Our Mission: Discovering and Rediscovering the good news of Jesus together.
What is the good news of Jesus? Glad you asked! We believe that God created the world and called it good (Genesis 1:31). This goodness is best expressed in the Hebrew word: shalom. Shalom describes a rich hierarchy of right relationships between God and people, between people and people, and between people and the rest of creation.
However, humans rebelled against this good state of shalom and the impact of that rebellion (what we call sin) is broken relationships in each direction.
But, God did not leave us there! He sent his son, Jesus, to be with us, to live with us, to teach us about his kingdom, and ultimately to overcome the effects of sin through his death and resurrection. As a result God is reconciling all things to himself (Colossians 1:15-20), making a way for us to be in right relationship with him, with each other, and with his good creation.
This is grace, a good gift, good news indeed!
It doesn't end there, though. We get to participate in this adventure of renewal, restoration, and reconciliation.
The good news of the kingdom is that the kingdom has arrived in the person of Jesus, and our mission is to invite everyone to continually discover (1 Corinthians 13:12) and participate (Ephesians 3:19) in this adventure.
Our Vision: A missional movement of fully human image-bearers following Jesus by the power of His cross to bring shalom and right relationships to Davis and beyond.
(Genesis 1:26-28, Matthew 6:10, Romans 8:18-29, Revelation 21:1-4)
Our Values:
At Discovery we have four core values that inform how we live out our mission and vision, and we represent them through four hashtags.
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#ChurchForTheRestOfUs
The kingdom of God is about sacrificial love and moving towards those who have been left out. This is more about a posture than about defining a particular group of people. Human bias looks out for the majority, the incumbent, and the in-group. But the biblical principle of justice and righteousness calls us to care for those on the fringes. #churchfortherestofus is a posture that's continually looking out for those on the outside. When we sacrifice our preferences to make room for others, we’re following Jesus’ lead in joyful, sacrificial mission. (Micah 6:8, Leviticus 25, Luke 19:10)
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#BetterTogether
We were made to live in community. People are messy, but it's in the messiness of community that God does His work and the transformative power of the gospel shines through. Community isn’t just important; it’s weaved into the fabric of the Trinity and the whole of creation. Community is the normative way through which God's people experience God's goodness. We're meant to be in community, we're better in community, and we walk with God in community. (1 John 4:7-12; Ephesians 4:11-13)
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#FunIsSpiritual
God wants to transform the whole of us: from the way we worship, to the way we work, to the way we play. We celebrate joy and freedom as part of healthy spirituality. Our conviction that God wants the whole of us and that His spirit is always with us shifts our focus from creating holy moments to leading holistic lives. (1 Corinthians 10:31, Revelation 21:24, Isaiah 60)
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#HeroMaker
Jesus is the hero of the story, but God has always been about inviting flawed people to participate in His creative, restorative, and redemptive work…which makes us heroes too. We were created and saved to be part of this epic adventure, and when we make disciples of Jesus, we are being hero-makers. Following Jesus isn’t just a passive acknowledgement of His grace, but an active response to and participation in His work to make all things new. As image-bearers of God, we are most fully who God created and redeemed us to be when we are actively engaged in Jesus' mission to restore all of creation. (Genesis 1:27-28, Genesis 2:15, Matthew 28:18-20, 2 Corinthians 5:18-21)