NEXT STEPS (membership)

OUR MISSION:

Refuge City Church exists to Know Jesus and Make Him Known.

Our church Covenant is laid out in our mission:

  1. Know Jesus

We Know Jesus by growing deep in our faith. (Discipleship)

  • By committing to be a disciple of Jesus.

  • By committing to be a student of the Bible.

  • By joining a small group.

  • By committing to sitting under the preaching of God’s word

  • By serving on a ministry team

    2. Make Him Known

We make Jesus known by putting our faith into action. (Evangelism/Compassion)

  • By loving and serving people.

  • By sharing your faith.

  • By bringing truth in love.

  • By bringing people to the Sunday gathering.

  • By creating a gospel-centered worship gathering.

  • By being a church for everyone.

DOCTRINE (what we believe)

1 Timothy 4:16 “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Continue in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.”

In our essential beliefs, we have unity.

In our non-essential beliefs, we have diversity and show grace.

In all our beliefs, we show love and grace.

The Essentials:

1. The Bible is the Word of God. (2 Timothy 3:16)

  • We believe that the Bible is God’s written revelation to man, and thus the 66 books of the Bible given to us by the Holy Spirit constitute the inspired, equally in all parts, Word of God (1 Corinthians 2:7-14; 2 Peter 1:20-21).

  • We believe that the Word of God is verbally inspired in every word (2 Timothy 3:16), absolutely inerrant in the original documents, infallible, and God-breathed.

    2. We believe in the One God

  • We believe in one God, the sovereign Creator and Sustainer of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three distinct and equal persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

  • God is one in being yet three persons

  • (Deuteronomy 6:4; 1 Corinthians 8:4-6; 1 Timothy 1:17) (Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14)

    3. God the Father (John 14:8-9, Luke 23:34,46, Eph. 4:6, et al.)

  • The Father is revealed to us as the principle of the Godhead, the one who plans the work of salvation and who sends the Son in order to carry it out.

    4. Jesus

  • Jesus is the reason for everything we do. He is not one way to God or an important historical figure; he is the only way to God.

  • Jesus is the Son of God. (John 14:13) Son of God - meaning that he is of the same nature of God.

  • He was born of a virgin, lived a perfect life on earth, died on a cross as a sacrifice for our sin, and his resurrection conquered death and gave us access to God.

  • He is eternally God (John 1, Col 2)

    5. Holy Spirit

  • Holy Spirit indwells, sanctifies, instructs, and empowers us for service. (Acts 1:8)

  • Holy Spirit is not an “it” or a “force”, He is a part of the Trinity.

  • The Holy Spirit has come to glorify Christ and to apply the saving work of Christ to our hearts.

  • He convicts us of sin and draws us to the Savior.

  • Indwelling our hearts, He gives new life to us, empowers and imparts gifts to us for service.

  • He instructs and guides us into all truth, and seals us for the day of redemption. (Ephesians 1:13)

    6. Sin.

  • Sin when we violate God’s way. Moreover, sin is a failure to conform to the law of God in act, attitude, and nature. All actual transgressions arise from the fall man in the garden. (Genesis 3.)

    7. Salvation is the only way to a relationship with God. (John 14:6)

  • Jesus’s death and resurrection allows us to have a relationship with God.

  • We must repent and surrender our lives over to Jesus’s leadership, and when we do so, we are reborn in a spiritual way.

  • Salvation is a gift from God and can not be obtained through works (Eph 2:8-9)

  • Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus alone

  • We bring nothing to the table for our salvation

    8. Eternity.

  • Those who have been saved will spend eternity with God 2 Peter 3:10. Those who have rejected Jesus will spend eternity in hell. (Rev. 20:15, 21:8)

  • There are no multi levels of heaven

  • There is no purgatory

  • There is only one way to eternity with God. (Through Jesus)

COVENANT

“On this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not overpower it.” Matthew 16:18

Covenant Members at Refuge City Church partner with us in belonging to this church.

Practically, that means you honor the covenant in these ways:

1. You join a small group.

  • Our small groups facilitate new relationships and spiritual growth.

2. You Give financially.

  • Giving is a spiritual practice that breeds generosity and provides resources for ministry.

3. You serve in ministry.

Our ministry teams create and lead all of our ministries.

  • Every member is a minister.

  • Every task is important.

    4. You belong faithfully.

  • Sustained life-change happens best in the context of community

5. You strive for continued unity in the church.

  • Unity includes affectionate love, not just sacrifice for those you don’t get along with.

  • Unity is a major factor in our witness to the world.

  • A unified church that is on mission, can not be stopped.

Leadership Approach:

The character and effectiveness of any church is directly related to the quality of its leadership. That’s why Scripture stresses the importance of godly overseers and delineates specific standards for evaluating those who would serve in that position.

Refuge City Church is led by a team of 3 lead pastors. We believe that a plurality of leadership is biblical. In the New Testament, we don’t see Christian leaders working alone. Jesus sent disciples out in twos. Paul even makes it clear that (for the most part) he worked with a team. Even our God expresses Himself in a triune nature between the Father, Son, and Spirit. God’s made us to function within a community of believers. From this, we can say that having multiple lead pastors is biblical.

We are in the process of creating a path to eldership within our church. This does not mean they will be lead pastors, but it does mean they will share in other responsibilities, especially in caring for our church body.

We realize that ours is not the typical American model for church leadership. However, we remain vigilant in the approach of a biblical model of church leadership at Refuge City. We will always strive to be the church that God has called us to be.

WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT FROM THE LEADERSHIP OF REFUGE CITY CHURCH?

  1. That we will have a commitment to God.

  2. That we will have a commitment to our family.

  3. That we will prayerfully seek God's will for our church community and steward her resources to the best of our ability based on our study of Scriptures.

  4. That we will keep first things first.

  5. That we will keep Refuge City Church on mission.

  6. That we will always maintain open lines of communication. (We have nothing to hide.)

  7. That we will lead with truth, and love.

  8. That we will care for you and seek your growth as a disciple of Christ, in part by equipping you for service (Eph. 4:11-13) and praying for you regularly, especially when you are sick (James 5:14).

  9. That we will provide teaching and counsel from the whole of Scripture.

  10. That we will be on guard against false teachers and teachings.