Core Value #1 - God is Primary.

God is the primal reality in the universe; the starting point for everything else. Those of us who make up Coram Deo affirm that human beings are wonderfully significant. But we are not the most important beings in the universe. God is. And He is jealous for His own glory. The deepest longings of the human soul can only be satisfied when we delight in God's supremacy and rest in His sovereign grace.

We realize that you may not yet be convinced that God is primary. You may not even buy into God's existence yet. Some churches would try to take God off the table and talk about other stuff until you decide that you like them. We'd rather be honest. We're committed to talking and living as though God actually matters. If there is no God, then human beings are an accident in a purposeless universe. As humans, we derive our worth from being made in God's image, and our hearts bear the mark of his design. St. Augustine said long ago: "You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you."

The sacred Scriptures reflect this value in Isaiah 48:11 and Romans 11:33-36.

Core Value #2 - The Gospel Changes Everything.

The gospel is the good news that through union with Jesus, we can be restored from our fallen and broken condition into right relationship with God and others. At Coram Deo, we believe the gospel is the power of God not only for irreligious people, but for religious people as well. We never outgrow the gospel. It transforms not only individuals, but also churches, societies, and culture at large. The gospel is not just a gate we pass through one time, but a path of ongoing renewal and repentance that we are to walk each day of our lives.

Holding this core value is what keeps us humble. We're not under the delusion that we're better than anyone. On the contrary, as a community that seeks to follow Jesus, we are well aware of our own shortcomings! We need the gospel every day. We need renewal, repentance, reformation. We don't see this as an excuse for mediocrity, but rather as a value that frees us to be honest about who we really are. We hope you find this refreshing compared to Christians that seem to think they have it all together.

The sacred Scriptures reflect this value in Romans 1:16 and 1 Corinthians 1:18-24.

Core Value #3 - The Church exists for Mission, not Comfort.

Look around... lots of churches seem to exist to keep the people inside happy and content. That's not what we're about. Coram Deo is a missional community, which means that we are oriented around the mission of a subversive first-century visionary named Jesus. Jesus came proclaiming that the kingdom of God had come. He commissioned his disciples to take this good news of the kingdom to everyone who would listen. This means that at its core, the church is a movement, not a monument. God's people are not called to seek comfort, but to align their purposes radically with His.

If you hang around us for very long, you'll sense this commitment to Jesus' mission. It's part of our communal DNA. Maybe you'll find this uncomfortable, or maybe you'll find it compelling. Either way, you won't find us boring! Jesus was clear that following him meant living the way he lived and caring about the things he cared about. So if you're looking for a social club, you'll be disappointed. But if you're looking for some people who live with a sense of mission and calling and purpose... that's us.

The sacred Scriptures reflect this value in Matthew 28:18-20 and Mark 1:14-15.

Core Value #4 - The Church Must Engage the Culture, not Avoid it.

For a long time, the church was a central aspect of human society. Some of the greatest works of art in Western culture (think Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel or Handel's Messiah) came through the church. But in recent decades the church has become increasingly marginalized, bringing about an adversarial sort of relationship with culture. Many in the church have withdrawn from culture and created a subculture of their own. We believe this Christian subculture is the very antithesis of the way Jesus lived.

Jesus engaged the culture of his day. He hung out with people who were unsavory in the eyes of the polite religious society. In the same way, today's church must engage the culture, going to people where they actually are and loving them relentlessly. We're not a church that expects people to come to us. Instead, we want to live an incarnational existence - living out the mission of God in our neighborhoods, our jobs, our natural relationships. We are committed to making a positive contribution to culture, expressing the creativity and human ingenuity that reflects God's own nature as Creator.  

The sacred Scriptures reflect this value in Mark 2:15-17 and Acts 17:16-32.

Core Value #5 - Structure must always submit to Spirit.

American churches have largely replaced the Spirit-driven, apostolic ethos of the early church with well-managed programs and policies. But God is not a CEO, and the work of His Spirit cannot be explained by organizational principles.

We in the Coram Deo community reject a business-like approach to spirituality. We actually believe that there is something supernatural about Jesus and his interaction with his church through the dynamic presence of the Holy Spirit. We are committed to leading and living organically, prayerfully, reflectively. Are you longing for an expression of historic Christian spirituality that actually has some element of mystery, adventure, unpredictability? Welcome to Coram Deo.

The sacred Scriptures reflect this value in John 14:26 and 1 Corinthians 12:12-14.

 

If you'd like to read our doctrinal statement, click here.