This should be the goal of every Christian. Considering simply who God is, and then adding what He has done for us, our objective in life as believers should be to make much of Him (1 Peter 4:11). This is the objective and passion of our church. This is expressed in a few ways:

Christ-Centered
Everything centers around the person and work of Jesus.
We try to highlight, direct our attention to and represent the worthiness of Christ in everything that we do (1 Cor. 10:31). We think that all of Scripture tries to shift our attention to Him (i.e., Luke 24:27, Jn. 5:39-40, Rom. 11:36, Col. 1:15-22), and He is where we find every longing of our heart fulfilled.

Gospel-Saturated
The gospel transforms everything.
We believe the gospel transforms every aspect of our lives (Gal. 2:20). You cannot outgrow the gospel, and it is the power of God in everything you do (Rom. 1:16)! The Scriptures consistently show us that Christ is our example & fulfillment of every portion of Scripture and then calls us to live this out (Gal. 2:14).

Spirit-Empowered
We are empowered by the Spirit and guided by the Word.
We believe that Jesus meant it when He said it was better for Him to leave, that He might send the Helper (Jn. 16:7). The Spirit of God reveals God’s Word clearly to us, empowers us for witness and ministry, equips us with spiritual gifts, convicts us of sin, leads us in becoming more like Jesus, intercedes and gives power to our prayers, among many, many other functions and roles (Eph. 1:13, Ti. 3:5, Rom. 8:26-27, 15:13, 1 Co. 12 &14, Gal. 5:19-26, etc.)! We seek to be filled by the Spirit, walk by the Spirit, and align ourselves with the Spirit in submission to God’s Word.

In their accounts of Jesus’ life, Matthew and Luke record the idea of discipleship as His last words. This is important, and we believe this should be at the heart of every individual Christian, as well as every local church. Jesus did not just call us to make “Christians,” people who simply profess, but rather to make “disciples,” someone whose life is completely sold out to serve the King (Matthew 28:18-20). Our deepest desire for man is continual, reproducible discipleship, as seen in 2 Timothy 2:2. As a church, we will look to do this in three ways:

Reach the Lost
Every soul is one Jesus longs for.
Discipleship doesn’t just include making those who already believe stronger in their faith. Throughout Scripture, it also includes reaching the lost and bringing them into the Kingdom (Matt. 28:19, Lk. 15:4, 19:10). God has called each Christian to reach the lost (Acts 1:8, 2 Co. 5:18-20), and often God calls individuals to specific groups of people or locations (Acts 9:15, Gal. 1:15-16, 2:7, Rom. 15:16). We desire that every Christian is making disciples wherever they go (Mt. 28:19). However, we also want every member to feel responsible for one place, a specific location, or people group that they’re intentionally investing in, seeking to allow the gospel to permeate through them there. Our goal should be that everyone hears the Good News of Jesus Christ in hopes that God would work on their hearts and bring them to Himself (Rom. 10:13-15, 1 Tim. 2:4).

Make Disciples
Pursuing all Jesus commanded with all of ourselves.
Being a Christian is a call to growing deeper in the love of God (Jn. 15:9, Lk. 9:23-24, Ps. 73:25- 26) and growing into the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:13, 1 Jn. 2:6, Gal. 2:20). We see this as the process of discipleship. A disciple is someone who loves, follows, and serves Jesus. Therefore disciple-making is helping others love, follow, and serve Jesus, with all of themselves. Within this pursuit, we care not just about the “what” of discipleship though, found overarchingly in the Great Commission (Mt. 28:18-20), but also the “how” of discipleship, found overarchingly in the Great Commandment (Mk. 12:29-31). As Christians follow Christ’s commands (what) with all of themselves (how), we believe each person will learn how Christ has made them and become equipped in their unique identities, giftings, and callings to further the Kingdom of God on earth.

Live in Community
We don’t find community; we fight for community.
Growth is not done in isolation. The Lord’s army doesn’t enlist privates. We grow best when we do it in community with others (Heb. 10:23-25, Eph. 3:17-19). As a church, we do this through our Sunday Gatherings, Community Groups, Missional Communities, support groups, and personal discipleship. Within this, we strive to be a diverse community that foreshadows our true home, modeling the beauty of heaven until it comes (Rev. 7:9).

Discipleship doesn’t stop with personal growth. True disciples impact the world around them; they live “sent lives.” God’s whole plan from the start has been to redeem the whole world to Himself (Genesis 3:15). As individuals, we want to live sent lives by loving those around us and making an impact where we live, work, and play. As we seek to love our neighbors through service (thus fulfilling the Great Commandment, Mark 12:39), we seek to help them exalt Christ, become disciples, and live sent lives. As a church, we will look to do this in three ways:

Serve the Church
The church is not built on the talents of a few but on the sacrifices of many.
Every person has gifts and talents that, if used to serve the church, will make an eternal difference (1 Co. 12, 14, Rom. 12). Because of this reality, we don’t just “do” church but give our lives to God’s plan believing that Generosity is Worship (2 Co. 8-9). We seek to be generous with our time, talents, and treasures so that the Kingdom of God may be expanded in and through us.

Serve the City
We see what the city could be.
Like Israel, the church isn’t meant to be a blessing for itself but for everyone around them (Gen. 12:2, Jer. 29:7, Acts 6:1-3). We want to bless Austin so much that if our church were to disappear, we would be greatly missed because of the impact we have on this city. We as a church will serve the community in tangible ways to simply be a blessing to it (Gal. 2:10). Ultimately, we hope our serving will also give a platform for hearing the gospel and for gospel transformation, bringing the blessing of the Kingdom to the urban core of Austin, the University of Texas, and the surrounding areas.

Plant Churches
The local church is God’s means of redeeming the world.
We believe planting churches is the best way to reach the world. Local churches are uniquely designed to bring gospel vitality to their specific contexts as they understand and serve their communities. Therefore, we desire to plant 100 churches nationally in the first 50 years of being a church. We don’t celebrate growing, we celebrate going. This was the vision and mission of Christ to bring the gospel to the world, as is clearly shown throughout the New Testament (Matt. 28:18-20, Acts 14:1-28, John 20:21).

Reach the Nations
Until the whole world hears.
We will be relentless until every tongue, tribe, people, and culture has an opportunity to hear the gospel of the Kingdom of Jesus (Matt. 28:18-20, Acts 1:8). To do this, we desire to plant 100 churches internationally by sending International Church Planters along with qualified and diverse missionary teams within the first 50 years of being a church (Mk. 16:15, Lk. 10:1-12, Lk. 24:26-27). We will partner relationally with national leaders, missionaries, and organizations focused on church planting to help reach the nations for the gospel’s sake, specifically amongst unreached people groups.

We begin and end our mission statement with the same idea because this is what we live for—to glorify God. We believe this statement ties everything together and is the ultimate reason for our existence (Rom. 11:36, Rev. 4:11, 1 Co. 6:19-20). We believe in fighting for something bigger than ourselves and laying down our lives for the sake of the glory of God. We believe that God has given us the ability to push back darkness in our city, our nation, and this world and desire the light of Christ to shine on all things.