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8 CORE VALUES
Biblical Truth
House of Prayer Family Church is a place for people on every part of their spiritual journey. These include those just investigating whether there is a God to those who have made God their primary pursuit. We endeavor to be a safe place for everyone to seek Him. But safe doesn't mean comfortable. The Bible presents a challenging message of life change. We don't assume everyone believes or even knows the Bible, but we do assume everyone who comes through our doors is open to exploring it. We believe the Bible is God's inerrant truth and is foundational to everything we do.
Church Health
As a body of believers, we seek to grow warmer through fellowship, deeper through discipleship, stronger through worship, broader through ministry and larger through evangelism. We are growing in grace, increasing in faith. We must develop teams where people are encouraged, developed, and mentored while intentionally looking to identify and train leaders who are motivated to train and equip other leaders.
Relationships
We aren't interested in being a church where a lot of people get together for an inspiring service, but never move beyond the proverbial "arm's distance" relationships of a gathering place. Fellowship is knowing and being known, loving and being loved and being served. The people who grow at House of Prayer are those who move beyond the building through serving and/or being part of a small group, service team and community involvement.
Family Focused
We believe a strong Biblical based home provides the best context for people to learn and live their faith. We partner with families to help them know and participate in God's Story. We come together to provide support, encouragement, and resources for today's family.
Personal Growth
We don't expect everyone who walks into this church to already be a matured, committed believer in Christ. But we do expect everyone who is around our community for any length of time to be growing in grace, increasing in faith.
Holiness
God, who is holy, calls us to a life of holiness. We believe that the Holy Spirit seeks to do in us a work of grace, sanctification, baptism with the Holy Spirit, cleansing from all sin, and developing the character of Christ. Holiness in the life of believers is most clearly understood as Christ-likeness.
Evangelism
We are a sent people, responding to the call of Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit to go into all the world, witnessing to the Lordship of Christ and participating with God in the building of the Church as the extension of His kingdom. It is imperative that Christians be like Jesus by living freely within the culture of Christ as ambassadors who are as faithful to the Father and His gospel as Jesus was in His own time and place. We are intentional about encouraging and helping others to nurture and mature in their relationship with God and one another.
Human Sexuality
We believe that God instituted monogamous marriage between a male and female as the foundation of the family; the basic structure of human society (Genesis 2:24). God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of the context of marriage between a man and a woman. (Genesis 19:5, 26:8-11; 5:1; 6:9; I Thess. 4:1-8; Hebrews 13:4). Hence, sexual activities such as, but not limited to, adultery, fornication, incest, homosexuality, pedophilia, and bestiality are inconsistent with the teachings of the Bible, the Church, and a Christian lifestyle. (Lev. 18:22; Lev. 20:13).
We stand fast on the scriptures in Romans 1:25-27, I Corinthians 6:9-11, and I Timothy 1:9-10 and believe that homosexuality is a sin. We determine to show compassion to all, with however, no compromise.
Accordingly, neither this church nor its members shall conduct any marriages between persons of the same sex and shall not condone, support, or facilitate any activities which conflict with this tenet of faith.
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