Distinctives
1. The Glory of God
God’s glory is the ultimate purpose of all things that exist in heaven and on earth; all that He has done from eternity past to eternity future serves to magnify Him and all His ways. God made humankind to glorify and enjoy Him forever, and through His Son He has chosen us to worship Him as recipients of His glorious salvation. As the objects of His mercy, grace, and love, we are committed to giving Him the glory that is due to His name.
2. The Centrality of Jesus Christ
The primary goal of all our gatherings and ministry is to praise the name that is above every other name. Jesus is the center of our worship, preaching, fellowship, and our lives. We make it our aim to present Christ crucified and exalted at every opportunity.
3. The Sovereignty and Supremacy of God
We hold the sovereignty of God in high regard. We take refuge in the fact that God exercises complete and unhindered control over all that occurs in His universe, according to the purpose and counsel of His own will, to the praise of His glorious grace. We affirm that He must be worshiped as the one true supreme being - the one who dwells in unapproachable light and does whatever He pleases. He alone declares the end from the beginning and accomplishes all His purpose.
4. The Sufficiency of Scripture
We are, in every sense of the word, a Bible Church. In all things pertaining to belief, practice, the world, and the Christian life, we uphold the Word of God as the ultimate and final authority. We believe God’s Word contains all that we need in order to know Him and walk with Him in this life and to inherit eternity. We are fully committed to reverencing, understanding, and preaching the Scriptures as we orient our lives around God’s Word.
5. Expository, Verse-by-Verse Preaching
Because the Bible alone is the special written revelation of God to man, we believe that every word of the Scriptures is intended for us to learn, that we might know Him and walk with Him. We believe the best way to fully grasp the message and counsel of God’s Word is to expound its contents from cover to cover, verse-by-verse. We preach through books of the Bible in their entirety, so that no portion is ignored or neglected.
6. Historic Christian Orthodoxy
Fortunately for us, we are not the first people on Earth to read the Bible. We believe that God, by His Spirit, has illuminated His Word to His faithful saints throughout every generation since the church was born, and that we ultimately trace our doctrinal heritage back to the Apostles and the teaching of Christ Himself. We believe that church history attests to the clear, unchanging, foundational truths of Scripture that have been understood and guarded for the last 2,000 years. For this reason, we strive to protect and pass on the historic faith that has been entrusted to us. We have nothing new to bring to the table; by God’s grace we stand in the lineage of faithful stewards to guard the precious promises of God against error and corruption.
7. The Power and Simplicity of the True Gospel
Gospel preaching is an indispensable foundation of our gatherings. It is the bedrock of hope and rest for the Christian. We believe that the finished work of Jesus Christ on our behalf is more than the necessary entry point to spiritual life - it is the glorious anchor that sustains us through suffering, trial, and doubt. We proclaim and cling to the sufficiency of Christ’s merits to save sinners: that salvation is by the grace of God alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
8. Redemption and Restoration
We believe in the great Redeemer who came to proclaim good news to the poor, liberty to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, and to liberate the oppressed. We are compelled by His love to proclaim freedom from sin’s enslavement - both eternally and in this life - here in Napa. It is our desire to see the broken, the lost, the outcast, and the destitute be reconciled to God through the Gospel and raised into newness of life by the power of the Holy Spirit. We want to see God save and rescue people from the penalty and power of sin. Whether it is self-righteousness, addiction, or broken marriages, we believe in a God who is both able and willing to restore lives.
9. Investing in the Next Generation
The church doesn’t end with us! We are merely servants by which others may be saved, taught, equipped, and raised up into service in God’s household. We are committed to pouring into the next generation of believers, both corporately and one-on-one, so that they too will be able lead following generations until Christ returns. It is also our duty and joy to identify qualified men that desire the work of pastoral ministry and to give them the opportunity to exercise and grow in their giftings.
10. Every Member Ministry
Ministry is not just for the pastors. In fact, it is the pastor’s job to equip the saints to do the ministry themselves. We firmly believe that every member of the body has a part to play and a gift to use for the edification of the saints and the glory of God. We do not subscribe to a division of ministry between pastors and congregants, but rather an inseparable partnership with the same goals, together submitted to the headship of Jesus Christ.
11. Spirit-Empowered Living
Fruitfulness in the Christian life is impossible without the enabling and leading of the Holy Spirit. Apart from His power and guidance we can do nothing of worth in our own strength, and so our reliance is entirely upon the Spirit of Christ that lives within each believer. He works in us “both to will and to do to” - giving us the power and the motivation to live lives worthy of our calling. We seek to be filled with the Spirit and to walk in the Spirit through the ordinary means that God has given us to grow in grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ: His Word preached, His ordinances administered, His people gathered, His name worshiped in song, and His face sought in prayer.
12. The Pursuit of Holiness
We are commanded to be holy as God is holy, and to obey Jesus in response to His great love for us. As a church, we are a united body striving together for holiness and obedience. We believe Jesus’ words when He says that His commandments are not burdensome, and so we find great joy in walking in the good works that He has prepared for us. As children of God, we delight in God’s law because we have been liberated from its curse and given a new heart that desires righteousness. We seek to obey Him from a place of freedom, rest, and gratitude, as an expression of our love for the one who first loved us.
