What we value as a church:
- People matter to God and, therefore, ought to matter to the church.
People matter to God, therefore, they matter to us. God is at work in the lives of people. We value building relationships with people. This means we commit ourselves to taking the Good News of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth. (Luke 5:30-32, Luke 15) - Full devotion to Christ is normal for a believer.
This means that we will teach people to commit all they are and have to God. Followers of Christ will live as Jesus would live if He were in their body. We will emphasize the importance of humbly serving others. We value church membership as a statement of commitment to serve together in fulfilling the mission of Christ. (1 Kings 11; 4; Philippians 2:1-11, 2 Corinthians 8:6-7) - Life change happens in small groups.
Fully devoted followers of Christ are devoted to continual life change. We believe life change happens best in small groups of Christian community. This means that we are connected to other Christians in God-honoring ways as described in Acts 2:42-47. We value opening our lives up to others for accountability and growth. (Acts 2:42-47, Philippians 1:6) - The church is culturally relevant, while remaining doctrinally pure.
We believe the church should remain culturally relevant while remaining doctrinally pure. The Good News of Jesus Christ must be applied to the contemporary culture. We will sensitively relate to our culture through our facility, printed materials, multi-media, and the use of the arts. (1 Corinthians 9:19-23) - Excellence honors God and inspires people.
All that we do is to honor God. We set high standards and make our standards explicit so that we can evaluate our progress. Valuing excellence means we encourage open evaluation, support, encouragement and challenge. Every expression of the church must be done with authenticity, excellence and integrity. (I Corinthians 10:31, Colossians 3:17, Malachi 1:6-14, Proverbs 27:17) - Every member is a minister.
The church is to operate as a body of specially gifted ministers who exercise their spiritual gifts in their area of passion. Every member of the church should be a part of a team of people who work together to do the ministry of the church. We value the diversity of gifts and passions in the church. (I Corinthians 12:4, Romans 12) - Authenticity is critical to spiritual and relational growth.
Authentic Christians are willing to be open about their strengths and weaknesses. Hypocrisy is the death of the church’s effectiveness. This means we encourage Christians to guard against living a double life. Relational authenticity is vital to the life of the community. Truth-telling and Biblical conflict resolution (all done in love) are essential to relational authenticity. (Ephesians 4:25-26, 32) - The structure is simple and Biblical.
The church is to be led by gifted leaders who exercise servant-leadership. Ministry is done according to strategic planning and with intentionality. Ministry is done in ministry teams and decisions are made closest to the front lines of ministry. The team ministry structure will be based on giftedness and passion of people. (Romans 12:608, Acts 6:2-5, Matthew 20:26) - Prayer is the power source behind our ministries.
Prayer is the power source behind the ministries of Life Church of Athens. We will develop prayer ministries in all children, student, and adult small groups. We will be a church that prays. (Ephesians 6:18) - The Church will be servants to the community.
The church will see its greatest influence in being servants to the community. We will constantly strive to touch our community with acts of kindness for the purpose of showing the love of Christ. (Matthew 20:26-28)