We value, invest in, and support at every level, including the children’s, youth, college, young professional, middle aged and seniors ministries as well as all related ministries and strategies that develop every generation in First Love Church. We believe that every race, tribe, and tongue, young or old carries value and significance in our Church Body. Everyone is needed and everyone is equal.
We are called to be in the world but not of the world. We believe that it is critical to develop a Christian worldview in the life of every Christian. It is necessary that the looking glass through which we view the world, society, politics, and justice must be a biblical one. A Christian worldview will produce hope, joy, love, life, justice, action and victorious living in the life of a believer.
Stewardship is taking responsibility for those resources that God has so graciously provided for us. We believe that God has established the tithe as one way of giving and supporting the Church and its various ministries. We believe that offerings are above and beyond the tithe and should be a regular experience for every Christian as directed by the Lord. We believe that giving is not just meant for a church building and staff, but for the needs in the Body as a whole, supporting missionaries, giving to the poor and giving as directed by the Holy Spirit. We as a church also tithe and give to other churches not affiliated directly with us as we believe they are fellow members of the global Church Body. We believe that God has called us to be a generous people, not only with our finances but also with our time, talents and resources, understanding that sowing and reaping are biblical principles.
We believe in the Biblical leadership structure as seen with Elders, Deacons and the 5-fold ministry. We seek to equip the congregation to take leadership, ownership and be involved within their Church and their community. We believe that leadership is both a gift and a skill. As a skill, it can be learned by anyone willing to learn. We also define leadership as serving and laying down our lives for those around us. Jesus was the ultimate example of servant leadership in Mark 10:45. We strive to develop dynamic servant leadership in First Love Church at every level, while acknowledging the importance the five-fold ministry has for equipping of the Saints. We seek to have humble leaders who imitate and follow Christ’s example in all they do.
Beliefs
We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His victorious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory. We believe in the Triune God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We believe the church is the Body of Christ with every believer called to be a significant member of that Body. We believe in the five-fold ministry, called to equip the church for every believer to do the work of ministry. We believe all believers are called to fulfill the great commission and every believer is to make disciples who make disciples of Jesus Christ. We believe in fervently protecting our relationship with Jesus and with one another.