God’s glory is the ultimate purpose of all things that exist in heaven and on earth; all that He has done from eternity past to eternity future serves to magnify Him and all His ways. God made humankind to glorify and enjoy Him forever, and through His Son He has chosen us to worship Him as recipients of His glorious salvation. As the objects of His mercy, grace, and love, we are committed to giving Him the glory that is due to His name.
2. The Centrality of Jesus Christ
The primary goal of all our gatherings and ministry is to praise the name that is above every other name. Jesus is the center of our worship, preaching, fellowship, and our lives. We make it our aim to present Christ crucified and exalted at every opportunity.
3. The Sovereignty and Supremacy of God
We hold the sovereignty of God in high regard. We take refuge in the fact that God exercises complete and unhindered control over all that occurs in His universe, according to the purpose and counsel of His own will, to the praise of His glorious grace. We affirm that He must be worshiped as the one true supreme being - the one who dwells in unapproachable light and does whatever He pleases. He alone declares the end from the beginning and accomplishes all His purpose.
4. The Sufficiency of Scripture
We are, in every sense of the word, a Bible Church. In all things pertaining to belief, practice, the world, and the Christian life, we uphold the Word of God as the ultimate and final authority. We believe God’s Word contains all that we need in order to know Him and walk with Him in this life and to inherit eternity. We are fully committed to reverencing, understanding, and preaching the Scriptures as we orient our lives around God’s Word.
5. Expository, Verse-by-Verse Preaching
Because the Bible alone is the special written revelation of God to man, we believe that every word of the Scriptures is intended for us to learn, that we might know Him and walk with Him. We believe the best way to fully grasp the message and counsel of God’s Word is to expound its contents from cover to cover, verse-by-verse. We preach through books of the Bible in their entirety, so that no portion is ignored or neglected.
6. Historic Christian Orthodoxy
Fortunately for us, we are not the first people on Earth to read the Bible. We believe that God, by His Spirit, has illuminated His Word to His faithful saints throughout every generation since the church was born, and that we ultimately trace our doctrinal heritage back to the Apostles and the teaching of Christ Himself. We believe that church history attests to the clear, unchanging, foundational truths of Scripture that have been understood and guarded for the last 2,000 years. For this reason, we strive to protect and pass on the historic faith that has been entrusted to us. We have nothing new to bring to the table; by God’s grace we stand in the lineage of faithful stewards to guard the precious promises of God against error and corruption.
7. The Power and Simplicity of the True Gospel
Gospel preaching is an indispensable foundation of our gatherings. It is the bedrock of hope and rest for the Christian. We believe that the finished work of Jesus Christ on our behalf is more than the necessary entry point to spiritual life - it is the glorious anchor that sustains us through suffering, trial, and doubt. We proclaim and cling to the sufficiency of Christ’s merits to save sinners: that salvation is by the grace of God alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
8. Redemption and Restoration
We believe in the great Redeemer who came to proclaim good news to the poor, liberty to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, and to liberate the oppressed. We are compelled by His love to proclaim freedom from sin’s enslavement - both eternally and in this life - here in Napa. It is our desire to see the broken, the lost, the outcast, and the destitute be reconciled to God through the Gospel and raised into newness of life by the power of the Holy Spirit. We want to see God save and rescue people from the penalty and power of sin. Whether it is self-righteousness, addiction, or broken marriages, we believe in a God who is both able and willing to restore lives.
9. Investing in the Next Generation
The church doesn’t end with us! We are merely servants by which others may be saved, taught, equipped, and raised up into service in God’s household. We are committed to pouring into the next generation of believers, both corporately and one-on-one, so that they too will be able lead following generations until Christ returns. It is also our duty and joy to identify qualified men that desire the work of pastoral ministry and to give them the opportunity to exercise and grow in their giftings.
10. Every Member Ministry
Ministry is not just for the pastors. In fact, it is the pastor’s job to equip the saints to do the ministry themselves. We firmly believe that every member of the body has a part to play and a gift to use for the edification of the saints and the glory of God. We do not subscribe to a division of ministry between pastors and congregants, but rather an inseparable partnership with the same goals, together submitted to the headship of Jesus Christ.
11. Spirit-Empowered Living
Fruitfulness in the Christian life is impossible without the enabling and leading of the Holy Spirit. Apart from His power and guidance we can do nothing of worth in our own strength, and so our reliance is entirely upon the Spirit of Christ that lives within each believer. He works in us “both to will and to do to” - giving us the power and the motivation to live lives worthy of our calling. We seek to be filled with the Spirit and to walk in the Spirit through the ordinary means that God has given us to grow in grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ: His Word preached, His ordinances administered, His people gathered, His name worshiped in song, and His face sought in prayer.
12. The Pursuit of Holiness
We are commanded to be holy as God is holy, and to obey Jesus in response to His great love for us. As a church, we are a united body striving together for holiness and obedience. We believe Jesus’ words when He says that His commandments are not burdensome, and so we find great joy in walking in the good works that He has prepared for us. As children of God, we delight in God’s law because we have been liberated from its curse and given a new heart that desires righteousness. We seek to obey Him from a place of freedom, rest, and gratitude, as an expression of our love for the one who first loved us.