It’s about finding love and growing in it and for us, this is where it all begins. Nothing illustrates love more than the heart of God The Father. The Bible offers a simple yet profound definition for ‘who God is’. 1 John 4:8 defines God as love. Loving God and loving people sums up the two greatest commands in scripture (Mark 12:30-31). Furthermore, John 13:35 makes it amply clear that a true follower of Jesus is identified by his love. And finally, John 3:16 which is the gospel in a nutshell, begins with the love of God, and 1 Corinthians 13 ends with the greatest being love.

If scripture emphasizes love over and over again, then shouldn’t we be doing the same? As a church we believe that ‘all that we are’ and ‘all that we do’ must be rooted and grounded in the love of God. If that isn’t the case, then scripture makes it clear that we don’t really know God and that our works, no matter how great they might be, amounts to nothing without love.

So, in accordance with scripture, we pray that as a church we would ‘abound and increase’ in love (1 Thessalonians 3:12), for love is the beginning, love is the means and love is the end. Above all things, we must be known ‘for love’.

It’s about discovering a better way of life, and living it. Jesus showed us, by virtue of His own life, a better way to live. His life was immersed in the Father’s and so must ours. He lived in absolute surrender to the Father and so must we. He lived and grew in favor with God and man, and by following his way of life, so will we. As a church we live to exemplify ‘abundant life’ as promised in John 10:10. This does not mean that we’re exempt from trials and tests, but that we allow God to work in us so that we never lose hope or give up. We hold on to the promises of God knowing we will overcome because He has overcome the world (John 16:33).

There is more to life than just here and now because Jesus made a way for us to live forever and all we need to do is ‘believe’. The choices that we make in this life will determine how we spend eternity or ‘life forever’.

As a church, we focus on dealing with the issues of life in accordance with scripture, so that people learn to make well informed decisions that will bear lasting fruit. Among other things, we must be known ‘for life’.

It’s about experiencing liberty and sharing it. On the road to Damascus, Saul of Tarsus, the persecutor of the church, encountered the power of God. It changed his identity, literally, to the Apostle Paul and though he spent much of his life in prison and in chains, yet he remained truly liberated by the power of the Holy Spirit. Any prisoner would testify that nothing smells better than the air of freedom. 2 Corinthians 3:17 says that where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty and Christ has indeed liberated us from sin, sickness, death and even from religious obligation (Romans 7:6). He lifted the weight off our shoulders and took the chains off our feet. We are free because the Son has set us free (John 8:36). Moreover He has given us a spirit of power, of love and of a sound mind. We are free to be all that He created us to be and to do all that we were born to do.

This message of liberty is not meant to be hidden away but rather to be shared, for freely we have received and freely we must give (Matthew 10:8). Having been saved by the love of God and brought into the grace of abundant life, we must serve to set captives free into the liberty of Christ.
And finally, we must be known ‘for liberty’.