More than anything, we want people to be lovers of the person of Jesus. Far too often in the church, we have become lovers of sermons, lovers of ministry, lovers of good books, lovers of community; but are we primarily in love with God, by Himself? A church cannot be successful or healthy if the people are not personally meeting with and enjoying God consistently. The greatest command is to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. This must be our greatest priority as leaders - to point people towards Jesus and loving Him with everything they have.

We have structured things to try to build a culture of people spending time with God every single day for themselves. Many Christians look to Sunday morning as the time where they will be "fed" by someone preaching a sermon. But the primary place that they are "fed" is through spending time with God in His word and in prayer.

We believe in leaders. We believe in the development and cultivation of every single member of our churches. And we know that God has provided leaders within our ranks, whether they know that or not. God has a purpose laid out for you, and He has set apart many for leadership. 

A leader doesn't know everything about the Bible. He doesn't know all of its secrets, nor does he know all of its words by memory, for a leader doesn't lead with the knowledge in his head; he leads with the passion in his heart. His heart is bursting with passion -- passion that flows from a seed planted by God. That seed thirsts for the Word and it yearns to grow in the light of God. Leaders share the same heart with a burning passion for the same things. They bear a passion for the Word, for discipleship, for family, for fellowship, and for prayer. They train and serve the Lord in and out of their home church, for they don't serve out of comfort; they serve out of sacrifice.

When a leader is appointed, cultivated, developed, and filled with a passion from God, they open their homes in service to the Lord, and invite all to hear the Word of God in their own home church.

When you have too many kids and not enough parents, you end up with orphanages. In orphanages, kids usually don't receive the love and care that they need to grow in emotional, physical, and spiritual health. We want to make sure the church functions like a family rather than an orphanage. In order to ensure this, we must prioritize leadership development (developing new spiritual parents). Jesus consistently displayed in His life that the disciples were His priority of the crowds. He knew that the long term health of the church was dependent on raising up new leaders. Yet, in the church today, we often make the mistake of prioritizing the crowds over the small group of leaders in training. When we do that, we become more and more of an orphanage rather than a family.

Another reason we want the entry point to joining our church to be in the context of a small, intimate, intentional group of believers is so that there is no room to hide. Our world, influenced by social media, is becoming more and more about looking like we've got it all together even while things are falling apart. Without intentionality, we will do the same thing in the church, pretending to be free of sin while our soul is dying inside. But the only way we can keep up this charade is if we keep people at a safe distance. The minute things get up close and personal, the real stuff starts spilling out.

Discipleship is hard and messy. Our temptation in the church has been to replace discipleship with various other programs. If there is a married couple struggling, we might often suggest that they read a book, enroll in a marriage class, or go on a retreat. But what they need the most is older couples who love Jesus to come alongside of them and to walk with them through life's challenges.
Jesus modeled discipleship to His twelve, and He told them to go and do likewise in Matthew 28. You cannot be discipled without discipling others.

We are family. We gather together as a family, as children of God every Sunday in our home churches. We share as a family, we learn as a family, we grow as a family. We sing together, raising up our voices to our Father. We share together, sharing testimonies of how we have seen God touch and change areas in our lives, and in the lives of others.

We learn together, learning from God and growing in His Word. We pray together, talking to God and praying for others. And finally, we take communion together, taking the bread and the juice, which we do so in remembrance of the One who laid His life down for wretches like us. Forever are we thankful to Him, and forever will we serve Him as a showing of our endless gratitude.

When things started getting out of control in Corinth, Paul reminded them of how he started the church.

In 1 Corinthians 2, he states that he intentionally held back from using "eloquence," "human wisdom," and "wise and persuasive words," when starting and building the church there. He didn't want their walk with Jesus to be built on anything other than the power of the gospel message of Jesus.

He then goes on to describe himself in chapter 3 as a wise, master builder in how he approached building the church. Likewise, Jesus was unwilling to draw people with anything other than Himself.

In John 6, people are coming after Jesus because He provided them with food, and so in response Jesus refuses to give them physical food anymore to make sure that only those who really want to follow Jesus with everything will remain.

Are we willing to do the same in our churches? Are we willing to strip everything away if necessary to make sure people are being drawn by Jesus and Jesus alone?

