1. Worship first

   • The pinnacle of the human experience is worship. In all things, our posture is one of adoration and affection toward Jesus. As a people captivated by His beauty, everything we are and do flows from intimacy in His presence. Expect extended periods of worship and freedom of expression. This is a place where there are no eyes of judgment, only eyes that are fixed on Jesus.

2. His Presence, not a performance 

   • We treasure His presence above all else. Our desire therefore is not to cultivate a performance for man, but to welcome the presence of Jesus, trusting that He alone knows what’s best.

3. Encounter, not appearances 

   • One touch from Jesus changes everything. The most dramatic encounters in the gospels are unpredictable and messy, but they are also transformative and life-giving. We don’t expect today’s experience to be any different.

4. Tremble at His Word

   • We intently study Scripture, God’s Logos word, while also posturing ourselves to humbly receive and obey his Rhema word through the voice of the Spirit.

5. Take ground

   • Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil. We continue this mission as we carry His resurrection power into broken places, particularly among the lost, the poor, the outcast, and the brokenhearted. This includes both local and global expressions and will involve our physically going and our support of others who will take Jesus’ presence to the ends of the earth.

6. Expect miracles

   • A dramatic mission requires dramatic provision. We don’t just believe that spiritual gifts of healing, prophecy, and miracles are for today; we expect them. As a community advancing the kingdom of God into dark places, we cannot rely on our own strategies or plans, but instead celebrate our utter dependency on the power of the Spirit in our midst.

7. Love > the supernatural.

   • Our emphasis is not on miracles or supernatural encounters, but on love. As we embody the love of Jesus in the broken places of the world, we expect his power to manifest in supernatural ways, but we never prioritize the supernatural over love. If we never see another miracle but learn to love like Jesus, that will be enough.

8. Prioritize community

   • We were created to exist in community. As a community practicing the way of Jesus together, we prioritize our connection to one another, making countercultural decisions to intentionally structure our lives around friendship and community. Participation in an Abide Group is central to life in this community and is seen as its primary expression, the context through which the presence of Jesus in us extends into our surrounding community.

9. The priesthood of all believers. 

   • We do not gather to passively receive from one or two anointed individuals. Rather, it is God’s desire to anoint and activate all believers in the manifold gifts of the Spirit for the purpose of ministry to one another and the world. Everyone gets to play! Our gatherings therefore intentionally create space for expression of the gifts present in each person to build up the community.

10. Delight

    • As we behold Jesus, our hearts awaken in wonder, gratitude, celebration, and childlike affection toward Him. We refuse to confuse seriousness with maturity. Jesus said we can only receive the kingdom like a little child. We therefore celebrate beauty, laughter, friendship, and every good gift as signs pointing us back to the goodness of our Creator, who delights in the thriving and flourishing of His creation.

11. Creativity 

    • As people made in the image of God, we cherish creative expression as a form of worship and a powerful weapon for reclaiming ground for the kingdom. We therefore celebrate songwriting, visual art, dance, writing, filmmaking, kingdom entrepreneurship, craftsmanship, and other creative expressions. The Lord will draw creatives to this community, and Abide will become a hub of creativity, releasing expressions of such profound beauty that they will extend beyond the church and actually shift secular culture.

12. The Wisdom of Heaven 

    • The wisdom of heaven is foolishness to the world. Our decisions aren’t made according to worldly strategy but rather by the direction of the Spirit and the wisdom of our crucified King.

13. Prayer 

    • Everything that happens here will be bathed in and flow from prayer. We celebrate the reality that we can do nothing apart from Jesus and through prayer receive direction for the journey, the tools to pursue it, and the power to complete it.

14. Risk

    • We are called to take on battles far beyond our natural capacities, where only He can bring victory. We step into these areas of exposure, vulnerability, and risk with expectation that he will move in ways that we could never anticipate.

15. Embrace mystery

    • Jesus did not leave his disciples a theology textbook. He left them a meal and the promise of the Holy Spirit. We marvel at the mystery of his presence in the Lord’s Supper, and we celebrate the rebirth that happens through baptism.

