Purpose & MiSSION
We make provision for people to find God by building a dwelling place for Him (Ephesians 2:22; Psalm 27:4; 132:5-8; Acts 6:4).
We authentically & relevantly proclaim the Word of God and unpack the scriptures to obtain a healthy diet of the knowledge of Jesus; the one who was, who is, and is to come (Colossians 1:27-28; 1 Corinthians 1:23; 1 Timothy 4:13; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; Hebrews 4:12).
We intentionally prioritize prayer and find joy in partnering with God by interceding on behalf of others to see the reality of “on earth as it is in Heaven” (Is. 56:7; Matthew 6:6,10; Matthew 21:13; Acts 6:4).
kingdom
“Looking only at Jesus” we minister to God from a place of awe, longing for the continual dwelling of His presence both individually and corporately. Our highest aim is that Jesus receives honor as we pour out our love on Him through worship (Psalm 27:4; 132:5-8; John 14:23; Ephesians 2:22; Hebrews 12:2).
We minister to people with compassion; our greatest concern being that Jesus is glorified in their lives. By loving others as God intends, we seek to be recognized as His “true disciples” (John 13:35)
We Disciple to convert; NOT convert to disciple. Our resolve is unwavering as we are committed to the Great Commission in making true disciples. By explaining truth and exposing error, we want to transition believers to mature disciples, and into friends of Jesus by growing in the Word of God matched with practical application that bears the fruit of a life fully devoted to Jesus (Matthew 13:52, 28:18-20; Luke 24:27,32,44-45; John 15:14-15; John 17:3).
We want Jesus’s throne in our hearts before His throne is set in the earth. With a healthy eschatological perspective and the expectation of His imminent return, we purposely live sober, prepared, and hopeful during His delay (Matthew 24: 27,36,44; Revelation 1:4,7; 22:7,12,20).
Circles go deeper than rows. We root ourselves in the way the early church did biblical community and strive to steward that reality by building a culture of honor; striving to honor God, the things of God, and each other. We focus on building community around the full gospel of Christ—His incarnation, death, resurrection, ascension, and future return (Matthew 18; Acts 2:42-47)
According to the book of Revelation 1:6, Jesus not only made us righteousness before God by His death on the cross, but to be a priest before Him because He wants us close. Being a priest before the Lord is the original intent of our function and identity (Exodus 19:6; Isaiah 61:6; Malachi 2:5-7; 1 Peter 2:9; Revelation 1:6)
We celebrate and embrace the Jewish culture, the God of Israel. If it were not for God’s sovereign choice over Israel, we as gentiles (non-Jewish) would have not been grafted into the salvation and family of God (Romans 1:16; Psalm 122:6)
You can belong before you believe. Come as you are, but don’t stay as you came (Isaiah 55:1-3, Matthew 16:24, 2 Corinthians 5:17)
We long to see and experience the manifest power of the Holy Spirit with signs and wonders in our personal lives, families, gatherings, city, and region (Psalm 132; Isaiah 26:8; Matthew 6:10; Mark 16:20; Acts 2:1-6; 17-21; 5:12-16)
We are committed to honor the Sabbath. We set apart one day a week that is undistracted and solely set on God and everything that is Kingdom. The Sabbath was made to centralize us to enjoy God by resting in Him and hearing His voice, thus being the remedy to burnout (Exodus 20:8; Ezekiel 20:12; Isaiah 56:2; Mark 3:1-6; Romans 14:17; Hebrews 4:9)
We greatly value the preparation ministry of John the Baptist before Jesus’ first coming, and believe we are called to do the same before Jesus’ second coming (Matthew 3:2-3; Mark 1:2, Luke 1:76-77; 3:4,16; John 1:23, 29, 36-37)
We validate and support women in ministry. We empower women to fulfill the call of God on their life. (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 2:17; Acts 18:26)
Stewardship paired with generosity is a way of life, not just an action, which is why we honor the Lord with our tithe. Because we see the bigger picture and are stirred to support it, we make it a point to joyfully give God our first and our best (Exodus 35:21; Malachi 3:8-10; Matthew 23:23-24; Matthew 25:14-30; Psalms 24:1)
We believe in the complete verbal inspiration of the traditional canon of Scripture; that both the Old Testament and the New Testament are the infallible Word of God in all matters of life and doctrine; that the Bible is completely relevant today for every area of the human experience because it is living and active; that the Bible is the exclusive and only authority for faith and lifestyle; and that the original inscriptions are inspired and without error. It is to be believed, practiced, trusted, and hoped in (1 Cor. 2:13; 2 Tim. 3:16; Heb. 4:12; 2 Pet. 1:21; Proverbs 30:5; Romans 16:25-26).
We believe that there is One true God, the eternally self-existing “I AM”, who has revealed himself to us in three Persons: Father, Son, & Holy Spirit. The doctrine of God’s Triune nature is called the Trinity. We believe that the persons of the Trinity are co-eternal, co-equal, distinct from each other, and yet with unique function (Genesis 1:26; Ex. 3:14; Deut. 6:4; Isa. 9:6, 43:10-11; Matt. 3:16-17; Jn. 8:58; 2 Cor. 13:14; 1 John 5:7; Hebrews 3:7-11).
We believe in Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity. He is a distinct person from the Father and the Holy Spirit, yet of the same substance, two natures in One person (fully God (divine) & fully man (human)). We believe that Jesus Christ is God of God, the Son of God, who was incarnated as a human, was born of a virgin, the only man to have lived a sinless life, atoned for our sins by being crucified, was buried, was resurrected, is seated at the right hand of the Father, and is soon to return in power and glory (Mt. 1:20; Mk. 16:19; Jn. 1:1, 14; 3:16; 20:1-2, 28; 1 Cor. 15:3-5; Hebrews 2:17; Gal. 4:4; Phil. 2:5-8; 1 Pet. 3:22; 1 Timothy 2:5, 3:16).
We believe in the Third Person of the Trinity. He is a distinct person from the Father and the Son, God of God, sent by the Father to equip the Body of Christ with grace for the work. In all He does, He glorifies Christ. He convicts the world of sin, regenerates sinners, and in him they are baptized into union with Christ and adopted into the family of God, indwelling and sealing them unto the day of redemption. The Holy Spirit is received at salvation and assists us in our weaknesses by enabling us to live victorious, bold, Christ-like lives. According to Scriptures, He comforts us, teaches us, gives gifts to us, reminds us of everything Jesus has spoken, and leads us into all truth (Jn. 14:16-26; 16:8-11; Rom. 8:9, 26; Eph. 4:30; 5:18; 1 Cor. 12:7-14; 2 Cor. 3:6; Heb. 10:29).
We believe that humankind was created in the image of God and His likeness but voluntarily sinned when tempted by Satan and fell short of God’s righteousness. Sin is willful transgression of the law of God and deserves death. At the fall, humankind incurred physical death and spiritual death, which is separation from God. All human beings are sinners by nature and by choice. Sin has alienated humankind from God and subjected it to his wrath without the hope of redemption that is only found in Jesus (Ge. 1:26-31; 2:17; 3:1-7; Rom. 5:12-21).
Fallen humankind’s hope of redemption is only possible through the shed blood of Jesus Christ and His work on the cross. Salvation is a gift from God, not a result of our good works or of any human efforts. The redemption offered to humankind through the work of Christ must be received by repentance toward God and faith in Christ who shed his blood as a sufficient payment for their sin. Those who receive God’s offer of grace by faith are born again, justified, regenerated, adopted into the family of God, made heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit, and are partakers of eternal life to come (John 3:3; Acts 4:12; 16:31; Gal. 2:16; 3:8; Eph. 1:7; 2:8-9; Rom. 5:10; 8:14-17; 10:9-10; Titus 3:5-6; Hebrews 9:22).
The Church is the local and global community of believers who acknowledge Jesus as their Savior. The Church is not a location, religious institution, or weekly event. The Church is the body of Christ, who is its Head, and made up of born-again believers empowered by the Holy Spirit to carry the divine mission of spreading the Gospel to the whole world. The Church is being built up and made into the Bride of Christ, fully matured and presentable at Jesus’s Second Coming. We believe the Church is a pillar of truth to the world because of the abiding story and presence of Jesus as mediated by the Holy Spirit (Mt. 16:13-18; John 17:11, 20-23; Acts 2:42-47; 1 Cor. 12:13; Rom. 5:1, 5; Eph. 1:22-23, 2:19-22, 4:11-17, 5:27; Heb. 12:23; Rev. 2-3).
We believe in the personal, bodily, and glorious return of Jesus Christ. At the moment of His coming, which time is unknown, we will be caught up in the air, transformed in glory, and brought back to the to the earth whereupon Christ will sit in judgment, separate the wheat from the chaff, renew the earth, and reign as King forever. We believe that God will create a New Heaven and a New Earth where humans will dwell forever with God. The imminent coming of Christ should inspire godly living and commitment to the mission of the Gospel. We believe that those who reject God’s offer of grace and forgiveness and are not found in the book of Life will be raised and judged in the resurrection of the wicked and given over to eternal conscious punishment in the Lake of Fire along with the devil and his angels for all eternity (Isa. 65:17; Mt. 24:30, 25:41,46, 26:63-64; Mark 9:43-48; Acts 1:9-11; 1 Cor. 15:50-54; 1 Thess. 4:15-17; 2 Thess. 1:7-8; Hebrews 9:27; Revelation 1:7; 14:9-11; 19:11-22; 20:11-15; 21:1-5, 8; 22:21).
Water Baptism: Following faith in Jesus Christ, the new convert is commanded by the Word of God to be baptized in water in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. It is to be a public declaration testifying that their old life is buried in the water, and they have been risen into a new life in the Kingdom of God (Matthew 28:19; Acts 2:38; Mark 16:16; Acts 8:12, 36-38; 10:47-48).
The Lord’s Supper: A unique time of communion in the presence of God when the elements of bread and juice (the Body and Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ) are taken in reverence and remembrance of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross (Matthew 26:26-29; I Corinthians 10:16, 11:23-25).
We believe in the continuation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit and that they did not cease after the Apostolic age. The purpose of the gifts is to build up and equip the Church to carry out its mission until Christ returns, as well as to be a foretaste of the life to come. Believers should seek God in prayer for the gifts of the Spirit to operate in their own lives and ministries and should not only agree to them theoretically but practice them outwardly as the Spirit leads (Rom. 1:11; 1 Cor. 1:5, 7; 12:1, 31; 1 Cor. 14:12; 2 Tim. 1:6-7; Heb. 6:5).
We believe in unity among the essentials and liberty among non-essentials. We embrace ecumenism, finding it more edifying and Christ-like to build bridges when it comes to peripheral doctrinal matters (i.e., eschatological interpretations, Calvinism/Arminianism, etc.) versus drawing lines of division. Because of this, our leadership and staff are exhorted to be respectful and inquiring toward one another in the spirit of Christian unity and healthy relationship dynamics (Ps. 133:1; Acts 15:1-21; Eph. 4:3; Phi. 2:2; 2 Cor. 13:11).
We believe God has ordained marriage and defined it as a covenant relationship between one man, one woman, and himself. Hence, we only recognize marriage between a biological man and a biological woman. As a result, the leadership and staff of JUST KINGDOM will only participate in weddings and the solemnization of marriages between one man and one woman (Gen. 2:24; Matt. 19:4; Eph. 5:25; 1 Pet. 3:7).
We believe that from the beginning God created two separate and distinct biological sexes: male and female. Moreover, we believe that Scripture does not permit any difference between biological sex and gender identity or expression. Humankind has been created by God and any attempt to misconstrue the difference between male/female and/or biological sex/gender identity is an attempt to self-create and is a result of sin and the fall. We also acknowledge that there are rare instances where people are born with an indiscriminate biological sex. Yet, these cases do not involve an attempt to self-create nor deny the dignity of how they were born (Gen. 1:26-27; Matt. 19:4; Mark 10:6-7; Psalm 139:14).
We believe that God loves all races of human beings equally and without preference or favoritism. Racism, which is prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism by an individual, community, or institution against a person or people based on their membership in a particular racial or ethnic group, is evil and is the result of sin. We believe that the authority for approaching racism is Scripture and, therefore, our approach to racism centers around such. As a result, we reject Critical Race Theory (CRT) and other systems of thinking that insist on being the authority on racism and the resolution to it (Mk 12:31; Acts 17:26; Rom. 2:11; Rev. 7:9-10; 2 Tim. 3:16-17).
We believe that all human life is valuable and sacred, and that human life and full personhood begins at conception and continues until death. As stewards of life, we are endowed by God with the responsibility to protect the worth and dignity of human beings from the moment of conception until the moment of death. Therefore, we oppose taking innocent life in all forms, including abortion and euthanasia (Gen. 1:26-27; Job 31:15; Ps. 22:10; Ps. 127:3-5; Ps. 139:13-16; Jer. 1:5; Acts 17:25).
We believe that religious and civil liberty has a theological basis on the grounds that humans were created in the imago Dei and given certain inalienable rights. One of these rights is freedom to worship. The state should not have any authority over religious practices and matters that would infringe on this right. Equally, the state exists to protect this right (Gen. 1:27; Jn. 8:36 2 Cor. 3:17; Gal. 5:1).