Jesus's life was not about career, family, money, worldly success, traveling, etc. Though He dealt with those things, ultimately He was sent by God to the earth solely for the purpose of the mission of God.

In John 17:18, Jesus speaks of the disciples in His prayer to God, saying, "As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world." In verse 20, He makes clear that He is not just praying for the twelve disciples, but rather for all who will eventually believe in Him. So according to Jesus, our purpose on the earth is the same as His: we've been sent. Our life and everything in it is for the purpose of the mission of God. Yet, are we living like that? Is that the expectation in our churches? Or do we lower the bar?

We are all missionaries. As a church, structurally we try to fight the temptation to create ministries or programs or events that make things feel more like a country club than a training ground.

According to Paul, non-believers are marked by a focus on earthly things and Christians are marked by eagerly awaiting Jesus because their citizenship is in Heaven (Philippians 3:19-20). Throughout the New Testament, when we see Christians, we see people who are so excited about their hope of eternal life with God on the New Earth that they care very little about their possessions and life here. Their lives are "hidden with Christ in God" (Col 3:3). We should hold things so loosely in light of this. Also our love for each other in Jesus should be so deep that "if one part (of the body) suffers, every part suffers with it" (1 Corinthians 12:26). Though the early Christians were marked by their love for one another, that's unfortunately not usually the marker of Christians today.

So, many churches begin small, relational, discipleship-focused, and healthy, but they aren't able to maintain those characteristics as numeric growth happens. Before they know it, they have become more and more of a machine rather than a healthy family. Meeting in homes sounds great, but what happens as the church grows? How does a church adapt as the Lord adds to their number? One word: Multiplication.

The true fruit of an apple tree isn't apples, but rather more apple trees. The true fruit of a strong leader is not followers, but more strong leaders. The true fruit of a healthy church is not congregants, but more healthy churches. God has designed the world to be one that reproduces and multiplies. The apple trees that can't multiply are ones that are genetically modified. We have too many GMO churches and not enough reproducing churches.

We also see in the scriptures how Paul made a choice to work hard and supply the needs of himself and his companions (Acts 20: 33-35, Acts 18:1-4). In 2 Thessalonians 3:8, Paul says why he did this because he did not want to be a burden to any of them. We leaders had intentionally decided to have only voluntary leaders. We feel like we do not want to serve for a paycheck. This will distract us and we may serve the people for wrong reasons. 100% of the contribution will be given away to local and international. missions.

Our vision is to fill this city, and the area around us with the Word of God.

The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. "We gave you strict orders not to teach in this Name," he said. "Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood."

Acts 5:27-28 NIV

Have you ever plucked a few dandelions from your garden while weeding, but come back one day and find more have grown in their place? No matter how many dandelions you pluck out, they never cease to stop growing in your garden. Why are you unable to get rid of them? You cannot get rid of them because millions of dandelion seeds are being dispersed and planted in your garden without your knowledge. Dandelions are relentless. They will never stop growing, no matter how many times they've been uprooted. The Word of God is the same. It is a relentless truth that will never stop coming for you, it will never stop reaching for you, as long as you live it will continue running after you. Christians have a past filled with martyrs and persecution. Yet we thrive and continue to grow and learn in abundance every single day. No matter how many times people try to kill us, we won't just survive, we'll grow abundantly. Just like the dandelion.

Then God blessed them and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over birds of the air, over every living thing that moves on the earth."

Genesis 1:28

One day, I heard someone ask me this question, "Can you describe 'church' using only the Bible?" As I heard this simple question, something started churning within my heart. So I went to the Word of God to find the answer. 

As we read about the unstoppable power, miraculous love, and outrageous sacrifice of the first church (as in the book of Acts), we wonder if it is even possible for the church today. 

We believe it is not only possible, but it is promised and commanded.

Our desire is to passionately pursue what God wants in a church - to get as close to the vision as possible. 

As we gathered and studied the Bible, we found out there were four values emphasized in association with "church."

We value our family. We have been born again into a special family, God's family. Together, as a family, we are one body, each of us with our own God-given abilities and talents that we cultivate and use for the Lord (Romans 12:4-8). In home churches, we build and strengthen brotherly relationships. We encourage each other, and we are a safe place for all. We grow together and learn together, just like brethren, for we are a family, continuously learning from our Father God.