The Gospel is not only the belief that one accepts once for eternal salvation, but it is a continual way of life where the believer continues to understand and receive God’s grace in order to have an authentic thriving relationship with God. The saving grace of God can only be given and accepted in terms of the Gospel. The message of the Gospel has to be received, trusted and requires embracing it with all of your being, because it is the grace of God shown to humanity as the only fertile soil where His children can grow into the image of His son.
Gospel-Centered
People-Oriented
All ministry in the New Testament is about people. The local church exists to glorify God among people. All commands for believers and for the church community are specifically for people. As a result, everything we do as a church must be aimed not at fulfilling some cultural expectation for what “church” should be or at satisfying the requirements for an organization, but at glorifying God among the people he has put in our lives and community. Programs, therefore, should only exist to the extent that they demonstrably and effectively facilitate the ministry of people to people. We strive to be a church that is passionate about personal ministry in the lives of people that develops programs only to the extent that they help, not hinder, that personal ministry.
Theologically-Engaged
We love that the Bible is a complex book fitting for the complex world we live in. It provides answers to complicated questions; it rewards thinking that is humble, careful, and devoted. Instead of using proof-texts and settling for superficial answers, we want to apply this humble, careful approach when we study the Bible and when we think about the diverse cultures in Los Angeles. When it comes to Biblical truth as well as contemporary cultural concerns, we push ourselves to genuinely understand in a full and nuanced way. It is a passion and priority for us to carefully explore what God has said and provide robust answers that intersect with the real thoughts, attitudes, and questions people have in our city.
Collaboratively-Structured
The New Testament depicts the church as a body whose parts work collaboratively together. This collaboration is modeled throughout Acts and the epistles in both how the church is led and how its various members carry out their ministries. As a result, we believe the church was designed to be led by a team of co-equal pastor/elders. Throughout the New Testament, local church leadership is only ever spoken of in the plural and nowhere is the role of “senior pastor” ever taught. We also believe that all ministry functions most effectively when done in the context of teams . We see the benefit of diverse viewpoints, the necessity of humility, the encouragement of mutuality, and the opportunities for varied giftedness as just some of the many practical benefits of collaborative leadership and ministry structures. We strive to be a church that recognizes God’s sovereign design of ministry teams and the diverse strengths and gifts that each team member offers.
Intentionally-Unified
In John 17 Jesus prays that His Church will be united. The Church is not united by our age, our life-stage, our ethnicity, our nationality, or our personal preferences, but by Christ Himself and His love for us. This means that Cornerstone is a church that intentionally pursues relational unity across the lines that often divide people in the world. We are people from a variety of tongues, ethnicities, life-stages, and backgrounds, but we are one because we are united in Christ together.
Outwardly-Invested
Jesus demonstrated a profound love for those who were lost and for those who were hurting and suffering when He was on earth. As Christ’s Church we are called to care for and actively love both the marginalized (the voiceless, the powerless, the suffering) and the lost (those who don’t know Christ). This love manifests locally in our love for our city, and it manifests globally in our love for our world. We invest time, energy, and resources towards reaching the lost and serving the marginalized, both in our city and around the world.
