EXPERIENCE COMMUNITY
ENCOUNTER
GOD
CLAIM
PURPOSE
PURSUE
CALLING
We believe that God is moving in every person's life, and we want to come alongside you to help propel you forward in your faith. Throughout scripture, and in our lives, we've seen God move through 4 significant moves: Experience Community, Encounter God, Claim Purpose, and Pursue Calling. Wherever you find yourself in these, we want to help you find your next step.
CORE VALUES
1. JESUS IS OUR HOPE
We believe in a generous God, who desires for His people to partake in sharing this element of generosity to others. As generosity becomes our lifestyle, we believe that it can be expressed in many different ways. While generosity can be displayed through financial means, we consider generosity to also be seen through discipling people, in order for them to grow in a deeper awareness of God’s generosity towards them, in turn living a generous life.
2. GOD'S WORD IS OUR FOUNDATION
Each day we are influenced by the culture of this world and the distorted values within it. Relentlessly, it will fight for our attention. We believe that God’s word serves as a foundation for our lives and an anchor for our souls. Its teachings causes, motivates, and encourages us to have a desire to follow the person of Jesus in the way that leads to life; to love God, to keep His commandments, to love people, and to renew our thinking that we would have the mind of Christ. We are a people who value the Word of God above all else and believe it is a necessity for our daily lives. It serves as the foundation of our church as it guides us to be able to see and seek Jesus in everything we do.
3. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS OUR GUIDE-HELPER
We believe in the promise that Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit to live within us. The Holy Spirit, being part of the trinity, is our helper, comforter, counselor, advocate and ultimately our gift from God to enable us to know Him deeper and to follow Him more closely. As believers, we are to partner with the Holy Spirit in our everyday lives. This is done by asking for Him to invade our lives and for us to willingly make room for Him. It is in the context of this partnership with us that the Holy Spirit fulfills His role as our Helper. As we journey through the life we are called to, we know it is not done by our strength alone, rather by the very power of God being active in our lives.
4. SERVING IS OUR CALLING
We believe Jesus came to the world to serve. As believers, we are also instructed to serve just as Jesus
did. We believe that as a church we serve God by serving others. God desires for us to take His approach to servant leadership to love, to encourage, to welcome and to support not only those who follow Him but also those who are far away from Him. While serving is not always convenient for us, it is through this action of serving that we are being obedient to His words, which open up His blessings for our lives. It is through serving that we are able to discover our God given purpose.
5. GENEROSITY IS OUR LIFESTYLE
We believe in a generous God, who desires for His people to partake in sharing this element of generosity to others. As generosity becomes our lifestyle, we believe that it can be expressed in many different ways. While generosity can be displayed through financial means, we consider generosity to also be seen through discipling people, in order for them to grow in a deeper awareness of God’s generosity towards them, in turn living a generous life.
6. AUDACIOUS FAITH DRIVES OUR VISION
We believe that faith, in itself, is audacious. Audacious faith requires a sense of courage that not only involves boldness, but also involves an action step of engagement with culture for God’s glory. By operating in a spirit of audacious faith, we are driven to lean upon the leadership of the Holy Spirit and to be dependent upon His strength to act morally and to operate with godly convictions.
7. GRACE IS OUR RESPONSE
Grace is defined as, “God’s life, power and righteousness given to us by unmerited favor.” Practically this means that God’s favor and grace is received by those who did not adequately earn or deserve it. As sinners we are in need of grace each and every day. This is received by humbling ourselves daily in order that we have the opportunity to extend His grace to those around us. Ways this is shown is by loving when there seems to be no reason, to serve when someone has not earned it, to forgive quickly when we have been wronged. We, as humans, cannot extend this level of grace to others unless our eyes are solely focused on Jesus, as He is the ultimate source of grace.
8. ZEAL SETS OUR PACE
We believe that we have the opportunity to take part in the most significant mission here on Earth. For that reason, we as a faith community operate with the energy and enthusiasm in everything we do. Our ambition to see the lost found is the ultimate reason behind serving both within our church, but as well as in our community. We commit to operating with intentionality and urgency as His people are of vital importance to us.
9. KINGDOM IS OUR CULTURE
Jesus shares with us to "seek first the Kingdom of God." We believe as a church that there is a kingdom worth pursuing. We strive to diligently pursue the Kingdom of God, where Jesus is our King and His people are called to serve Him and follow His will. The way this is displayed in our culture is through how we treat, serve, and love others.
Highland Park Church is a part of the Church of the Nazarene (CON). The Church of the Nazarene is a Protestant Christian church in the Wesleyan-Holiness tradition. Organized in 1908, the Church is now home to more than 2 million members worshiping in over 26,000 local congregations in 159 world areas. A full description of our Articles of Faith can be found here.