The Truth of God’s Word – We believe in the truth revealed in and through the Holy Scriptures.
The Gospel – We believe that the gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ—God’s very wisdom. Utter folly to the world, even though it is the power of God to those who are being saved, this good news is Christ-centered, focusing on the cross and resurrection: the gospel is not proclaimed if Christ is not proclaimed, and the authentic Christ has not been proclaimed if his death and resurrection are not central (the message is: “Christ died for our sins . . . [and] was raised”). This good news is biblical (his death and resurrection are according to the Scriptures), theological and salvific (Christ died for our sins, to reconcile us to God), historical (if the saving events did not happen, our faith is worthless, we are still in our sins, and we are to be pitied more than all others), apostolic (the message was entrusted to and transmitted by the apostles, who were witnesses of these saving events), and intensely personal (where it is received, believed, and held firmly, individual persons are saved). (Borrowed from The Gospel Coalition.)
Unity – The finished work of Christ has united us as one body of which Christ is the head. Therefore, we value this inherent unity among the local churches. This does not mean uniformity but that we are working together, unified around the truth of the gospel.
Interdependency of churches – Since Christ has united the Church as one body and diversely gifted each body, we value working interdependently for gospel presence and proclamation in our geographies. The need to work together is all the more pertinent given the scope of our missiological task in the communities north of Syracuse to saturate all the communities therein with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Local church autonomy – We value the autonomy of the local church, recognizing that each local expression of the church answers only to Christ under the direction of its established leadership.
Empowerment of people – Whatever God is going to do, He is going to do primarily through all of Christ’s people. Therefore, we desire to provide avenues for each local church to mobilize its people to serve on mission with God.
