Essential DNA
Gospel Message
Truth of God
The Gospel is good news. The Gospel is God’s answer to the problem of sin. Sin is our rebellion to God’s rule over us. The Gospel is the good news that God has acted in history to conquer evil, rebellion, and sin and reconcile sinners to himself through the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus from the dead. When we put our faith in this good news- the Gospel gives us a new understanding. It gives us a new word about God, a new truth about ourselves and it gives us a transformed way of interacting with others.
Mark 1:14; Acts 14:21; Rom. 1:16; Genesis 3; 2 Cor. 5:21; Rom. 3:23-26; 1 Cor. 15:1-1
Gospel Community
Family of God
When people think of church they often think of a Sunday event or a building for sacred services. Church becomes an event that they are required to attend. We see church not as a place but as a people in relationship with God. As the gospel takes hold of us we take hold of one another as family to be the church. Because of our new identity in Christ, we are the church. We do not attend the church. God has created a new people in relationship with Himself and in new relationships with one another. We believe that the gospel creates a new people with new motives. A new community is created by God through the Gospel and a new family becomes the conduit and the vehicle for mission.
Gospel Mission
Mission of God
As God became a man in the incarnation, we as a people are called to incarnate God’s life to the people we are with. Mission is not what we do. Mission is who we are. As God himself is a missionary, we his children have also become like our Father. We are a community of missionaries to Omaha. God is not just interested in the salvation of people, but in the restoration of all things to back to Himself.
Gospel Identities
If the gospel creates a new people on mission to bring about new creation, then it leads to new realities that transform us. These 3 new realities lead to 3 new identities at the core of who we are.
Disciples
We are followers of Jesus and have become a new people under a new king.
Before the gospel changes us, we are a people in bondage to “the desires of the flesh”. We act as our own lords and masters,
pursuing our own desires and committed to our own independence. Through the gospel, we become “obedient from the heart” to Jesus’ teaching. We are changed into those who follow him. Disciples are people who want to follow Jesus, submit to his ways, and learn what it means to live life for His glory. We study the Scriptures to understand what God has said. We practice the disciplines of prayer, solitude, and re!ection so that we can discern the leading of his Spirit. We learn from the teaching, training, and wisdom of leaders and teachers. We create communities of discipleship so that we can learn from each other. And we engage the world around us so that we can show the relevance of the gospel to those who share our context.
Family
We are children of God who live and care for each other as a family.
God is a father who has given birth to a family. He has redeemed a people who live in such a way that the world would know what he is like. Jesus said that those who live in his ways and obey his Father are truly his family. Through Jesus we have become children of God and brothers and sisters with one other. As a family we see it as our privilege to personally care for the needs of one another in every way. We disciple, nurture, and hold each other accountable to this covenant life together. We do this as the church gathered and scattered. We gather together as communities corporately on Sundays and we meet as smaller communities scattered throughout the rest of the week.
Missionaries
We are sent by God to restore all things to himself.
God sent his Son to earth to live with the people he created in the context of the culture they created. Abraham was called to be a blessing to all nations. Jesus acted as a friend of sinners. He worked, ate and interacted with the people who would reject him. He lived in such a way that those around him could see and experience what the Father was truly like. Jesus came so that all people, places and things could be restored to a right relationship with God. In the same way, we believe that as sons of God we have become missionaries of God sent into our culture by God to restore all things back to God through Jesus Christ. We live this out as families together on mission through missional communities.
Gospel Rhythms
When we know who we are in relationship to our father, our new Gospel Identities produce new Gospel Rhythms in the context of everyday life.
Engage as Disciples
We set aside regular times to listen to God.
Jesus listened to God in prayer to know his Father’s will. We are also called to listen to God in life. We listen ‘backward’ by regularly interacting with God’s Word. We believe he speaks today through his Spirit to us and through creation. We also spend time actively listening ‘forward’ to hear what God is saying to us today.
We set aside regular times to share with one another.
We take time to listen to others’ stories and share with them the good work God is doing in us. Through this sharing, we hope to help our family and friends find their lives within God’s story.
Mark 1:35-39; John 16:7-15; Hebrews 1:1-3; Romans 1:20; James 5:13-17; 2 Corinthians 1:3-6
Connect as Family
We gather together to celebrate God’s blessings.
God calls his people to enjoy him by regularly remembering his goodness and grace. We gather throughout the week in missional
communities and weekly as a larger family, to share stories and celebrate all that God has done and is doing in and amongst us. We invite our friends to these gatherings as a way of showing and displaying God’s glory and grace.
Leviticus 23; Acts 2:42-47; Hebrews 10:24-25
We eat meals with our friends to invite them into the community of our father.
Hunger is a constant reminder of our continual and corporate need for God. As we prepare food together and consume food together, we recognize God’s gift and provision of grace in his Son through faith. Jesus called us to remember him and his sacrifice for us through a meal. When we break bread together, we feast on his presence and this truth. We regularly eat meals with those who are not in our immediate family or close circle of friends. Through hospitality and open doors seek to point our friends to and remind them of the one who was recognized as He broke break and spoke concerning the things which had just occurred.
Leviticus 23; Matthew 6:11; 26:17-30; Acts 2:46-47; Romans 12:1
Recreate as Missionaries
We take time to bless others and restore beauty in ways that reflect God to others.
As God created and ordered the universe, we are created in his image and therefore are made to create, to order and to restore things as well. We order our lives individually and corporately to work for justice and peace in our city. We also take time to bless others with our time, talent and resources. We desire to restitch the cultural fabric of our city in ways that reflect what God is like.
We take time to rest in ways that reflect God to others.
As God created the world through work, he also rested from all his activity and enjoyed his creation. In like fashion, we are to rest and joy God’s life and creation as well. We take time to enjoy God’s creation with our friends, to celebrate and remember God’s goodness to us.