Direction and Devotion

Our direction and devotion is about exultation, a word synonymous with joy. It is a kind of joy that is victorious and triumphant. We choose this word because Christ has secured victory over our greatest enemies, by triumphing over sin and death. Exultation is the fragrance and aroma of the new life our King provides for us through His death, burial, and resurrection. His joy is our joy (John 15:11; 2 Corinthians 2:14-16).

Unified Direction

Unified Devotion

We love the city of Eugene and want it to flourish. We believe that the best way for the city to flourish is for the people of a new city, the city of God, to savor, strengthen, and spread exultation in Jesus Christ, one-by-one, side-by-side, step-by-step.

Savoring

Savoring exultation means that to truly enjoy God and Christ in one another, we must pause. You slow down and take your time eating a fine cut of steak. A majestic sunset in the middle of July causes you to linger and be enveloped by the beauty. Even more so, this is how we want to respond to God and how we seek to enjoy Him together.

We value gathering because there is a kind of exultation that only comes when we savor and celebrate our identity and union with King Jesus as His gathered people. Together, we listen to Him speak to us through the preached Word and the public reading of Scripture. Together, we sing to Him and offer our prayers, exulting in His glorious name.

And that joy is something we want to keep savoring, so we value lingering. Lingering is a shared act of enjoying our fellowship and satisfaction in King Jesus. We behold His glory in the face of His people. This happens on Sundays and what we strive for throughout the week. Savoring exultation requires us to have enough margin in our lives so that we aren't always hurrying to get to the next thing in an overfilled schedule.

Strengthening

Strengthening exultation involves embracing commitment and limitations. Wanting to be "connected" everywhere leads to being "committed" nowhere. Our joy, in part, is strengthened by confessing our devotion and submission to King Jesus as well as our conformity and service unto Him in a loving commitment. We refer to church membership as the Beauty of Belonging.

We value belonging because the Scriptures teach we belong to Christ and to one another through the new covenant (Mk. 14:24; Rom. 12:4-5). Being unified with Christ and being unified with His people are never separated. Analogies about the church in Scripture (Christ's bride, body, household, temple, etc.) make sense as parts to a whole because the relationship is visible and embodied.

We value ministering because Christ came to serve, not to be served. God has limited our time and determined where we live (Acts 17:26). These good limitations are designed in a way that the ministry of Christ through the church continues to a specific people within a specific period of time. All of Christ's gifts to us and how we were created are for the common good, both within the household of God and without (1 Cor. 12:5-7; Gal. 6:10).

Spreading

All of our savoring and strengthening exultation is meant to lead us to a specific action. Welcoming and sending are about spreading exultation towards the stranger and among the nations. Being truly known and not rejected, being transformed upon encountering the transcendent, leads us to not only say "come and see," but to go and tell in obedience to His command (Jn. 4:28-29; Lk. 7:22).

We value welcoming one another as Christ has welcomed us (Rom. 14:7). We who were once strangers, were shown hospitality from our Lord, so we eagerly seek to show His hospitality. Whether it is sharing a meal together or going out for a cup of coffee, the desire is for those new to our church family to sense the welcoming, presence of Jesus Christ in and through us. It is His hospitable joy that we want to spread.

Just as we welcome the stranger for their joy, we value sending resources and those whom we love. Spreading exultation requires a readiness to share the good we have received (1 Thess. 2:8-9; Heb. 13:16). When God moves in the lives of His people to leave Eugene, whether to a new city or to a foreign land, we want to join the Spirit in sending them out in answer to His call (Acts 13:2-4).