Our Vows
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This
is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
All the law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matt. 22: 37- 40
Father, You have called us to love You, therefore, we seek to love You in the following ways:
1. We vow to worship You in all aspects of our lives. When we come together, we vow to love You in worship, not by seeking to impress others with our music and our style but with our deep passion to express how good You are, how precious is Your touch, how amazing is Your voice and how beautiful is Your face.
…“For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’ ” Matt. 3: 10
2. We vow to love You with our obedience, to honor Your Word and Your commands, realizing that although we stumble in many ways You will keep us in Your hands. We seek to obey not out of guilt or shame, but out of love because You first loved us.
“If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” John 15:10
3. We vow to love You by accepting and embracing that our standard, our rule, our final authority is found in the Bible. We admit we don’t know or understand all that lies within those pages but we seek to love You by accepting that the Bible as our final authority.
“It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ “ Matt. 4: 4
4. We vow to depend on You and Your ways, therefore we seek to be filled with Your Spirit, accept Your gifts and to experience the fruit of the Spirit. We recognize that the greatest evidence of being a Spirit filled believer is not a gift of the Spirit, but the display of the love of Jesus.
“If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever - the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you will know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” John 14: 15-18
5. We vow to listen to Your voice, because we have tried good ideas that were not from Your heart and we weary of them and the dryness they bring. Your ideas are best, Your passion brings life and Your touch brings healing, therefore we vow to listen to You.
“I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me – just as the Father knows me and I know the father – and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd.” John 10: 14 – 16
6. We vow to love You by gathering each week to hear what is on Your mind, what You are saying and what You are doing. We seek to only do what You are doing in our times of gathering, and while we will seek to be in order during these times, we also seek to be flexible to follow Your leading, even if it messes up our plans.
“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Heb. 10: 23-25
7. We vow to love You by showing mercy and forgiveness to others as You have shown mercy and forgiveness to us. We will love this broken world as You have loved us in our brokenness. All are therefore welcome, both believers and those who don’t know You. All are welcome here because You desire them.
“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” John 17: 20-23
8. We vow to love You by teaching our kids to follow after Your heart, to listen to Your voice and to find delight in You. We will teach them Your ways as written in the Bible, Your Holy Word.
“Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds . . . Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” Deut. 11: 18&19
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.” Acts 2: 38 & 39
9. We vow to love You by helping people to walk free from the chains of bondages, for we know that it brings great delight to You seeing people set free. You’ve given us Your truth and Your Holy Spirit, and we seek to partner with You to see people free.
“When Jesus had called the twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.” Luke 9: 1 & 2
10. We vow to love you by showing compassion to the poor. Because You love the poor, we will join in that love by feeding, clothing, and providing for them as You have provided for us.
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” James 1:27
Because You have drawn us to Yourself, because You have chosen us, because You find us loveable and delightful, we seek to lay hold of Your heart and all that You have. We will not be ashamed to be called Yours; we are family and all the inheritance that You offer us we will use to build Your kingdom, not our own. Why? Because You have shown the fullness of Your love by laying down Your life. In response, we will lay down our lives, because You are worthy of it all.
What does this mean? Why is this so important? If you, like us, seek to love Jesus as God has called us to, then we invite you to connect with us on this journey to know Him and to make Him known. We find Him amazing, beautiful and beyond measure. If you feel the same way or you want what we seek, then join us. We believe that around each corner of life God will grant us grace, fix our mistakes, and fill us with joy that we never deserved, but can now fully enjoy. Sound good? Come join in. We vow you’ll never regret knowing Him.