The Vision of Cornerstone

Jesus was once asked , "What is the most important commandment?" He answered, "To love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. The second is like the first, love your neighbor as yourself." At Cornerstone this teaching of Jesus is the basis for our "Vision," or what we call our "Missional Statement" which is:

Following Jesus . . . Finding Friends

These four words guide us. We believe that as we "Follow Jesus" we grow in faith, and we help and encourage one another to do the same. We know of Jesus because of the witness of the scriptures. At the core of our beliefs is a profound love, use, and respect of the Bible, which we understand to be the inspired word of God . We encourage each other to read it, study it, and to lay its words alongside our lives, bringing change into our lives. We believe the Bible points us consistently to know, believe, and follow Jesus. We believe that Jesus is God's Son who showed us the fullness of God as Creator/Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit. Jesus came to bring each of us healing and forgiveness. As the gospel of John says, "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." We believe that Jesus came not only for us, but also for the people of the world, and that Jesus can be found in the poor, the mourning, the meek, and peacemakers. It is not only our responsibility to "Find Friends" it is also our joy. In fact our primary purpose in existing is not for the sake of ourselves; it is for the sake of others. As we live these teachings of Jesus, we make a community of like believers. As a community, we help each other through the use of scriptures and the leading of God's Spirit. And, we also understand that we are far from a perfect people. We do not think we understand better than others, or that we "get it" and others don't. We desire to learn from others and respect other's beliefs. But, it is these things that we hold dear.

Expressing our Beliefs

As we are "Following Jesus . . . Finding Friends" we give expression to our beliefs in God in the follow ways:

Gather

We desire to worship God with integrity and in humility. We seek to express our faith in God in a manner that is understandable to the people with whom we live our lives, particularly those who are not churched. In our worship we value Baptism as a means of demonstrating the unique nature of becoming a follower of Jesus. Baptism is our response to the grace that God has brought into our lives. In baptism it is demonstrated that we are cleansed and made whole. As importantly baptism demonstrates our new desire to live a life that is devoted to following Jesus. As we worship our thoughts and attention are not far from the person of Jesus. Jesus centers us in worship , allowing us to come before the fullness of God. Jesus came laying down his life for us, and bringing to us a new covenant, a new way of understanding God We see communion as the offering of Jesus to ourselves, and the way in which we remember what Jesus has done for us. Our style in worship is designed to be friendly towards those who may not be familiar with us. Therefore we often praise God with music of a contemporary nature. In addition we value the gifts of those who have preceded us and we strive to find ways of recognizing the tradition of faith that has brought us this far. We use Bible translations that are understandable to the people gathered, and we come dressed in a comfortable manner. Our worship themes however, are not designed around style, but rather they are designed to help people come to God, giving their lives to God. Worship does not start with the question, "God what are you going to do for me today?" Worship starts with, "God, I am broken and humbled before you today."

Grow

Baptism is not an end all in our spiritual journey. Salvation is not a one-time event of something that happened sometime in our past. Salvation, or what we call, "Following Jesus," is a life long process that stretches into eternity. We are committed to consistent growth . So we encourage one another to be faithful in worship, regular in the study of scripture, and open to the constant newness of God as he comes to us renewing and transforming us into the likeness of Jesus.

Group

Part of the growth process is valuing the nurturing aspects of grouping together. Small Groups are a means continued growth. As we group we learn to care for each other, appreciate each other, understand each other's uniqueness , and "bear one another's burdens, even as we forgive one another. In group life we learn that we can trust others with our hurts and we learn to open ourselves up to new ways of walking in the path of Jesus. In addition we learn in group life that we are a "body," not just a collection of people but a body. We are brother and sister and family with one another.

Give

It is of vital importance to us to understand that as we "Follow Jesus" we are in fact also "Finding Friends. Jesus said, "As the Father has sent me I am sending you." At Cornerstone we speak of being "church for others" a phrase that means we exist not for the sake of Cornerstone Church, but we exist to extend the Kingdom of God into the lives of those who are seeking . To become giving is to understand that all that is around us is God's. The houses we live in the church's we go to, the jobs that we have, the hobbies that we enjoy-all, ultimately come from God. He's just letting us use what is His. We find life's true joys as we are the giving people that God intended us to be. In fact we believe that God has uniquely made us all, in order for us to more effectively be sent into the world. He has given each of us gifts. These gifts help us build up the church in order for the church to fulfill its mission of being "sent into the world.