We began as a small group in the mid-1980s. We longed for church to be a place where we could be honest about the struggles of our lives believing God would meet us where we were in those struggles. This led to our motto, “Knowing God together in honesty and love.”
One concept embraced in the early days was the idea of “unleashing the church.” We wanted to be the church in the lives of those we encountered. We believed then, and we still do, that we all possess the life of God to impact our fellow believers, our co-workers, our families, and our community.
These core values have remained meaningful to us across the years:
Our deepest calling is to love.
God calls each of us uniquely to reflect His love. By following Jesus, we learn what it means to love God and love others at a cost to ourselves.
The gift of grace is abundant.
When we recognize the impact of our sin and move toward brokenness, confession, and repentance, space is opened allowing grace and love to flourish. We encourage each other to “be patient with all that is yet unresolved in your heart.” (Rilke)
We honor the path of suffering.
No matter what our present circumstances, we can be curious about what God is up to and ask for a vision of what God is forming in us and others.
