Church is about people…
We believe that, in its essence, church is about the people of God. Therefore, it’s not ultimately about a building, an institution, a particular day of the week, an appointment on our schedule nor being a social club. We believe this because Christ gave Himself up for a Bride, His people, rather than all of these other things (see Ephesians 5:25-27).
Church is about relationships…
Even more, because God is first and foremost about relationship with Himself (as the three persons of the Trinity) and about relationship with us, we believe church is also to be primarily about God’s people in relationship together. Again, this doesn’t mean we form a social club, but that we understand a bit about being committed to one another when we view Christ’s commitment to us.
Church is about every day…
We value our Sunday gatherings as a corporate time for the Cornerstone community to join together. We also value varying activities that might be initiated in our midst. But we also know that we are called to be the church each and every day.
A vision of what we want to become…
As we look to be the church that Christ called us to be, we envision becoming something like that of the first church, especially as we see described in Acts 2:42-47. The passage begins with these words: ‘They devoted themselves to…’
Specifically we read they were devoted to:
- The first apostles’ teaching, which is now recorded in our New Testament Scripture
- Fellowship, or shared life
- Breaking of bread, which most likely points to the Lord’s Supper
- Prayer
Not only that, but we see other life-giving activities amongst the first church:
- Miracles and healings (or signs and wonders)
- Togetherness
- Willingness to share and provide for others as they had need
- Sharing meals together
- Glad and generous as they shared such life
- Praising God
- Having favour with the people, with the Lord regularly adding to their number
- And this all took place day by day
This passage stands as an important point of focus as Cornerstone looks to move forward into all that God desires for His people, the church.
A mission of whom we can reach…
And as we live these things out described above, we will look to be the salt and light that we have been called to, making Jesus known to others, reaching those whom God has put in our lives. We pray that as we live out this thing called church, what Jesus really meant when He meant church, we would have favour with the people around us as the early church did.
To learn about our beliefs as understood from the Scripture, click here.
To learn about our team of leaders, click here.
