When the people of God were set free from Egypt, they entered the desert of Sinai. It is here that they began an identity crisis. They had been set free, but did not understand their mission. It is here, in an uncomfortable climate of extreme temperatures and wild animals that YHWH gave His people their mission: “you will be for Me a Kingdom of Priests, a holy nation.” (Exodus 19) A priest is one who literally “puts God on display.” We desire to keep with this mission. We believe that God has called His church to “Put Him on display”.It is our desire to be a moving force through a changing postmodern culture. At SN, it is our desire to put God on display in all that we do in the community. It is because of this that we value 7 “directions”. These directions serve as the “values” for the community. These values to not reflect a destination. There is no arrival point. Instead, as we look over the story of scripture, we see various directions that followers of YHWH should be going.
At SNCC, we recognize the person of Jesus Christ as the center of our community. When God chose to reveal Himself to us, he chose to become vulnerable in the form of a child, who grew to be a man, and ultimately to die and to be risen from the dead. We recognize that Christ is still present and active in the Holy Spirit. As a community we affirm the moving of the Spirit all around us.We have borrowed language from the Breastplate of St. Patrick to describe this: Christ behind us… (Heb. 12:1)We believe that we are part of an ancient story. It is a story that is deep. At SNCC, we don’t think that the tradition of the church is passé; or that we, in our modern world have gotten it right. We recognize the tradition of painting on the canvas of faith and we participate in that tradition
Christ before us… (Acts 17)
We value our individual stories as well as our journey as a community in the midst of a changing culture. However, we do not think that these two things can truly be separated. At SNCC, we recognize life as journey. We understand that the journey is not always easy. We don’t seek the quick fix, but we seek God. In this we value process, one step at a time. We also recognize that we are at an interesting time in our life, our world is changing. The perception of truth in our world is undergoing a shift. In many ways this is a healthy shift, and we must continue to ask what God is doing in the world.
Christ in us, Christ when we lie down, Christ when we sit down, Christ when we arise… (Col. 1:15-23)
We are a community that seeks to be a whole people. We don’t recognize an artificial distinction between our “spiritual” life and our “physical” life. We seek to be whole in all that we do. We want to be a holy, set apart people, a holistic people. This means that basically, we want to see God heal our brokenness. This holiness is intricately tied up in wholeness. In this, we seek after what we often call “spiritual formation.” Our desire is to celebrate the disciplines of the faith, and to live those in our every day life.
Christ beneath us… (Matt. 19:13-15)
We value kids in our community. We desire to be an inter-generational church. We are not a church for one age group or life stage. If we were, we would not truly be the church of Jesus! We recognize that kids are just as much an important part of our community as anyone else. One of the ways that this is expressed in the life of our community is that when kids make kid-like noises in our worship gathering, we consider them as adding to our conversation. J
Christ above us… (John 1:14-18)
At SNCC, we value the role of celebration. We value the place of artistic expression in our community and have been blessed with many artists. There is something deeply authentic and deeply transcendent about art. We seek to create opportunities for dancers, singers, musicians, painters, card-makers, craftsmen, scrapbookers, preachers, teachers, poets, authors, journalists, graphic artists, etc. and affirm what the Holy Spirit is doing in the world. We are not interesting a secular/sacred division that often categorizes art, but we recognize the beauty of the physical world as affirmed in the Word being made flesh. We also recognize that art is not always neat, clean, and bright. We recognize a Savior who died on a cross and we call that beautiful. In the same way, we have no problem finding beauty in art that is dark, authentic, and true.
Christ with us, Christ on our right, Christ on our left… (Acts 2:42-47)
Maybe one of the most obvious values of SNCC is the value that we place on community. Life is not meant to be done alone. We truly seek to weave our lives together in community. Our church is not some how an auxiliary function of our life, neither do we desire the formal ministry of the church to be our whole lives. Instead, our church is something that weaves through the rest of our lives.
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of us,Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of us,Christ in every eye that sees us,Christ in every ear that hears us… (Luke 4:14-21)
We believe at SNCC in social justice, in putting the world back together again. We desire to be a people who look after the poor, the oppressed, and the marginalized. Our heart is that we could bring Christ to the broken places of the world. And, one of the things that we find is that He is already there. God is already working in the midst of the poor and oppressed. We are invited to participate.
Statement of Faith
The Apostles’ Creed (ca. ad 215)
We believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
We believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come again to judge the living and the dead.
We believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. AMEN.