Our Purpose: To experience Christ in our midst, to share Christ with our world.
Our Vision: Our vision is to be a growing community of
fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
Our Mission: GSPC exists to
Welcome people to faith in Jesus Christ,
Equip them with a faith that works in real life, and
Send them into the world to make a difference in Jesus' name.
Our Expectations: We believe that
fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ continually seek to enhance their relationship with him by striving toward these marks of discipleship:
- Pray daily
- Worship weekly
- Read the Bible daily
- Serve at and beyond Good Shepherd
- Relate to others in order to encourage their spiritual growth
- Give of time, talents, spiritual gifts, and financial resources
- Proclaim the love of Christ in word and deed
Our Basic Beliefs: We state our faith and bear witness to God's grace in Jesus Christ in the creeds, confessions, and statements of faith found in
The Book of Confessions. In these historic church confessions, we identify with the affirmations of the
Protestant Reformation, which focus on God's grace in Jesus Christ as revealed in the Scriptures. The
Protestant watchwords -
grace alone, faith alone, Scripture alone - embody the principles of understanding which continue to guide and motivate the people of God in the life of faith. The confessions express the faith of the
Reformed tradition. Central to this tradition is the affirmation of the majesty, holiness, and providence of God who creates, sustains, rules, and redeems the world in the freedom of sovereign righteousness and love. The particular beliefs that shape the ministry of Good Shepherd include:
- God who is one Being existing in three inter-related Persons - Father, Son and Holy Spirit
- God has created and is sustaining all that exists
- God's truth is revealed to us in the Holy Bible
- God has entered human history in the crucified and risen Savior, Jesus of Nazareth, so that we might know we are loved, forgiven, and empowered by God's grace through Christ alone
- God works through the church for the redemption of creation by the power of the Holy Spirit
- God changes lives through the gospel of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, calling Christians to lives of:
- Continuing obedience to Jesus as his disciples
- On-going renewal of one's character - conforming to the likeness of Christ
- Discovering and developing spiritual gifts for service in and beyond the church
- Discovering new ways to communicate and live out the gospel of Jesus Christ before the world
- Welcoming and witnessing to all no matter where they are on life's journey of faith
- Practicing compassion and justice as signs of Christ's presence in the world
Our Core Values: As we seek to become
fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ, we personally and corporately value:
- Worship of God as a top priority for the people of God
- Authentic Worship: Through active, participatory worship, we enable a diverse, multi-generational community of believers and seekers to discover and glorify God.
- Centrality of Christ: We are centered in the Living Word, Jesus Christ, under the authority of the written word, the Bible.
- Discipleship as a transforming growth process:
- Empowerment of the Holy Spirit: We rely on the power of the Holy Spirit to live holy and transformed lives according to revealed biblical truths.
- Foundation of Prayer: We commune with God through prayer, seeking insight into God's plan and to receiving power to be transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ.
- Lifelong Learning: We practice lifelong study in order to develop a dynamic and growing relationship with Christ.
- Building Christian Community as an expression of Christ's presence
- Being a Community of Grace: We are humbly subject to one another in loving accountability, open communication, and respectful resolution of conflict, practicing repentance, forgiveness, and love.
- Upholding the Family: We protect and honor the sanctity of marriage and the family, while appreciating that the family of God includes persons of all ages and life situations.
- Serving Others joyfully as a model for all believers
- The Priesthood of all Believers: We encourage each other to discover, develop, and share our God-given spiritual gifts and abilities to serve in the church and in the world.
- Whole-Life Stewardship: We recognize that everything belongs to God, and we seek to freely honor God in all our decisions regarding our time, talents, treasure, and treatment of God's creation.
- Reaching Through Evangelism as our response to God's love for the world
- Active Evangelism: We actively share the Good News of Jesus Christ through words and deeds in our community and the world, so that people will come to faith in him.
- Seeking Justice: We seek to understand, model, and uphold the values of the Kingdom of God in all human relationships, especially in the context of poverty and injustice.
