Founding Principles | The Dwelling Place

Christ Jesus Himself being the Cornerstone

You are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Ephesians 2:19-22

Founding Principles of
The Dwelling Place

Based off John 14-15
(The Words of Christ)

1 / Point People to Jesus Christ (John 14:6)

Jesus is the Way, and the Truth, and the Life. Jesus is the cornerstone (1 Peter 2:6) of all we do at The Dwelling Place. No one comes to the Father except through Christ (John 14:6). Our ministry’s main goal is to point people to Jesus. It is only through the power of Christ that lives can fully be transformed (2 Corinthians 3:18).

2 / The truth of God’s Word is the main filter for discernment, an active guide for how to live life and the foundation of our faith. (John 14:23)

Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23) In a world growing in uncertainty and complexity we aim to point people back to God’s word as a guide for how to live and how to follow the Lord more closely and fervently. (Psalm 119:105)

3 / Teachable and Attentive to the Spirit of God (John 14:26)

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. (John 16:13)

4 / Provide Nurturing Soil (John 15:1-11)

Through teaching, preaching, prayer, discipleship and corporate care so that the church can develop deep roots that abide in Jesus, obey His Commands, and produce life-giving fruit.

5 / Love our Community in a way that reflects the love Christ showed us. (John 15:12-17)

“Love one another as I have loved you.” This selfless love should give witness to the transformational power of Christ and be counter-cultural to the selfless and lifeless world around us. It should be fruitful and be an overflow of the love Christ already demonstrated for us, that as we were still sinners - Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). Jesus does not just encourage this behavior of love, he commands it.

6 / Live boldly in the world but not of it. (John 15:19)

Jesus called us out of the world and thus the world will hate us because of our trust in Him alone. Our aim is to fix our hearts and minds on the things above (Col 3:2) and live boldly on God’s truth on earth while we await eternal glory. This means we should live and love differently than the world around us. “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)

7 / Bear witness to Christ’s redeeming grace (John 15:27)

Since we are with Christ, He calls us to bear witness to His kingship. “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Eph. 2:10) Part of this good work is to live fruitful lives that point others to Jesus Christ and share the gospel in our communities while discipling more believers in the family of God (Matthew 28:16–20)

GOD TOLD US TO BUILD A NEW CHURCH WITH A RENEWED FOCUS ON THESE DISTINCTIVES

Rooted in Christ

Not only do we want to be a church that builds lives on God's unfailing Word but we want to be a people who know it and can apply it with discernment in our drifting world. We are dedicated to sharpening each other in our walk with Christ and want to spur one another on in spiritual growth. We are dedicated to caring for the 99 as much as we are to the one that strayed. We are dedicated to helping build the spiritual discipline of reading scripture. It is only through the understanding of Christ's love for us and obedience to His headship and precepts that we know fully how to love and serve our community with love, justice and mercy.

Let God Lead

We may look different being this intentional about Jesus Christ being Lord over our church but we want to daily welcome His spirit into our midst and be purposeful about making The Word the foundation of our ministry. This is God's church and we want to give Him his rightful place of headship over our leadership as we look to make Him the foundation for how we live, serve and lead. We recognize our imperfections as servants of Christ, and will constantly fail in our conscious attempt to lead and obey, but we serve a God who never fails us or forsakes us. We desire to be a church that can sacrifice our will to the Will of God and sacrifice our truth for the Truth of God.

Invest In the Family

We don't only want to make disciples of Christ in our communities, we want to help make disciples of Christ in our homes and families. We aim to provide resources to help parents disciple their children well. We want to see families thrive, marriages strengthened and brotherhoods and sisterhoods grown within our church family. God calls us to be real with one another and part of authenticity means sharing our failures as a community, giving testimonies of God's goodness, sharpening our friends and spurring each other on in love. We aim to be a church that helps root our congregants with biblical tools on how to live for Christ in a drifting world.

Follow an Early Church Model

Like the church in Acts we want to be dedicated to:

Biblical Teaching
Believer Fellowship
Breaking of Bread together
Prayer

(Acts 2:42)

We want to produce the practical fruits of:

Togetherness / Everything in Common (unity in Christ, purpose and message)
Authentic Communal Sharing (both of personal needs and personal belongings)
A dedication to Christian Community that is not just on Sundays.
Always having an Attitude of Praise on our lips

(Acts 2:44-47)