MISSION: To equip people with the foundation of God's Word and to partner with the Holy Spirit to extend the Kingdom of God through love and service.
VISION: To have an expression of the life of Christ in every community supported by a network of house churches.
We try to be very intentional that we draw people to our gatherings with only Jesus. The main thing that we experience is the sense of belonging to a community of believers that He has formed. Our aim is to have everyone experience the manifest presence of God.
We commit ourselves to spending time in the Word throughout the week and together in our gathering. This is the primary place that we
are “fed”, through spending time with God in His Word and in prayer.
Then, as we are doing life together, we can easily discuss the
passages we are reading and what we sense He is speaking to us.
When we gather as a church we have a discussion led around what God is revealing through His Word in the life of each person. People have the
expectation that they should be bringing insight from their personal time
with the Lord throughout the week. This helps build a culture of people
taking time in the Word seriously and being devoted to the Scriptures.
We intentionally structure our gatherings to seek
God in prayer, pray for the needs of the body and allow the Holy Spirit
to move freely in our midst.
We want to be Spirit-Led in all that we do. The goal for our gatherings is to be directed by the wind (Holy Spirit) and water (Word of God). We aim to make room for the Spirit to move Prophetically during each gathering.
We picture people living like a true family inside and outside of the gathering. We commit to meeting in homes regularly and sharing the life of the Holy Spirit together. Everyone will have an opportunity to build relationships with each other and experience the reality of fellowship in the family of God.
Being a disciple means becoming a whole-hearted follower of Jesus. Discipleship is the process by which we grow in maturity and begin to look more like Jesus in thought, word, and action. We will intentionally give ourselves to becoming disciples, making disciples, and carrying out the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20).
Scripture says that “to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good” (1 Cor 12:7). It goes on to list many different
types of gifts that the Spirit gives to believers for the sake of the body.
Scripture then explains how every part of the body is necessary for the building up of itself in love.
We intentionally structure things to create space for everyone in
the body to contribute to the gathering and in everyday life. We
envision a place where everyone is free to discover and practice their
gifts for the building up of the body of Christ to full maturity.
The oversight of First Love Community Fellowship is accomplished through a plurality of Elders. It has always been God's desire to be the only head of His people. (1Sam 8:7) We are instructed in scripture not to use titles such as "Father" or "Teacher" for we have one Father and one Teacher, one Chief Shepherd, and one Head, the Lord Jesus Christ. God uses Elders to oversee and steward His work in a local community. In the New Testament, specifically 1 Peter 5:1-4 and Acts 20:17-32, “elders” is the term ascribed to appointed local leaders who carry out the tasks of oversight and shepherding/pastoring. In Titus 1:5-9 the elders are also referred to as overseers; and given the similarity between this passage and 1 Timothy 3:1-7
Some functions of the local Elders include:
We accept the Five-Fold ministries as equipping and training gifts to the Body of Christ. The Five-fold Ministry of Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers are purposed to build up the Body of Christ until the Body of Christ reaches unity of faith, knowledge, and is fully mature matching the fullness of Christ. As Ephesians 4:11-16 teaches, the Five-fold Ministry should produce the following outcomes:
