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OUR STRATEGY We will:
OUR CORE VALUES Our core values are the constant, biblical, core beliefs that unite the people who are committed to Jacksonville Bible Church and serve to motivate us to do what we do in our service to the Lord. These do not represent an exhaustive list of all of the values members of our church share, but identify the ones that we choose to give our greatest attention and focus as a church body. The fact that these are our core values doesn't mean that we consistently achieve all of them completely, but we are committed to developing together in each one. We are committed to: GLORIFYING AND WORSHIPPING GOD Our commitment and highest priority is to do all we do dependent on God and for His glory. We are both created and called to love and worship God with our entire being. In our worship, we should give our very best to God, engaging both heart and mind as we communicate with and offer our praise to Him. As believers, we are called by God to present our bodies as living sacrifices and to serve Him as priests in the offering of daily, spiritual sacrifices. Our worship on Sunday should be the culmination and corporate expression of the worship that has been taking place all week in our day to day lives. (Genesis 4:2-4; Proverbs 3:5, 6; Mark 12:30-31; John 4:24; Romans 12:1; 1 Corinthians 10:31; Hebrews 13:15; 1 Peter 2:5, 9) GOD'S WORD The preaching and teaching of the Bible is central to everything we do. God's Word-not our personal preferences-is our final authority for what we believe and how we live. Realizing how essential the Word is to our spiritual growth, we apply ourselves to the reading, study, and memorization of Scripture. In pursuit of our better understanding and application of God's Word, we believe it is important to pursue excellence in Christian Education ministries and to provide sufficient opportunities for people of all ages to study the Word together. The Bible supplies the answers people need when they seek counseling ministry. Therefore, we are committed to Biblical counseling. We believe that a regular practice of expositional preaching is the best approach for equipping God's people for life and ministry. (Psalm 119:11; Acts 2:42; Ephesians 4:11-16; 1 Timothy 4:13; 2 Timothy 2:15; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Timothy 4:2; James 1:22; 1 Peter 2:2) PRAYER God accomplishes His purposes in response to the believing prayer of His people. Prayer is a vital means for cultivating a relationship with God characterized by worship, submission, and dependence. Therefore, we believe we should pray all the time about everything. (Acts 2:42; Luke 11:1-4; Ephesians 6:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:17; James 5:16) LOCAL & GLOBAL MISSIONS God has chosen each and every one of us to serve as His ambassador to lead others to faith in Christ. We believe that the primary means of leading people to the Lord is not church activities, but our sharing Christ with co-workers, neighbors, friends, and family within our natural network of relationships. We are committed to provide regular training opportunities to equip people to share Christ and to regular prayer for opportunities to share our faith. We are responsible to see not only that the gospel is shared with those in our local community, but also with those all over the world who have never heard the good news. We understand that God will call some people from our midst to cross-cultural ministry in other parts of the world. The rest of us have the privilege of participating in God's world-wide outreach by praying, sending financial support, visiting missionaries to encourage them, and helping in whatever ways God leads us to serve Him. All believers ought to consider prayerfully where God wants to use them for His glory to achieve His purpose of seeing disciples made in every nation. (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; 2 Corinthians 5:20; Colossians 4:2-4) DISCIPLESHIP All we do as a church should contribute to making God's people into disciples-that is faithful, fruitful followers of Jesus Christ. We believe disciple making involves baptizing believers who have indicated a commitment to identify themselves publicly as followers of Christ and teaching believers to obey the commands of our Lord. Discipleship is costly, but worth all we give to it. Effective disciple making is reproductive disciple making. We aren't only concerned that the people we disciple become faithful followers of Christ, but also that they in turn disciple still others. (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 8:31-9:1; 2 Timothy 2:2) INTEGRITY Our character and integrity is a matter of utmost importance to God. We should live in such a way so as to have nothing to hide and therefore nothing to fear. All of God's people should be careful to trust Him to enable them to exhibit behavior and attitudes characterized by holiness and faithfulness. The standard for how holy we should live our lives is the holiness of God, not the consensus of the Christian community around us. We believe in a grace oriented approach to encouraging God's people to grow in Christ-like behavior as opposed to legalism. We came to Christ by grace, through faith and it is by grace, through faith that we take steps in becoming more like Him. (Proverbs 10:9; Galatians 2:20; Galatians 5:16; 22-23; 1 Peter 1:15-16) FAMILIES Strong, healthy families are vital for developing faithful followers of Christ. The family is the fundamental means God uses to train our children to follow Him. We place a high priority on spending time with our families and encouraging one another to be all that God wants us to be at home. We seek to come alongside the home to help family members fulfill their God given roles. We are committed to help husbands and wives to develop healthy relationships with one another characterized by love and respect. We are committed to helping mom and dad be the parents God would have them to be and to teaching children their responsibilities in response to their parents' authority. Our children's ministries will be geared towards assisting parents in their role of making disciples of their children. (Deuteronomy 6:6-7; Ephesians 5:22-6:4; Colossians 3:18-21; 1 Peter 3:1-7) A PLURALITY OF GODLY LEADERS The local church must be careful to select biblically qualified men to lead Christ's body as servant leaders in keeping with Christ's example. We don't believe leaders have to be perfect, as no one would qualify in this case. We do believe leaders need to have the kind of character that contributes to and does not harm the reputation of God's Work. The requirements spelled out for elders and deacons in Scripture describe what all people in the church should be, underlining the importance of leaders serving as models. When godly leaders lead, godly people will follow. We are committed to a plurality of elders and deacons serving God's church as a team as we believe this model is closest to the Biblical example. (Mark 10:45; Acts 6:1-4; Acts 14:23; 1 Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-9; 1 Peter 5:1-5) RELATIONSHIPS How we relate to one another is a crucial part of our ministry. We are committed to making sure that issues related to our programs and facilities don't take precedent over our relationships with one another. We are committed to the faithful pursuit of our responsibility to love one another, comfort and encourage one another, serve one another, bear one another's burdens, and pray for one another so as to form the sense of community God intends for His church. Our worship service is designed to promote our sense of oneness as a church family. Our Adult Bible Fellowship groups and our Men's and Women's Bible Studies encourage sharing our lives in warm fellowship with one another. Our Community Small Groups exist to encourage intimacy and accountability. (John 13:34-35; 2 Corinthians 1:4; Galatians 5:13; 6:2; 1 Thessalonians 4:18; 1 John 3:17-18; 1 John 4:7-8) BIBLICAL STEWARDSHIP Our time, spiritual gifts, and financial resources have been entrusted to us by God as His stewards. We are responsible to use these faithfully as God intends us to use them and for the accomplishment of His purposes. We are to use our time wisely, buying up every opportunity to accomplish something worthwhile for the Lord. We are to use our spiritual gifts to serve Christ's body. We are to give regularly and cheerfully of our financial resources to further God's work, motivated by His grace and proportionate to what He has given us. (Romans 12:3-7; 1 Corinthians 4:2; 12; 2 Corinthians 8-9; Ephesians 5:15-16; 1 Peter 4:10-12)
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