Our statement of vision for Cedar Springs is:
“We have a vision to see all people fully accepted by the grace of God and adopted into His kingdom. Together, we will be transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit, discipled to maturity, and released on mission to empower the poor and bring the Gospel to the world.”
Going one step further, there are eight Values that really give energy and definition to our vision. More than just a set of ideals, our values are our DNA. They are not just things we believe, they are things that we live.
We are a people marked by grace.
Grace declares that God’s love for you is complete, unchanging and unconditional. You are accepted just as you are! (Romans 5:1-2) Whether you do well or badly, sin or stay pure, you are completely accepted because of the righteousness of Jesus that has been given to you. You can’t improve God’s love for you. You can’t reduce God’s love for you. Grace makes for motivated, inspired Christians serving God and each other out of delight and joy, and not out of fear or bondage!
We love the Bible.
The centrality of the bible is undisputed. The early church ‘devoted themselves to the apostles teaching’ (Acts 2:42). Paul instructed his churches to ‘Devote yourself to the public reading of scripture, to preaching and teaching’ (1 Tim 4:13). So fundamental was the spread of the Word in the New Testament church that Luke described the growth of the church in these terms: ‘The Word of God kept on spreading’ (Acts 6:6). We believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments in their original writing are fully inspired by God and accept them as the supreme and final authority for faith and life. We are committed to preaching God’s Word as a primary ingredient of all our meetings.
We are a people of the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.
Christians are not those who simply agree to a creed or intellectually ascent to a set of doctrines, but those who have been and continue to be: “filled with the Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18). In addition, we are “being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit” (Ephesians 2:22). Therefore, as a community of the Spirit, we experience His presence and expect His power to be demonstrated among us through the “gifts of the Spirit” (Romans 12:6-8, 1 Corinthians 12:1-14:40, 1 Peter 4:10-11) “for the strengthening of the church” (1 Corinthians 14:26) “so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 4:11).
We worship and pray.
We believe that we have been invited into an amazing relationship with God. Like any other relationship, communication is vital. We worship God because we love Him and want Him to know how grateful we are. We pray because our faith is relational and we believe God hears and answers prayer. In fact, Jesus himself spent a lot of time praying and we want to follow his example of having a good relationship with our Father.
We live missionally.
According to Jesus’ commission in Matthew 28, the church is to be an outward looking full-on mission agency. Jesus has called us to co-labor with him in reaching every tribe and tongue. At Cedar Springs we are seriously focused on helping people become Christ followers. We are committed to being salt, light and yeast in our neighborhoods, workplaces and schools.
We work in team.
Jesus has given various gifted leaders to serve His church as a team. Our desire is to honor the gifting that God has given people and to work in team to build the church. Working in team also allows the church to give away its leadership to serve other churches and church plants because the church’s leadership is not dependent on one guy. So, from pastoring to making coffee, we believe all areas of life should be done in team.
We invest in the next generation.
The race we are running is not an individual time trial; rather it is a relay race where success includes getting those behind us to the finish line as well as ourselves. As Joshua found out, this does not happen automatically: “Joshua died…after that another generation grew up who did not know the Lord” (Judges 2:8). At Cedar Springs we feel a corporate responsibility for investing into the lives of our children and youth. We’re devoted to making young disciples as well as supporting the efforts of parents to raise up the next generation of leaders and influencers.
We serve others.
This is a very high value at Cedar Springs, and has a direct impact on every member. Serving is a fundamental characteristic of the Christian life, and we take our lead from Jesus Christ who did not come to be served, but rather to serve (Matt 20:28). We don’t just serve in order to get the job done, but rather to imitate Christ, to serve others, and to develop Godly maturity. The first words out of Paul’s mouth as he became a Christian were, ‘Lord, what do you want me do?’ (Acts 9:6 NKJV) not ‘Lord, what do you want to bless me with?’ This is the difference between consumers and contributors. At Cedar Springs we are all contributors understanding that ‘we are joined and knit together by what every joint supplies…as each part does its share’ (Eph 4:16 KJV).