We will express that Jesus is our treasure by:

…making disciples who love Jesus through friendships, 

By Pursuing People in the Manner in which we are Pursued by God

By Teaching for the Purpose of Whole Life Transformation

By Praying as an Expression of Relationship with the Father

By Releasing Disciples into their Context to Lovingly Lead out of their Giftedness

…being the Church by gathering disciples together, 

By Gathering Regularly, as Disciples of Jesus, to love one another

By Scattering into our Neighborhood Together as the Body of Christ to love our neighbors

By Supporting One Another As We Love and Share the Gospel with Those Who We Live and Work Around

By Being the Church In Other Contexts Where the Gospel is Not Easily Accessible

…seeking the peace of the city (and the nations) through the Gospel

By Serving the Real Needs of the People of Seattle

By Living in Urban Seattle to Develop an Incarnational Presence

By Living “For” Our Neighbors (Even if they aren’t “for” themselves)

By Sending People from Our Neighborhood in Seattle to the Nations to Proclaim the Gospel

By Giving Outwardly and Lavishly as a Model for a Flourishing Community

By Living the Sabbath as a Reminder that Jesus is More Important than Performance

WHAT WE BELIEVE ABOUT GOD

“Dwelling Place” is a reminder of God’s plan from (before) Creation to the Cross to Consummation of all things.

God is Relational: Before time began, God was personal.

Before he began to create his universe, the eternal, uncreated, totally self-sufficient God existed, radiating love. He existed as one God in three persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. He was a giver even then, and each person of the Trinity joyfully and freely gave himself to the other.

God is Delight-full Creator: A sense of shared “Place” is a longing for the relationships lost in Eden.

From the very beginning of human history, God spilled over the delightfulness of his character into a place where he would invest himself in relationship with the people he created. For God had so much of himself to give that he wanted to create in order that others would enjoy his love and his holiness also. So, God did. And he called everything he made “good.”

Mankind lived in perfect harmony with all that God created. All things flourished. The longing of our souls to soak in the beauty of God through the artistry of what he made was satisfied in nature and through a mature and joy filled interrelatedness between people. Everything was colorful. Everything was meaningful. Everything was “good.”

All of the fellowship in Eden (which means “delightful”) was marred because of sin, but the longing for that intimacy and beauty still remained.  We were made to be in a joyful, freedom producing relationship with God and with the people around us. We were made for the relational delights of Eden.

God Pursues those who Run From Him: All of history is the story of God working to restore real fellowship.

Primeval altars. Mt. Sinai. The Tabernacle. The Temple.  God chose to draw near to his people…to be among them…to dwell with them. Though pervasive sin was a barrier to the Edenic intimacy with a Holy God, the same Holy God still sought after the type of relationship that people were made to enjoy with him. Not only did God create, but even when are actively against him, he still pursues our wayward hearts.  

God Speaks:  God does not hold himself back from us, but wants us to know Him.

Throughout history, God has chosen to speak to his people. The Bible is God’s definitive word to all persons- for every culture and every people group. The Scripture was written by human authors under the supernatural leadership of the Holy Spirit. Because God the Holy Spirit inspired it, the Bible is truth spoken in love, without error or fault, and is profitable for every part of human life.

God came Near Us: Jesus is the ultimate “dwelling place.” 

The scandal of grace is that God the Son became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus’ presence was a constant reminder that God, by his very nature, is relational and desires (at great cost to himself) to be with us. He welcomes us into new life (and a new style of life) as a faith-full follower. The cross and resurrection of Jesus define and reveal the heart of God to restore people to relationship with himself.  

Though God would be just in driving out (and leaving out) all those who have willfully given themselves to the slavery of sin and who have, by their sin-driven actions, sullied his character in the eyes of the world, he is still a God who wants to draw all to himself. God is passionate to demonstrate his love. God is just in rescuing sinners from an eternal death and separation from him back to relationship with him. He is compelled to be both the Just One and the Justifier of those who, by faith in Jesus’ life and work, surrender their lives to him as Savior from sin, Giver of new life, and the King of all creation.

By his grace, God gives us faith to trust him with all of our lives…the same trust that compels us to want to dwell with him.

God Abides with Us Now: Treasuring others through time spent together is a direct reflection of our God who is always with us.

And those people that he restores to relationship with himself, he also restores to relationship with each other. Fullness of life means reconciliation with God and restoration of fellowship with the people we live among.

Since every moment of the Savior’s life among us was precious and full of meaning, when he chose to spend lingering time with those around him, it disclosed the relational character of his kingdom. It also showed that investing unhurried time with others is not a waste of life.

God the Holy Spirit is among us creating a new community, his Church, that is a picture (though imperfect) of what He intends real community to be: people who gather together in order to sacrificially give of themselves for the joy of the others. As the Church, the people of God, gathers together as a community of forgiveness and grace, they are a reminder to the world that all of the artistry of Eden that was lost because of sin is being restored because of the unearned grace of God.

God will be Forever (and Finally) Among Us:Jesus’ life and death show that he wants to dwell with us forever without interruption.

Dwelling together is an echo and a reminder of the type of fellowship was left behind in Eden, but is now being restored to those who, by faith, trust that Jesus is King. Dwelling together as the church reminds us to look backwards at the sacrifice of Jesus and moves us to look forward to the time where relationships restored by the Spirit are everything they were ever meant to be.

God’s passion for relational living is too deep to be extinguished. We long for relationships that are too strong and too deep for a finite amount of time, but that will last (even grow!) throughout eternity. Jesus is preparing a place for his people- a new heavens and new earth that will forever be a place where we can feast on his presence and where we can drink deeply of the fountain of the joy of being with those people he has called his precious possession.

[Genesis 1:1, 26, 27; 3:22; Genesis 2: 8-9; Exodus 13:1-10; Psalm 8:3-6; Psalm 23:4-5; Psalm 90:2; Psalm 119; Is. 25:6-8; Isaiah 53; Isaiah 59:1-2; Matthew 22:1-14; Matthew 28:19; Luke 9:10-17; Luke 22:7-23; Luke 24:28-35; John 1:1-5; John 3:16; John 13:1-17:8; John 17: 3, 17, 20-21; John 21: 5-14; Acts 2: 42-47; Romans 3:23; Romans 5:1; Romans 6:23; 1 Corinthians 1 and 2; 1 Corinthians 11:17-34; Galatians 2:20; Galatians 5:25; Ephesians 2:8, 9; Ephesians 5:1; 2 Timothy 3:16; 1 Peter 1:2; 1 John 2:25; 1 John 5:11-13; Revelation 3:20-21; Revelation 19:9; Revelation 20:15]

“What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

A.W. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy