What we are about
Our mission is “Cultivating passionate disciples who glorify Christ and make Him known by loving God and loving others.”
“Cultivating passionate disciples…”
We value the commands of Christ that we are to go and make disciples. We believe that a healthy disciple is a passionate disciple, one who is constantly growing in their love for God and others. We recognize that following Christ is more about the journey than a one time event. Paul speaks of such a life as “Walking by the Spirit,” where we make a decision to serve God in each decision and follow Him with total devotion (Galatians 5:16). Since we are on a journey, we believe that every person has a new step to take whether they are 9 or 90. As a church we cultivate disciples by encouraging people to take that next step in surrendering their lives to the Lord. Thus the marks of a maturing disciple are a deepening love for God and others (Matthew 22), increasing conformity to Christ Likeness (2 Peter 1:3-11), involvement in a ministry that reflects their spiritual gifting and passion (Ephesians 4) , and a faithful testimony to Christ and his Kingdom. (Matthew 28:29-30)
“…who glorify Christ and make him known…”
We desire to see Christ glorified in the world. We believe we exist as a church not for our own purposes, but to manifest Christ and to glorify Him in the world. Our focus must never be on ourselves or our institutions but faithfully fulfilling the Great Commission. As such we desire to grow as an outward, or world focused, church. All of our programs are geared to include an element of outreach so that others may come to know Christ in a greater and deeper measure. This we believe shares Christ’s heart for a reconciled relationship with humanity and with one another.
“…by loving God and loving others.”
We recognize the strategy given to us by Christ is to love Him and love others (Matthew 22). This is why we place such an emphasis on relationships at Bethel. We believe relationships are the context in which true life transformation occurs. Our strategy is to grow relationally in our walk with God and as an result love others around us (John 15:5, John 17:23). This includes demonstrating the love of Christ in practical and spiritual ways and serving the community around us. In all of our ministry endeavors we seek to connect with people rather than simply creating projects, to develop meaningful relationship and to manifest the love of Christ to the world.
Values
We desire to be a church of passionate disciples, growing in our love for God and others. Therefore we are passionate about being a church of…
Growing relationships - We believe that relationships are the context in which all true spiritual growth occurs. Disciples must always be growing in their relationship with Christ and this relationship gives us the ability to do anything for Christ (John 15:5). At the same time Christ has put us into a family and has given us the grace of serving together. These times of fellowship and encouragement help us sharpen one another to grow. Our goal is to help each other grow in our relationships with God and to develop meaningful relationships with others as they seek him.
Transforming Truth - We believe God’s Word in the Bible contains transforming truths which show us how to grow in our relationship with God and empower us to serve according to God’s design for our lives. We value the role of the Bible as our final authority. Any program, activity, or message is to be tested against the clear teaching of Scripture (1 Tim 3:17-18).
Outward focus and action - We must not only value loving God and loving others, we must DO something about it (Matthew 7:24-27, 1 John 3:16). We affirm that the church does not exist primarily for our own well being, but to equip and empower people to reach our community in the name of Christ (Matthew 28:18-20). We seek to have this outward focus become a part of our cultural DNA which expresses itself in concrete acts of love through missions, personal evangelism, and community service.
Gifted Service - We believe that each disciple has been gifted and empowered by the Holy Spirit to serve in the church (Ephesians 4:16, 1 Corinthians 12). It is our desire to see each person connected to a ministry that fits their God given spiritual gifts or talents. Our goal is to empower everyone to fulfill the command that God has placed on their lives.
Passionate Unity - We value that our common faith in Christ is greater than our differences. We believe that there is a healthy diversity in the body of Christ and that such diversity brings glory to God when expressed in unity. We seek to always keep the person bigger than any “issue” and to work together to provide a worthy example of the Bride of Christ for the world to see.
Strengthening families - We value the role of the family as the basic building block of society and seek to nurture healthy families both in our church and in the community (Genesis 2:21-25). Through mentoring, intergenerational fellowship, and outreach our goal is to see families strengthened not only at Bethel but in Missoula as well.
