Our Beliefs and Practices
Our Mission
The Lighthouse is a body of believers in Jesus Christ, formed and sustained through prayer, worship, evangelism, fellowship, discipleship, and sound biblical teaching. Each of us have embraced the call of God to make disciples, plant churches, and serve God in our respective giftings and callings.
A people who go anywhere and do anything for God.
How we accomplish our mission
People want the benefits of a strong Christian life. Unfortunately, in our culture, the importance of relationships has been eroded. The Bible says that we cannot have a life transforming relationship with God without a deeply committed relationship to his church. The bulk of New Testament teachings are addressed to churches and church leaders... and, as you might imagine, most of it is about how to live as a participant in relationship to other Christians. This is a fundamental at the Lighthouse.
When he came to the "new world," Cortez burned his ships. This served as a great motivation for his men to survive. Something about the arena of human interaction forces us to deal with our own attitudes, and face each other with the love of Jesus. If we abandon the idea of leaving if things get bad, we will be much more likely to work through issues we never dreamed existed in our lives. More importantly, there's nothing as beautiful as seeing long term growth and change in a teen, a pastor, a friend, a husband, or that person who annoys you. Churches aren't meant to be perfect, they're meant to be like people... needing grace, and lots of love.
Though there are some rare situations in which separation from a church is needed, the standard is long term participation for long term growth.
Jesus' last commission to his disciples was to for them to also make disciples who can show others how to follow Christ. Telling people about Jesus isn't enough. He said "He who has my commands and obeys them; he is the one who loves me, and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him." (John 14:21) Obeying him is the key to knowing him.
In the same way we are called to help others live out their relationships with God, we are individually responsible for our own pursuit of growth and increased maturity. Because of this leadership development and growth opportunities are essential to our church. As you participate you will regularly hear about opportunities to participate in new and exciting areas of growth. But not all growth is exciting. Commitment to a task - by that we mean being faithful even when nobody is watching - changes us from self indulgent religious people to "shepherds." It may sound odd, but Jesus isn't interested in a church full of looky-loos. He is after disciples. Discipleship means discipline, and the only way to achieve the results of discipline is through consistency and faithfulness.
There is a lot to knowing God's word. It takes time and effort. You have to learn new words, practice your reading and understanding skills, and learn how to apply God's word truthfully and without being weird! The scriptures can help transform us and give us encouragement each day that God is close to us, and that he hears us when we pray.
The process of becoming a "Lighthousian" is finished when a person is doing what Jesus commanded, growing in His image, and fulfilling their potential, as they believe God wants. At this level of maturity, each person in our fellowship has to execute personal leadership to maintain accountability, as we serve others.
Statement of Faith