MT Beliefs and Values
Our Beliefs
Faith Statements
We believe in the historic Christian faith, reflected in these statements:
About God
We believe that God is the loving Creator of all that exists, both seen and unseen. God is eternal and completely good, knowing all things, having all power and majesty. God exists as the Trinity, in three persons, yet one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God passionately desires relationship with us and towards this end continually invites us into a relationship of faith, friendship, learning, and service.
Genesis 1:1; John 14:6-9, 15-17; John 16:7-15; Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14; 1 John 4:9-10
About Jesus Christ
We believe that God expressed himself in human form through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified for the sins of us all, was buried, rose again from the dead, and ascended to heaven.
Colossians 1:13-23 and Colossians 2:8-14; 1 Corinthians 15:3-8; Matthew 22:36-40; John 14:1-3; Hebrews 1:1-3; Acts 10:42-43; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
About the Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit, sent from God to live inside all who believe in Jesus Christ, teaches, comforts, and empowers us, giving each follower diverse gifts, fostering unity, interdependence, productivity, Christ-like character, and love among Christians.
Romans 5:5 and Romans 8; 1 Corinthians 12-14; Galatians 5:16-25; Ephesians 3:16, Ephesians 4:3-4, and Ephesians 5:18; John 14:26 and John 16:7-14
About the Bible
We believe that God speaks to us in the Bible, and that it is our privilege to seek to understand God´s message and apply it responsibly to our lives. The Bible is our standard in all we say and do. God’s unchangeable Biblical message ought to be presented in relevant and contemporary ways, free of religious jargon and understandable to the people of our community.
Matthew 5:17-19; 2 Timothy 2:15 and 2 Timothy 3:14-17; Hebrew 4:12; 2 Peter 1:16-21 and 2 Peter 3:14-18; Psalm 19:7-11 and Psalm 119:9-16; Joshua 1:7-8; Acts 17:11
About Salvation
We believe that all people are created with dignity and value in the image of God, to live in a vital relationship with God. However, through our sin (failing to live by God´s moral standards), we break our intended relationship with God and we experience the destructive consequences of that broken relationship, spiritually and socially, in this life and beyond. However, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to rescue us from those consequences and to restore our broken relationships with God and others, through Christ´s death on the cross, a perfect act of redemption for each of us. Salvation comes to people on the basis of God´s grace through their faith in Jesus alone. They receive the free gift of forgiveness and are spiritually reborn through repenting of their sin and believing in Jesus Christ. Good works and a holy life, although totally unable to save anyone, are the natural product of repentant, believing people.
I Peter 2:24, 3:18; Romans 3:9-28, Romans 6:23, and Romans 10:9-10; John 3:16 and John 5:24; Ephesians 2:1-10; Titus 3:3-8; James 2:14-26
VALUES
1. Authenticity/Integrity:
We want to be real, honest, and genuine, in our personal and professional life. We want more than slick productions and nice appearances; we want to encourage people to be authentic with God and one another. This value means we don´t hide our rough edges and struggles. We know that we all stumble every day in many ways — and so we seek to encourage brothers and sisters in Christ to “fall in the light” — to readily admit our mistakes, not to hide or try to cover them up. Sometimes, a sense of humor helps us to avoid taking our mistakes and ourselves so seriously — so we can take the amazing grace of God more seriously. Along with authenticity, we seek to pursue integrity — morally, financially, relationally. We want the genuine quality and integrity of our lives to honor Christ and make a difference in the world.
2. Connection/Community:
For us, the church is not just a disconnected crowd of people who attend public programs together. Our ideal is a dynamic balance that we call “mission through community,” believing that mission is essential to community, and community to mission. This balance takes time, effort and vulnerability. But how can people experience the rich life God intends for them unless they are connected with others: serving and being served, challenging and being challenged, giving and receiving forgiveness, teaching and being taught, giving and receiving, failing and being encouraged and offering encouragement to fellow strugglers? How can people experience the “life to the full” offered by Christ if they never laugh and cry and work and communicate and forgive and experiment and rest and work together, connected to God and one another in a dynamic community of faith?
3. Acceptance/Diversity:
We believe that without a conscious pursuit of diversity we will tend to fall back into our “looks like me” comfort zone. We reach out to a wide variety of people and encourage them to explore their questions and progress in their spiritual journey at their own pace. We welcome them with their unique blends of experiences, gifts, challenges, and insights, believing that we will be enriched as a group by the contributions of each individual.
4. Innovation/Creativity:
We serve a creative God! The splendor and span of God´s creativity call us to creative innovation. This quality keeps us moving forward as individuals and as a group. We do not wish to fall into the status quo of ministry. We value the spontaneity of the Spirit and will not allow ourselves to speak that tragic phrase, “we’ve never done it like that before”. Jesus said only new, flexible wineskins could hold the new wine of the Spirit, so we are committed to remaining flexible, teachable, not change-averse. It´s not enough for us believers to be contemporary; we need to be anticipatory, leaning forward, riding the crest of the wave, being part of the exciting “new things” that God is doing — things that we are privileged to be part of as they emerge.
5. Balance/Wisdom:
We believe that maturity involves growing in the balance, simplicity, humility, and practicality of wisdom, not endless complexity, pride, controversy, and abstraction. As a result, we focus with wholehearted commitment on “core Christianity,” those essential truths and practices, made clear in the Bible, which Christians across the ages have held in common, and which most effectively nourish spiritual vibrancy. In addition, wisdom should guides us towards integrated, holistic, systems thinking, encouraging synergy instead of competition within community.
6. Spiritual Vibrancy/Mystery:
We recognize that this world, life and God are all too profound and complex to be reduced to simplistic formulas or to be neatly packed and cataloged in boxes. We embrace the wonder and mystery of all of creation and of the Creator, and seek to celebrate, enjoy, and experience the goodness of God, that far surpasses our understanding. We value spiritual disciplines to help us grow in spiritual vibrancy, including the study of Scripture, prayer, worship, fasting, feasting, fellowship, journaling, silence, and service. In light of the awesome mysteries of our faith, and strengthened through spiritual disciplines, we seek to live “life to the full” in Christ.