Our Identity

We understand the identity of the church to be captured in these five metaphors:

1.) The Bride of Christ. (Eph.5:32; 2 Cor.11:2)

The church is loved and cherished by Christ as his Bride. The local church is ordained by Christ to be the object of his attention and affection and to be the vehicle in which his people corporately experience their relationship with God most clearly. This church is a spiritual being—much more than just a group of people and much different from chairs and buildings. Those who are charged with her nurture must treat her with care and respect and must labor to present her pure, mature and complete in Christ (Col. 1:28-29).

2.) The Body of Christ. (I Cor.12)

The church is comprised of people, believers who have joined together to perform the functions for which they were designed under the direction and authority of Christ the Head. In many faith-based contexts, one person is the head, and a handful of people do all the work. But if the church is truly a body and each believer a member-priest, then the ministry of the church is the exercise of each believer’s gifts. All members act, and all believers minister.

3.) The Family of Faith. (I Tim.5:1-2; Acts 2)

The church is the family of faith, a community of brothers and sisters, parents and children, both biological as well as spiritual. A family is a way of living, not an event. A family is a living culture, an environment in which individuals grow—even when the growth is awkward and trying. A family is real and authentic long after the illusions of appearances have disappeared. The church is this faith-filled family.

4.) The Temple of God. (Eph.2:21; 2 Cor.6:16; I Pet.2:5)

The church is a location not in geography but whenever the people of God gather. This temple is a place to meet God. This temple is a place to offer spiritual offerings, a place where each believer is a ministering priest, and place built and solidly secured on its foundation of Christ.

5.) The Kingdom of God. (Luke 4:14-21; Mark 4:30-32; Rev. 21:1-5)

Jesus spoke often of the activity and economy of the Kingdom of God, for it is in this Kingdom that God’s purposes of lovingly redeeming humanity are realized. We believe that the church is a vital, Kingdom-institution and should be oriented to the redemptive purposes of God toward humankind. This redemption as described in Scripture includes the restoration of all broken things – our relationships with God and others, our physical bodies, justice in society, the creation, etc. While we wait for the ultimate redemption that will follow Christ’s return, we seek to promote the Kingdom’s priorities in our world.