CENTRALITY OF THE GOSPEL IN EVERYTHING.

The Gospel is the central truth on which we build our faith as Christians. We were created by God, in His image, to live in unceasing communion with Him. The fall of man into sin has placed us in rebellion against God, separated from Him and His holiness. In God’s incomprehensible grace, He displayed mercy on His creation when He sent His son, Jesus Christ, who is both fully God and fully man, to live a perfectly sinless life and die a shameful death on a cross, assuming all of the wrath of God for our sin upon himself. Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection three days later have conquered sin and death, and secured the hope of eternal salvation forever when God’s people trust in Christ as Savior. Our faith in Christ leads us to repent from sin and trust in Jesus as our only hope for a restored, renewed relationship with God the Father, for whom we now live to worship and bring glory to, forever.

The Gospel is central to our faith, and as a result, it becomes the central focus of our lives and the ministry of our church. The Gospel calls us to view everything in light of God’s grace which we have received through faith in Christ. This means that we now live with the supreme purpose of bringing glory to God. We do this by fulfilling the call upon our lives given to us by Christ during His time on Earth, to share the Gospel with the world and make disciples, or followers, of Christ, so that more people may believe in Him and thus also live Gospel-centered lives, bringing more glory to God and increasing His kingdom (Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 20:24 CSB).  

To value gospel centrality in all of life is to live motivated by the Gospel. As children of God, we strive to approach every aspect of our lives - work, family, finances, culture, etc. - from the position of sinners saved by a merciful, loving God. We do not deserve any goodness or feel entitlement to our own desires for our lives, but instead we surrender ourselves as living sacrifices to God (Romans 12:1 CSB). The gospel-centered life is lived with intention. In our church, the centrality of the gospel is made known through the corporate worship gathering, the practice of ministry in various contexts, the stewardship of resources, and many other ways. As a gospel-centered church, we make known the truth of the Gospel as revealed in God’s Word, the Bible, and commit ourselves to building up the body of believers to live in full submission to, and worship of, Jesus Christ.

SUBMISSION TO THE AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE.

City Church values above all, the supreme authority of the Christian scriptures for our instruction and obedience. We believe that God has spoken to his people, and the way that we can know the words of God is through the reading and teaching of his Word as found in the Bible. We believe that the scriptures are authoritative, clear, without error, and sufficient. While there are many sources of human authority and insight that can be used for understanding, teaching, and defending Scripture, the Scriptures themselves are our final authority.

The authority of the Scripture, and our submission to it, is evident in all areas of our church and ministry. We have a desire to teach the scriptures truthfully, in accordance with what the scriptures say. The Scriptures are the standard we weigh everything in our ministries against, and the lens that we view everything through. If what we desire to do, teach, or participate in, is not in accordance with the Scriptures, we will obey the Scriptures. We believe that the Word of God alone is enough to do the work of God, in His people.

It is our desire to make sure that the Word of God is central in all of our environments. Regardless of the ministry environment we have a desire to teach the truth about the Gospel, and its’ implications in and on our lives as it is found in the Bible. It is essential for our church to make the Scriptures the primary authority for our instruction and obedience in our lives as we desire to live as a church that is for the Gospel, and for the City.

DEVOTED TO MAKING DISCIPLES.

We desire to be as devoted to making disciples as Jesus is. Followers of Jesus will make disciples. If we are not making disciples then we are not being obedient to Jesus. That may sound radical but it is actually normal Christianity. Making disciples is not just a task for pastors, or church staff; it is a lifestyle for every ordinary Christian.

A disciple is essentially a learner and follower of Jesus. Disciples are made when we obey Jesus’ three simple commands in the great commission: go, baptize and teach. This is a life on mission with Jesus.

In Disciple-making we intentionally go with Jesus to reach the lost and grow the reached. This way of living flows out from knowing God and enjoying Him forever. Driven by God’s grace, we are devoted to reaching people across the street and around the world with the Gospel (Rev. 7:9). Then, we baptize them, and strive to teach them to follow Jesus in every aspect of life. (Eph. 4:11-16)

As a church family, we are devoted to making disciples at every level. Discipleship is not relegated to one ministry or one form. Each ministry team and environment should ask themselves, “how can we effectively make disciples in our ministry area?” and “what is our role towards that same end in the life of our local church?” As leaders, we have the responsibility to build a disciple-making process and culture into every level of ministry and every church member.

REACHING THE NEXT GENERATION.

City Church values reaching the next generation with the gospel of Jesus Christ and helping them understand how the Bible impacts their lives. We teach the Bible to children and students on their level and help them understand how Jesus is the center of all life and scripture.

Through offering special environments, programming, and community outreach we seek to equip children and students to follow Jesus well and be a missionary wherever God has them. We also desire to see children and students discipled by partnering with families and supporting them as they raise their children. We believe that the home is the best place for a child or student to be discipled, so we provided resources to parents to help equip them in discipleship.

We believe one of the most strategic things that we can do to help change the world, and Tallahassee, is to reach the next generation to Christ. 

LIVING ON MISSION.

It is the mission of City Church to be For the Gospel and For the City. As a church, we strive to see all those who call City Church home live their lives intentionally to be For the Gospel and For the City of Tallahassee. As a church we desire to train and equip people to share the gospel wherever they are and to live out the mission that God has called us to, to go and make disciples in our city and across the world as well as facilitating opportunities to do so in our City. We believe that God has called us to invest in our community and to be leaders in our community.

The environments, ministries, programs and events at City Church are all viewed through this lens and are Gospel centered and intentionally focused on our community. We desire for those who call City Church home to be able to grow in their faith in these environments, then be able to share God’s love, that was demonstrated through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, with each other, as well as with our community.