Vision & Values

VISION & MISSION

We seek to be an inclusive, gospel-centered community of lovers of Jesus Christ
who connect people to God, grow together, serve the city, and extend God’s kingdom.

CORE VALUES

Our core values are the DNA of our church. You’ll notice that our vision statement and our core values are one and the same; this is intentional. We seek to embody the first four values, and grow in our ability to DO the last four values. In other words, like this:

What we seek to be:

Inclusive
Gospel-Centered
Community
Lovers of Jesus Christ

What we seek to do:

Connect
Grow
Serve
Extend

Want to dig deeper? Here’s more information about what our vision and values mean to us:

“BE” CORE VALUES:

Inclusive: We are a multi-ethnic, multi-socioeconomic, multi-generational church where anyone can come as they are. We welcome everyone without judgment, whether they are Black, White, Latino, Asian. or Native, live in a penthouse loft or Skid Row, are young or old, identify as straight or LGBTQ, or identify as cisgender or transgender. We are a “come-as-you-are” church.

Gospel-Centered:

Our core belief is Christ-centered. We approach the gospel of Jesus Christ in three aspects (we call it the tripod of the gospel): Jesus came (incarnation), he died for us (atonement), and he resurrected, ascended, and is coming back (restoration).

  • Incarnation: God became human and inaugurated an upside-down Kingdom (where going down is the way up) and a power-under Kingdom (where it is not about power-over, the power of the sword and violence, but about the power-under, the power of self-sacrificial and unconditional love and grace). The Church is called to reflect this Kingdom.
  • Atonement: We were created beautifully in God’s image but our sins undermined that beauty. Jesus died for us to forgive us, redeem us, and free us from our sins. We are sinners living in God’s amazing grace. When our heart is transformed by his love, our life also changes. The Church is called to embrace this amazing grace.
  • Restoration: Jesus resurrected, ascended, and is coming back to fully establish the Kingdom. We live in between the time of his first coming and his second coming. Our mission now is to bring to the present that which is to come. We are called to bring God’s presence, healing, love, grace, and justice to the world now. The Church is called to join God in his mission.

Community: We are a community that cares for one another and demonstrates vulnerability with one another, which leads to true friendships. We are a community that accepts one another, even if we are different, poor, rich, average, arrogant, timid, or sinful. We are a community that mourns with those who mourn, and rejoices with those who rejoice. We are a community that seeks to be emotionally and intellectually honest with God and one another.

Lovers of Jesus Christ: We love God because God first loved us. We seek to worship God and seek fellowship with him through spiritual practices.

“DO” CORE VALUES:

Connect People to God: We are passionate about welcoming into our community people in various stages of faith. In Sunday worship and throughout the week, we seek to be people who connect other people to the good news of God’s love through what we say and what we do.

Grow Together: In order for us to grow together, for inside-out transformation to happen, we need to live by the Spirit, which we believe encompasses the following four things:

  • Believing the gospel with all of ourselves (intellectually, emotionally, volitionally, spiritually), not just to become a Christian, but also to grow as a Christian. The gospel is the foundation for Christian growth. (Gospel-Centered)
  • Drawing near to God as ‘Abba’ – the Aramaic word for ‘daddy’ that the Bible sometimes uses – is an intimate relationship with Him as a beloved child, seeking to walk in His presence every moment of our lives, listening to His direction, and obeying Him. Spiritual practices like (but not limited to) prayer, meditation, worship, Bible study, solitude, confession, and fasting help us develop this intimacy with God. This is the process for Christian growth. Through this intimate relationship with God, he transforms us from the inside out. (Contemplative)
  • Being empowered with the Holy Spirit. We are asking God to empower us with the power of the Holy Spirit in order to prevail over the powers of darkness. We expect God’s supernatural power to help us grow as followers of Jesus Christ. This is the fuel for Christian growth. (Charismatic)
  • Doing it together. We believe that transformation happens in the context of community. This is the context for Christian growth. It is through gospel-centered, mutually-upbuilding, honest relationships that we spur one another to live by the Spirit. (Communal)

Serve the City: We believe an active faith is to be lived in public. So we seek to be good news to those who are not part of our church – or any church – in Downtown LA and the surrounding neighborhoods, because we know God loves the city and the people in it, and he is at work to make it a place that reflects his mercy, justice, and love. We seek to do this through (1) ministries of compassion; (2) seeking social justice and racial reconciliation; and (3) integrating our faith and vocation.

Extend God’s kingdom: We seek to develop leaders and disciples who extend the Kingdom of God by becoming part of the movement of the Kingdom of God, particularly by planting churches, both domestically and internationally.