Get to Know Contrast
Our Mission
Contrast Church exists first and foremost to glorify God and bring praise to His Name in order to love and delight in Him forever. Our love for Him and His truth is the foundation for our existence as individuals and as a church community. Jesus summarized the first 5 commandments by saying “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:34-37). Contrast Church exists to foster love for the LORD and worship of Him both individually and corporately through the preaching of His Word, which is rooted in the person and work of Jesus Christ, corporate worship, which aligns our hearts with Him, and prayer, which is rooted in dependence and faith in Jesus who stands on our behalf (Hebrews 4:14-16).
Second, Contrast Church exists to not only to love God but also to love and serve people. We know from Jesus' example that Christians are never called to religion apart from people. Throughout His life, Jesus confronted the religious elite for having an exterior religiosity that never showed in love and care for others around them (Matthew 23:1-32). We believe it is the heart of God that our love of Him and His Word, sinks so far into who we are, it is manifested on a daily basis. Micah says we are to “act justly, love mercy” while we walk with the LORD (Micah 6:8). We are devoted to establishing a biblical community in which believers can grow in their relationship with the LORD through "iron sharpening iron" (Proverbs 27:17), as well as a community that loves and seeks to build up one another, seeing others as greater than ourselves (Philippians 2:3).
Finally, Contrast Church exists to equip and encourage God's people to live on mission and to make the LORD's name known throughout the world. We are dedicated to developing and deploying every believer as a missionary into their communities, families, and workplaces for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as well as to establishing other multiplying, gospel-centered bodies of believers both locally and around the world. Jesus has called and established His Church as the primary means for carrying out the Great Commission. “Jesus came near and said to them, ‘All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations...'" The Gospel has the power to take a people rooted in proud tradition and community solidarity and establish a local body of believers which can be a light of hope in a hurting, broken world.
What We Believe
GOD
We believe that God is the Creator of everything and that he exists eternally in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
GOSPEL
We believe that the gospel serves as the foundation of our faith, the source of all Christian living, and the central truth of the Bible. The gospel is the good news that, even though we were spiritually dead in our sin, God sent his son Jesus to live a sinless life in our place, die a substitutionary death to pay for our offenses, and rise from the dead to grant us new and abundant life in his Spirit.
SCRIPTURE
We believe the Bible to be God’s Word, a true account of God’s love for us. Its purpose is to teach us how to have a relationship with him, worship him, and bring him glory. It has the gospel of Jesus Christ as its central message and new life in Him as its end goal. The Scriptures mainly teach what man is to believe about God and what duty God requires of man.
MANKIND
We believe that God created us in his image to worship him and give him glory. This is true of both men and women, who are equal and complementary partners in God's mission and reflect his beauty, goodness, and creativity. We believe that sin has kept us from fully knowing God and worshiping him but that Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin, was physically resurrected, and now offers a restored relationship with God as a free gift to all.
CHURCH
We believe that the church is the body of Christ on earth and a movement of disciple-making disciples. As such, every believer should be identified with a local church for the purpose of mutual encouragement, spiritual growth, and accountability.
DISCIPLESHIP
We believe that all disciples should continually grow as (1) worshipers, knowing, loving, and obeying God above all else; (2) family members, committed to our aspiring multiethnic family; (3) servants, gladly giving of themselves for the good of others; (4) stewards, managing God’s gifts for God’s purposes; and (5) witnesses, proclaiming Christ in word and deed.
EVANGELISM
It is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and of every church of the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples of all nations. The new birth of man’s spirit by God’s Holy Spirit means the birth of love for others. Missionary effort on the part of all rests thus upon a spiritual necessity of the regenerate life, and is expressly and repeatedly commanded in the teachings of Christ. Evangelism is practiced in deed as well as word.
Our cORE vALUES
gospel centeredness
The Gospel is the only means by which we as sinful people are returned to communion with a holy God. It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ that compels us to preach and evangelize (2 Corinthians 5:14-15), it is the lens through which we read scripture (1 Corinthians 2:6-16), and it is the reason we worship God in both song and in deed (Colossians 3:15-17). Therefore, we at Contrast Church seek to make the Gospel central in all of our decision making, planning, speaking, outreach, and discipleship.
WHole Life EVANGELISM
We believe that Jesus commissioned His Church to proclaim this Gospel to all nations. We see Jesus model evangelism through intentional conversations and relationships with lost people (John 3:1-21; 4:1-26; John 8:48-59). We desire to motivate believers in Christ to intentionally build relationships with people and preach the Gospel through their words and deeds (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).
community
We believe that the Christian life is not meant to be lived in isolation, but in biblical community with other believers. Biblical community both endears us to each other and to God. Therefore, we are committed to praying for one another, sacrificially serving one another, encouraging one another, holding each other accountable, and discipling one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11; James 5:16; Hebrews 10:24-25).
multiplication
We believe God desires to see all people come to a faith in the Son (2 Peter 3:9), and that He has established the local church to be His means of accomplishing that mission (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:7-8). We, therefore, are committed to devoting significant time and resources to plant churches that plant churches in order that every person has access to the gospel and a local church.
mercy & justice
We believe that every person has inherent dignity because they are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27). More than that, we believe Jesus’ church has a divine mandate to bring relief to the needy and justice to the oppressed and marginalized (Deuteronomy 15:7–11; Proverbs 31:8–9; Matthew 25:34- 40). As a church, Contrast is dedicated to encouraging our members to engage injustice and need in our community and our world.