First off, this is important: We love everybody.

Everyone. All people, everywhere. No matter where you come from, what you look like, or really any aspect of your identity. Jesus said that loving God and loving people were the two most important things (Matthew 22:37-39), and we believe him.

We try not to split hairs about little things, and you can find people at Everyday Church who disagree about a variety of beliefs. But we’ve identified four central beliefs that anyone among our leadership unites behind, as have all streams of orthodox Christianity throughout the centuries.

Our Beliefs

 

1. There is One God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

God isn’t just whatever we want God to be– God is real, and unique, and we can get to know them because they revealed themselves to us. God’s very nature is a mysterious, loving relationship that we are invited into. Check out Deuteronomy 6:4, Matthew 28:19, and 1 John 4:8.b.
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2. The Bible is our Holy Scripture.

The Bible contains the writings and reflections of people who have experienced God through the centuries. We believe that God’s Holy Spirit inspired the words of Scripture. It’s not about the Bible; it’s about the God of the Bible. God is not silent. He has spoken living words that speak today! Check out 2 Timothy 3:16-17 or Hebrews 4:12.

3. We live in a broken world.

Our world is built around systems that just don’t work for everyone – keeping power with the powerful, and pushing down those on the margins. As we attempt to expose and fight racism, sexism, poverty, lack of housing, hunger, and violence it’s sometimes as if we’re treating the symptoms without curing the disease. We believe we are called to help dismantle/disrupt the broken systems in our world. We’re an active church, and we readily serve our neighbors. We also know that if we don’t address our own selfishness, greed and pride, we won’t fulfill the command to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Check out Isaiah 64:6 or Romans 3:23.

4. Jesus is our example.

Jesus claimed to be “the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6). He wasn’t the King the world expected, he was the one the world needed. He suffered, stood up for excluded people, and went out of his way to welcome the “unimportant” and outcasts. He didn’t tow the party line. Jesus was a flesh and blood man, but also a deep mystery and a delightful paradox, because Jesus was and is more than just a man.

We believe Jesus. We believe he was the Son of God, and that through faith in him and what he did for us, we receive forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38-39). Jesus came so that we could have abundant life that begins today and lasts for eternity. (John 10:10).

“A New Creed”
We are not alone,
we live in God’s world.

We believe in God:
who has created and is creating,
who has come in Jesus,
the Word made flesh,
to reconcile and make new,
who works in us and others
by the Spirit.

We trust in God.

We are called to be the Church:
to celebrate God’s presence,
to live with respect in Creation,
to love and serve others,
to seek justice and resist evil,
to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,
our judge and our hope.

In life, in death, in life beyond death,
God is with us.
We are not alone.

Our Values

BELONGING

We value the remarkable diversity of our people. Many races, gender expressions, sexual orientations, backgrounds, incomes, ages and abilities are represented, and we are intentionally working to be inclusive of people in all stages of life and belief in our community. This includes affirming our LGBTQ+ members.

Relationships

Doing real life together means being real. That’s why we’ve been studying how to have emotionally healthy relationships together for over a decade. We can’t love like Jesus did without taking the time to care for our hearts.

JUSTICE

Our world is built on systems that just don’t work for everyone – keeping power with the powerful and pushing down those on the margins. We’re doing our part to help dismantle those systems, through education, volunteering, community organizing, donations and more.