The Gospel and Core Values
WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?
The gospel has been described as a pool in which a toddler can wade and yet an elephant can swim. It is both simple enough to tell to a child and profound enough for the greatest minds to explore. Indeed, even angels never tire of looking into it (1 Peter 1:12). Although it is nearly impossible to define the Gospel in all its richness and implications, following is a definition which contains the most important elements.
Jesus as the promised Messianic King and Son of God, came to earth as a servant in human form and lived a life without sin. By His death and resurrection, Jesus atoned for our sin and secured our justification and forgiveness. This is salvation is and it is a free gift of grace, unattainable by works. Through His death on the cross, Jesus also broke the power and control of sin and evil over us. Upon His final return He will bring renewal to the entire material creation and fulfill the resurrection of our bodies. The Gospel is therefore that God accomplished salvation for us through the person and work of Jesus Christ therefore rescuing us not only from judgment due to our sin but also restoring us into fellowship with him. Upon the final return of Christ, God will bring to full restoration creation itself where we will enjoy our new life together with him forever.
CORE VALUES
Centrality and Totality of the Gospel: From the belief that the Gospel is the transforming power of God for individuals and all of creation, all our values radiate from the Gospel. It is the Gospel that defines and guides not only our values, but what and how we teach, our mission, our ministry practices, how we strive to relate to one another and how we understand community and culture.
Worship as Life: Everyone is by definition a worshipper, continuously attributing worth to something and organizing life around that object of worth. As worship measures the worth-ship of an object and God is most worthy in all creation, God must be worshipped passionately and supremely. Sin is essentially misplacing and wrongly evaluating created things over the Creator. By all means, we strive to lead people to a growing worship lifestyle through Christ who revealed the true value of sin and God on the cross.
Sacrifice to Redeem: Christ's sacrificial atonement brought redemption. Knowing the future glory of His sacrifice, Jesus obeyed God the Father and absorbed brokeness in order to bring wholeness. We believe that the best is indeed yet to come, but in the meantime, just as God sent Jesus, He now sends the church to restore the world by absorbing its brokeness, therefore reenacting the Gospel to an unbelieving world through 'irrational' giving of material, financial, intellectual, time and energy resources as a church.
Community and Unity: God i trinitaria: both three and one. This means that He is Himself 'community'. A biblical church must be more than gathering on Sunday for service. God created the church to be a community of believers and seekers who share their time, hearts, thoughts, problems, and gifts in authentic relationships with each other. At New Covenant Church, we recognize LIFE groups, serving in teams, regular gatherings for worship and fellowship to facilitate this end, the development of a community which reflects the Trinitarian God.
Missional and Engaging: The church exists to advance God's kingdom by communicating the Gospel both locally and globally, by engaging people, culture, and conditions in a way that is clear and receiver based. Although the Gospel is unchanging truth, the world is always changing and therefore must be presented in relevant ways yet without compromising its message. Practically, the church must go, engage and connect people to God by missions, outreach, the arts, intentional relationships, etc. For example, as beauty itself is a revelatory shadow of the ultimate beauty of God, arts can be used to draw people to the Gospel as a missional tool.
