Core Value: Passion

We believe that the deaths we suffer for the kingdom are just more opportunities for stones to be rolled away.

With Jesus as our model, we want our lives to be characterized by passion. We are not forced to join in, but God in his mercy continually asks us to follow him—not because he is dependent on us, but because God values our transformation.  In the most basic sense, a life of passion indicates that we should be moved by our relationship with God, and maintain a high level of dedication in all we do for Him. In a deeper sense it means that we value suffering and sacrifice. We must step over the threshold of faith again and again, believing that God is good. We know that the adversary will attack us with ancient lies, and our suffering comes as we face them, affirming that God will take care of us. We seek to lay down lies and ask for truth in exchange. We believe that it is through the death of these lies that we will experience resurrection and be made new, transformed as a community as we see the face of God reflected through each other's renewal in Christ. 

We see Jesus’ willingness to suffer for the lost and the hopeless as a model for all who would come after him, indicating that we, too, are to take up our cross and walk the way of suffering. This doesn't mean that we seek pain or persecution, but that we do not shrink back from it. We are willing to open ourselves up to God shaping us through painful circumstances, discovering and discerning the Spirit's voice that guides us through anxiety with hope. 

We are convinced that the clearest expression of the Gospel is a wild love, and that love is forever defined by Jesus in His death for us. We value the kind of radical faith that expects every believer to be ready and willing to suffer and sacrifice for Jesus, his name and his kingdom. We believe that the deaths we suffer for the kingdom are more opportunities for stones to be rolled away. 

We realize that this value is countercultural to the world's emphasis on prosperity and the idea that in all things God wants to give us personal success, exalting our individual kingdoms. We denounce this idea and affirm that the Kingdom of God will not be built through selfish ambition, but through passionate, sacrificial love of God and our neighbor alike.

Want to learn more about this core value? Listen to this episode of our podcast, or watch this instagram live interview.