Vision
Our vision grows out of a simple conviction: Christ is building His church, and He has called His people to faithfully participate in the work He is doing.
Why We Exist
The church belongs to Jesus Christ. He purchased her with His blood, He rules her by His Word, and He has promised to build her. Therefore, our calling is not merely to preserve an institution, maintain a facility, or continue familiar patterns. We exist to faithfully participate in the work Christ is doing through His church.
Christ has commissioned His people to make disciples, proclaim the gospel, teach His Word, and bear witness to Him in our neighborhoods and among the nations. We desire to see the people and resources of Trinity Bible Chapel faithfully employed for those purposes for which Christ created His church.
What Defines Us
Three distinctives shape the culture of our church. They describe the kind of Christians we desire to become and the kind of church we desire to be.
Know the Truth
Convictional in our faith
How do we stand before the Lord Jesus Christ?
The authority and sufficiency of Scripture govern us.
A Christian develops biblical convictions through the authority of Scripture. Christian liberty and liberty of conscience shape those convictions. We learn to distinguish between what God commands, what He forbids, and where He grants freedom. A convictional Christian is not merely convinced of his own opinions; the Word of God governs him.
We therefore desire to cultivate Christians who know God’s Word, understand what they believe and why they believe it, and bring their consciences increasingly under the lordship of Jesus Christ.
John 8:31–32 · Colossians 1:9–10 · 2 Timothy 2:14–15 · 2 Timothy 3:14–17
Confess the Truth
Confessional in our doctrine
How do we stand together in truth?
Individual convictions become a shared confession.
We gladly affirm the Second London Baptist Confession as a faithful summary of biblical doctrine, strengthening our doctrinal unity and helping us distinguish essential truths from secondary matters. A common confession enables us to articulate what we believe, why we believe it, and how the truths of Scripture shape the life and ministry of the church.
We do not confess the truth merely to define ourselves historically. We confess it because our theology drives our methodology. What we believe about God, Scripture, Christ, salvation, the church, worship, and Christian living necessarily shapes how we live and minister together.
Romans 10:9–10 · 1 Timothy 6:12 · 2 Timothy 4:1–5 · Hebrews 10:23 · Matthew 10:32
Live the Truth
Covenantal in our life
The gospel does not merely produce agreement; it creates a covenant community.
Faith is both a conviction of the truth of the gospel and a commitment to the Christ of the gospel. Because Christ saves a people, commitment to Him naturally expresses itself in commitment to His church.
We understand Scripture through the unfolding covenant of redemption and emphasize covenant commitment to Christ and His people. Covenant theology therefore shapes not only how we read Scripture, but how we understand church membership, mutual accountability, perseverance, service, fellowship, and life together as Christ’s body. A commitment to Christ is a commitment to His church.
Acts 28:31 · Colossians 2:6–7 · James 1:21–22 · 2 John 4 · 3 John 3–4 · Ephesians 4–5
Entrust the Truth
We do not want merely to produce Christians who possess biblical information. We want to equip Christians who are able to equip others.
Paul’s instruction to Timothy gives us a pattern of multiplying disciples. Paul entrusted the truth to Timothy; Timothy was to entrust it to faithful men; and those faithful men were to become capable of teaching others.
That pattern shapes our understanding of discipleship.
We therefore see preaching, teaching, family worship, personal discipleship, theological education, leadership development, evangelism, and the ordinary relationships of church life as parts of the same calling: receive the truth faithfully, live under its authority, and entrust it to others.
We want one generation of faithful Christians preparing another generation to know the truth, confess the truth, live the truth, and faithfully pass it on.
Advance His Kingdom
Christ does not equip His church merely to turn inward. We want the people and resources of Trinity Bible Chapel continually employed in the service of Christ’s kingdom.
That means proclaiming the gospel to non-believers, equipping Christians for ministry, developing future leaders, strengthening and planting faithful churches, serving and engaging our neighbors, and carrying the good news of Jesus Christ from our own community to the nations.
We do not measure faithfulness merely by what we maintain or preserve. We want to ask what Christ has entrusted to us and how it can be faithfully used for His purposes.
Our buildings, finances, time, spiritual gifts, knowledge, relationships, and opportunities are not ends in themselves. They are resources entrusted to us for faithful stewardship in the service of our King.