16. Whole-hearted devotion

    • Jesus does not ask for fans. He is calling disciples, and his desire is to possess all of us. We are a community committed to active discipleship and quick obedience to the leadership of the Spirit. 

“Abide in me, and I will abide in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. If you abide in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing (John 15:4-5).”

Jesus’ heart for his people is not merely transactional. He came for more than an exchange that gets us into heaven. His desire is for us to be in him, just as he is in the Father — in a word, that we would abide. In John 17, the one place in Scripture where Jesus prays for modern believers, three times he prays that we would be in him and that he would be in us. His desire is for his Spirit to infuse the essence of our being, to permeate the very stuff we are made of and transform us into something altogether new as a habitation of his divine presence — a Christian. 

This is the heart of Abide. Only when we abide in him can we become like him. The apostle Peter says that we have been invited to participate in Jesus’ divine nature so that his love, his life, and his power flow into and through us, ultimately empowering us to do the things he did (2 Peter 1:3, Col. 1:29, 1 Cor. 13-15). It is from this posture that we will be marked by love and sent with power. 

“If you abide in me and my words abide you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you (John 15:7).”

One of the primary purposes of prayer is to obtain the heart of God – for our heart to become shaped like His as we begin to share in His affections. From this posture of abiding, our desires actually shift and we become able to pray the very will of God and release His purposes on the earth. The power and effectiveness of our prayers are therefore a function of our intimate connection with Jesus through the Holy Spirit. It is in this place of abiding that we are positioned and empowered to call forth the will of God for creation as sons and daughters. 

It is also from this posture that we are freed from the tyranny of self-righteousness and religious pride, recognizing that we are children of grace and that every ounce of fruit in our lives is a gift, solely the result of Jesus’ life flowing through us. Abiding therefore cultivates a poverty of spirit that allows us to humbly declare, in the midst of a life marked by unimaginable fruitfulness, that apart from Him, we truly can do nothing. 

“If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love (John 15:10).”

Abiding is both a posture of the heart and conscious choices of obedience. The affection of heart birthed through intimate connection with Jesus is formed into maturity through obedience to His teachings.

The Bible

The Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, are the inspired and infallible revelation of God to man and the authority for faith and conduct, the all-sufficient rule of faith and standard for daily living.

(2 Timothy 3:15–17; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Peter 1:20–21)

The Trinity

God eternally exists as three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

The three distinct Persons of the Trinity are all fully God; all of God’s attributes are true of each Person and together they are one God.

(Matthew 28:19; John 1:1–3; 2 Corinthians 13:14)

God the Father

The one true God has revealed Himself as the “I Am” – the Creator of all things visible and invisible and the Redeemer of mankind. He is perfect, holy, righteous, merciful, loving, just, and infinite.

(Isaiah 43:10–11; Genesis 1:1; Exodus 3:14; Ephesians 4:5–6)

Jesus – Son of God, Savior, Resurrected

The Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God. The Scriptures declare His virgin birth, sinless life, miracles, death, bodily resurrection, and ascension to the right hand of God.

(Matthew 1:18–23; Hebrews 4:15; Acts 2:22–24; 1 Corinthians 15:3–8; Hebrews 1:3)

Holy Spirit – Co-equal and Co-eternal

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead. The abiding presence of God with us, He is co-equal, co-eternal, and co-existent with the Father and the Son, and together with the Father and the Son is to be worshiped and glorified. The Holy Spirit not only empowers the Church for witness but also indwells believers, revealing Christ and forming His life within us.

(John 14:16–17, 23; John 16:13–14; Acts 5:3–4; 2 Corinthians 3:17–18; Matthew 28:19)

Given at Pentecost, the baptism in the Holy Spirit is made available to all believers through Jesus Christ. Sent by Jesus after His ascension, the Holy Spirit empowers the Church to bear witness to the gospel through both proclamation and demonstration. This empowering presence of the Spirit continues to fill and renew believers for life, mission, and obedience to Christ.

(Acts 1:8; Acts 2:1–4; Acts 4:31)

SIN

Humankind was created good and upright, made in God’s image and likeness to reflect and represent God to creation. However, humankind voluntarily transgressed and fell, and thereby, is separated from God and in need of redemption and rescue.

