Ministries
The ministries at Valley Church are organized around our vision for every person “to experience and express the love of Jesus.” Three essential qualities describe what we hope each disciple of Jesus will have in growing measure as they mature and become more and more like Christ. The ministries within this area are designed to move people forward in that area of their lives.
Because God is always previous, ever sovereign, and never changing, we respond to His initiation, invitation, and inspiration. We do so with love, dedication, and radical obedience. We hear, read, and memorize His Word. We seek His leading in prayer, and we seek counsel from Spirit filled people. We humbly accept the grace of God in Christ. God’s love provokes a response that permeates our heads, our hearts, every inch of our being.
Therefore, we will preach the Word of God, pray passionately and often, and celebrate with enthusiasm when God breaks through. We will cry out for His voice and not be satisfied until we hear Him. God will change us to be more and more like Jesus until one day we’ll go to be with Him in glory.
We will authentically express our gratitude, marvel, and awe of God in ways that reflect who we are as individuals and as a gathering of God’s “called out ones”. As God works in our hearts and lives, we cannot help but respond in songs of praise, acts of compassion, imitation of Christ, selfless sacrifice… These activities will flow out of thanksgiving for what Christ has done, not compulsion or guilt. We will live our lives as holistic acts of worship.
As we grow up into Christ-likeness there will be facts God wants us to know, skills He wants us to have, and character qualities He wants us to acquire. Because God has given His Spirit and gifts of the Spirit to every believer, we will enable, equip, enthuse, and empower every person to the ministry and missional calling God has given them. We will help everyone know and celebrate his or her part of the body of Christ. We will serve together in teams, knowing that each of us is dependent on the Lord and on one other for eternal effectiveness. At every level, we will empower leadership that is Spirit gifted, anointed, called, and passionate to the task. We will trust in and wait on the Spirit of God for leading, guiding, and empowering our lives and ministries.
Because God is a relational being and made us in His image, we live and grow best through intimate and authentic relationships with other people. The metaphors for the “called out ones” of Christ are body, bride, sheep… all pictures pointing toward intimacy and interdependency as we follow Christ.
We will intentionally carve out time for Christ-centered, soul satisfying relationships in a culture that is frantically fragmented and relationally scattered. “Non participant observation” will not be an option. We will allow God to form Christ-likeness in us through intimate and authentic relationships.
Our vision is to be a missional, sending church strategically focused on reproducing the Kingdom of God throughout the Bay Area and beyond.
Because God is a missionary God, we will go OUT to reach the world in the same way He did. We will live, work, and minister among people in the world. We will be separate and distinct in our calling and identity, but relevant and extraordinarily caring to the needs and hurts that will allow us to point people to Christ. We will stand against injustice, poverty, and any of the evils of our world in a way that balances grace and acceptance of the cross with the holiness and severity of God. Because God’s intention for the Gospel has always been for “every tribe, tongue, and nation” we will seek to reach, teach, and reflect our diverse geographical community both ethnically and generationally. As we incarnate the Gospel into our community, it will take on different “looks”. Valley church will be a place of gathering, of reconciliation, and of unity.
We will exegete our community and intentionally target areas where we see openness and opportunity to meet needs, show compassion, and exhibit kindness in the name of Jesus. We will give Jesus credit for any benefit, blessing, or help that people are given. We will worship in various ways and celebrate the differences. We will acknowledge the need and desire for “birds to flock together” as people want to connect with others like them. Yet we will intentionally make opportunities for joint cooperation, ministry, and celebration at the throne of Jesus.
We will be a church so connected to our community that we would be missed if we were not there. We will be a church known for meeting felt needs, having earned the right to be heard and having made a difference in our community.