We are a community of believers, who are moved to fulfill a calling to contribute to God’s kingdom building initiative, not just to our immediate community but to the body of Christ at large. This is a calling to the worldwide body of believers and followers of Jesus Christ. For this reason, we have followed the LORD’s command to create this virtual community, accessible to anyone seeking a deeper awareness of God and a desire to know Jesus at an intimate level. Our approach to accomplishing these objectives comes in 3 specific modes.
1. Disciple Making: In the Gospel of Matthew (Matt 28:16-20), in Jesus’ final address to His disciples after He had risen from the dead, He gave the command not just to tell His story but to make disciples. This command (what Christians call the Great Commission) extended the responsibility of creating believers who in turn create believers from the twelve to everyone who accepts Jesus as Lord. This command is the connective tissue to us because this process is ongoing. Online small groups, online discipleship sessions, and building a culture of collaboration is our path forward.
2. Bolstering and confirming the faith of the believer: In the Apostle Paul’s letter to the church at Ephesus, a church that Paul commended and exalted as a standard setter for Christian communities to follow, he spoke in detail about “putting on the armor of God”. (Ephesians 6:11-20) The statement that we ought to arm ourselves implies that there will be challenges to our cause, not only spiritual but physical challenges. These challenges must be expected and prepared for. The Apostle Peter in his letter agrees with Paul and recommends and/or commands the same strategy. (1 Peter 3:15) And so, the expectation is that we be ready for external challenges to our faith, but also internal challenges to our faith. This is not a call to debate, but rather our goal is to ensure we all collectively equip ourselves to deal with what life deals out to us. We do that by turning to God’s word and knowing that the answers are found there.
3. Making the case for the Christian faith to the skeptic: Making disciples doesn’t just mean fellowship with believers but also sharing our faith to skeptics and non-believers and winning souls for Jesus Christ. That duty requires that we enhance our listening skills and our ability to meet people where they are. This is a call to be a chameleon in our approach. The Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the church in Corinth (1 Corinthians 9:19-22) that he became whatever the listener needed him to be for relatability purposes. He culminated his statement in verse 23 which reads, “I do all these things because of the gospel, so that I can be a participant in it.” Our desire is that we all grow a desire to be participants in the spreading of the Gospel with the understanding that we must be versatile in our communication methods. The author of the book of Hebrews says that even Jesus Himself like us so that He could save us. (Hebrews 2:14-18)
In short, we learn what the Bible says, we discern what the Bible means, and we do what the Bible teaches.
We thank you for joining us in this journey, may the LORD keep you and bless you.
“For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you when I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, will give you spiritual wisdom and revelation in your growing knowledge of him, —since the eyes of your heart have been enlightened—so that you can know what is the hope of his calling, what is the wealth of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the incomparable greatness of his power toward us who believe, as displayed in the exercise of his immense strength.” (Ephesians 1:15-19)
Lathan Lightfoot
Lead Pastor and Founder
And he himself gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, that is, to build up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God—a mature person, attaining to the measure of Christ’s full stature. So we are no longer to be children, tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who craftily carry out their deceitful schemes. But practicing the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ, who is the head. From him the whole body grows, fitted and held together through every supporting ligament. As each one does its part, the body grows in love.
Ephesians 4:11-16