We believe that God is true, authentic, good, and beautiful. We want to glorify him with all of our lives. In worship we experience his presence. Worship renews us, anchors us in the love of God, orients us to him, increases our receptivity to God's work in us, strengthens us, and unites us.

We are a church that treasures the Scriptures. The revelation of God through the Bible is our standard for all of life. The proclamation of the Kingdom of God is located in the Scriptures. We value the naturally supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. We expect that the Kingdom of God will show up in our midst: in healings, prophecy, the driving out of demons, and other revelatory acts, submitted to the Scriptures. We also believe the Spirit speaks to us personally and through community. Hearing from God sits at the center of our church's history, so prayer is part of everything we do.

Becoming like Jesus is the highest good of every single person. When we become like Jesus, we bring the highest good to the communities, societies, and cities to whom we belong. Becoming like Jesus is the center of our worship. Becoming like Jesus means that we do the work of spiritual formation. Jesus was humble. He was merciful, compassionate and displayed radical welcome for all. Becoming like Jesus means we will live lives marked by integrity and forgiveness. In his death and resurrection, Jesus inaugurated the incoming Kingdom of God. Becoming like Jesus demonstrates we belong to that Kingdom, even as we are exiles in this world.

We believe that Jesus was the most emotionally healthy person who ever walked Earth. Emotional health is the capacity to be aware of, control and express one's emotions; and to handle relationships with wisdom and empathy. In order to have thriving communities, we must grow in our emotional health. In order to support and love each other as brothers and sisters, we must grow in our spiritual formation and in our emotional health. Emotional health will give us the courage and compassion we need to listen to others, to invite others' opinions, to seek collaboration, and to hold each other accountable. We will value the opinion of those who think differently than we do.

Biblical justice is the restoration of God's intention for all of creation as displayed in Genesis 1. It is founded upon the truth that all humans are "created in [God's] image." This means that "all humans are equal and... deserve to be treated with fairness and justice." (cf., Bible Project). Sadly, the Fall threw the world into sin and confusion. Injustice became the norm. We believe that the church is God's instrument to combat that injustice and to restore his loving intention to all people, at an individual and societal level. This means we are committed to showing mercy and serving every person. This means we will feed the poor. This means that our design as a church is to be diverse and multiracial. We will be a church for every tribe.

The future is alive with the possibility of the Kingdom in Chicagoland, because Jesus is alive and well and at work. Every cultural moment brings its unique challenges; rather than run from them, we will face those challenges head-on, all the while holding fast to our orthodoxy.We will embrace Holy Spirit inspired creativity.We will innovate new ways of doing church. We will develop more and more leaders. We will invest in the next generation.