(Genesis 1:26–27; Genesis 2:17; Genesis 3:6; Romans 5:12–19)

SALVATION

Salvation restores humanity to communion with God, bringing us into a living relationship with the Father through the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Salvation is a free gift of God’s grace, received through faith in the atoning death and victorious resurrection of Jesus Christ. Through His death, Jesus bore the consequence of sin, and through His bodily resurrection, He defeated death and made new life available to all. This is our only hope for salvation, and there is no other name by which humanity may be saved.

(Ephesians 2:8–9; Romans 4:25; Acts 4:12; 1 Timothy 2:5; 1 John 1:3)

Baptism and The Lord’s Supper

God has provided baptism and the Lord’s Supper as means of union with Christ, received in faith and given to the Church for incorporation into His life and ongoing communion with Him.

(Romans 6:3–5; Galatians 3:26–27; 1 Corinthians 10:16)

Baptism is commanded by the Lord Jesus and received by believers as entry into the life of His church. Baptism is received in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

(Matthew 28:19; Romans 6:3–4; Colossians 2:12; 1 Corinthians 12:13)

Jesus entrusted the Lord's Supper to His Church as an enduring practice to be received until He comes again. The Table of the Lord is for believers and consists of the bread and the cup, in which we receive the real presence of Jesus Christ—His body given for us and His blood shed for us. In this sacred meal, we remember His sacrifice, participate in Christ and the New Covenant, and proclaim His death until He comes.

(Luke 22:19–20; John 6:53-56; 1 Corinthians 11:23–26; 1 Corinthians 10:16–17)

The Church

The Church is the body of Christ, the living temple of God through the Holy Spirit, called together for worship, discipleship, and participation in God’s life and mission to the world.

Through Jesus Christ, the Kingdom of God has broken into the world. By the power of the Holy Spirit, the Church participates in this Kingdom—proclaiming the gospel, embodying Christ’s love, and demonstrating signs of the coming restoration of all things.

(1 Corinthians 12:27; Ephesians 2:19–22; Matthew 28:18–20; Mark 1:15)

Sanctification

The Christian life is one of ongoing transformation as believers share in the life of Christ through union with Him. By the indwelling Holy Spirit, we abide in Christ and are progressively conformed to His character. As we behold the Lord and walk in obedience, His life is increasingly formed within us, producing holiness, love, and the fruit of the Spirit. This work of sanctification is both the gracious work of God and the willing participation of the believer as we grow into the fullness of life in Christ.

(1 Thessalonians 5:23; John 15:4–5; Galatians 2:20; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Philippians 3:12–14; Colossians 3:3–4)

Healing

We believe that healing is included in the atoning work of Jesus Christ and belongs to the ministry of the Church. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Church is called to pray for the sick as part of its mission to advance the Kingdom of God.

(Isaiah 53:4–5; Matthew 8:16–17; Acts 4:30; James 5:14–16; Luke 9:2; Mark 16:15-18)

THE SECOND COMING

We believe in the blessed hope of the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will return in glory as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. There will be a final judgment, in which all people will stand before God, and His justice and mercy will be fully revealed.

(Titus 2:13; 1 Corinthians 15:51–52; Matthew 25:31–46; Romans 14:10–12)

THE NEW HEAVEN AND EARTH

All of God’s children will dwell in unbroken communion with our Creator forever in a perfectly restored creation where the Lord’s Kingdom and delight will know no end.

(2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21–22)

The Nicene Creed

As a church, we joyfully affirm our continuity with the historic Christian faith. In unity with the Church across time and around the world, we confess the Nicene Creed as a faithful summary of the apostolic faith and a witness to the essential beliefs we hold together.

We believe in one God,
the Father Almighty,
Maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only-begotten Son of God,
begotten of the Father before all worlds,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father;
through Him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
He came down from heaven,
and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary,
and became man.
For our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
He suffered death and was buried.
On the third day He rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
He ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead,
and His kingdom will have no end.

And we believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord and Giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father*,
who with the Father and the Son together
is worshiped and glorified,
who has spoken through the prophets.

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

*Some Christian traditions include the phrase “and the Son” when confessing the procession of the Holy Spirit.