Ridge Church Value #2: Grace and Faith

Yes, it's true! Ridge Church does have more than one core value. (As a matter of fact, we have six!)

Our second core value is "Grace and Faith." Below is some information on our value of "Grace and Faith" from our Launch Proposal. (That's a document church planter dudes share with folks who are interested in supporting a church from afar with their prayers and finances, or supporting it locally by being part of it.)

We'll be sharing our Launch Proposal with everyone who comes to our Information Meeting on Monday the 28th at 7 pm at the Kroger Community Center in Halls. We'd love to have you come and learn about The Ridge and ask all the questions you want!

Here's what our Launch Proposal says about Grace and Faith:

"We believe that all people, especially those who do not already follow Christ, matter to God. They should be offered grace by the local church and actively and continually invited by Christians to place their faith in Christ and His Gospel."

There's always a little "unpacking" to do when someone says that some concept is a core value. For me personally, Grace and Faith are crucial.

When I was a younger believer, I was a very legalistic individual. I believed that even though I was a believer in Christ, there was a ton of stuff I had to do to please God, and those who didn't do the right things (or, conversely, did do the wrong things) weren't pleasing Him. Then, I kind of oversteered to the other side and spent some time believing that as long as folks believed in Christ, they could do pretty much whatever and God was cool with it. (Don't get me wrong, I thought that within good reason... You could say I just was very "anti-rules.") This is often called "antinomianism" in theological-speak. Here's a good definition of that word.

We believe that Christians and the local church must always offer God's grace to everyone with whom we come in contact by sharing the Gospel (or "Good News") of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. When those who aren't Christ-followers respond to God's call on their lives and accept God's gift of grace through faith in Jesus, they become Christ-followers and are adopted forever as part of God's family.

Of course, those who are Christ-followers sin or mess up daily in their lives. Often our difficulty is that we aren't willing to allow Christ to live through us as we selfishly attempt to control every aspect of our lives. But this doesn't mean that we are "losers", useless, or are not loved by God!

So often through the years, our churches have "shot our wounded"--people who are hurt or struggling with sin or pain or some other "issue"... At Ridge Church, that's not going to be the case!

At The Ridge, everyone who is not yet a believer in Christ will be showed God's grace and challenged to accept Christ in faith. Those who are already believers will be shown grace when they "mess up" and challenged to allow Christ to be the Lord of thier daily lives as they walk with Him in faith. Put another way: forgiveness, grace and love will be offered to all with one hand, and faith and discipline will be a challenge presented to all with the other hand.

As always, a blog is an imperfect place to share one's most theological thoughts... If you have questions about grace or faith, email me at kevin@ridgechurchknoxville.com!

There are several verses in the Bible that support our value of Grace and Truth. Check out these: Acts 2:37-41, Matthew 18:21-35, Acts 8:26-40.