The Gospel and the Core Values of City Church

1) The Gospel Changes Everything (Our Central Value from which the others flow)

1. The Gospel is God's explosive power that changes everything. (Romans 1:16)
   
2. We minister with great hope and confidence.
   
3. We preach the gospel to believers, not just unbelievers.
   
4. We motivate with grace not guilt.

2) The Gospel Makes us a Church for the City

1. Cities are central to Jesus' mission, and the mission of the early church, and to ours. (Luke 4:43)
   
2. We encourage Christians to live in the city, to love and respect the people of the city.
   
3. We partner with the people of the city in seeking to serve the physical and spiritual needs of the city.
   
4. We encourage Christians to learn from the city, to accept and love its people, to invest their resources back into the city, and strive for excellence in all we do.

3) The Gospel Changes Lives.

1. Religion makes nice people; the Gospel makes new people. Religion reforms you on the outside; the Gospel transforms you from inside out.
   
2. Religion says: "If you live a good life, then God will love you", leading to a deadly combination of pride and despair. The Gospel says, "None of us is good. In fact, we are far worse than we think (humility), but through Jesus Christ we are far more loved than we ever dared dream (confidence)."
   
3. Because we are "in Christ", we are given a new identity, a new Father, and a new family.
   
4. Because "Christ is in us", we have new wisdom, new love, and new power.

4) The Gospel Makes Us Outward Faced

1. Jesus makes a people for others such that non-Christians are expected, welcomed, and respected, with all their questions, objections, struggles, and doubts.
   
2. The gospel enables us to overcome our apathy (because of gospel joy), our pride (because of gospel grace), and our fear (because of gospel love).
   
3. We are friendship oriented, not combative. We take a process approach, not a crisis approach.
   
4. We realize that unbelievers will be "looking on and listening in" wherever we are as a body or as individuals. There are no "in house" moments.
   
5. In daily life, we love our neighbors. In worship services, we are determinedly conscious of and welcoming to non-Christians in our midst, seeking for comprehensibility at all times.
   
6. Bottom Line: The gospel makes us a community where Christians say, "This is the place to bring my non-Christian friends. This is what they need to hear, and how they need to hear it."