Our Principles

Jesus emphasized the importance of prayer on countless occasions. At Living Faith, corporate prayer is a chief priority because we depend on God’s guidance and provision for the mission He has given us! We believe that God loves and answers our unified prayers according to His will. To reflect this reality, we ensure that prayer is integral to our activities and strive to always maintain a posture of dependence on the Lord (Psalm 127:1).

Living Faith embraces the mission of making disciples as outlined in 2 Timothy 2:2. We do not believe that discipleship is a ministry of the Church, but the central ministry that God has called us to fulfill as stewards in this age. With this, we encourage members to align their ministry efforts with this mission, ensuring that how we spend our time contributes to making disciples rather than just being busy with “ministry activity.” In John 8:31, Jesus says to believers, “If ye continue in my word, [then] are ye my disciples indeed;”. Our chief objective as a church is to be and make disciples of Jesus Christ.

At Living Faith, the Lord Jesus Christ is our ultimate authority. He has given us his words to know how to navigate this life individually, and as a local church (1 Cor 2:16, 1 Thes 2:13). The Bible is the authority which guides our doctrine and practice. We trust the Holy Spirit to reveal truth as we study Scripture together. We study the word of God, seeking to rightly divide it in faith, not with a critical perspective that elevates man’s opinions and philosophies over God’s Word. While an individual certainly has liberty to use whichever biblical translation they desire, our teaching and discipleship at Living Faith is exclusively from the King James Version. This is done for many reasons, but primarily to maintain consistency and clarity in sound biblical doctrine.

Accountability is when we allow others to help us stay faithful in some area. The Bible tells us that every believer in Jesus Christ will give an account for how they live their lives at the Judgment Seat of Christ (2 Cor 5:10). The encouragement in scripture is to align ourselves with God’s will by submitting ourselves to His Spirit and obeying him at his word. When we consistently hold ourselves accountable to the Bible, and accountable to spending time with Christ through it, we not only live a life that glorifies God but we also walk in the Spirit and live fruitful lives! Regular Bible study with our brothers and sisters in Christ is a life-changing practice that we prioritize highly at Living Faith.

Living Faith rejects the model where church staff does all the work while others sit on the sidelines or critique. According to 1 Corinthians 12, every member of a local church has a role in the body and is gifted to serve. The word of God says these gifts exist, in part, to profit the body! We encourage active involvement in ministry, reflecting the biblical view of the church as a functioning body where all members contribute. A wonderful result of engaging in ministry is the reality that God uses ministry to build us, refine us, and equip us! Members are encouraged to identify their gifts and serve actively, ensuring that the church operates effectively and biblically.

Leadership is essential for the church’s edification (Eph 4:11-13). In our church, leaders serve rather than lording over God’s flock (Matt 20:26). Like Paul (Phil 2:17), Peter (1 Pet 5:3), and Jesus (Matt 20:28), we embrace selfless service to others as the highest priority. Jesus said in Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” The heartbeat of our church is to prefer one another before ourselves and to lay down our lives in service to one another, just as Christ modeled.

Living Faith is committed to training leaders. We do this through the structure of our ministry teams. In our teams, everyone should work to be a mentor, and everybody should have a mentor. This is modeled in the Bible by Paul and Timothy’s relationship. We say we should all have a “Paul” as well as a “Timothy”.

Training leaders is not just one more activity to add to a list of ministry activities, rather we train as the team serves. As the training takes place, the work of the ministry is getting done; As the work of the ministry is getting done, training is taking place.

One main motivation for training leaders is that we believe God has called us to plant churches and send out missionaries. Considering that some of us may one day be sent out, who will train them up to lead when they go? And who will take their place here when they leave? The answer is that we will train up “Timothys” and be trained by our “Pauls” so that whether we are sent, or take the place of one who goes, we are ready with sufficient leadership in place. We hope one of those leaders will be you!

Questions to ask yourself:

Who is your “Paul”?

Who is your “Timothy”?

God has unified his church. Now, our responsibility is to keep (or protect) that unity, because it is always under attack. The Bible tells us that God finds great pleasure when his children dwell together in unity (Psalm 133:1, John 17:21), and the enemy finds joy in sowing division and discord. This is why we actively safeguard unity by avoiding gossip, maintaining clear communication, and addressing issues biblically if/when they arise (Matthew 18:15-17). We also seek to prevent disunity by handling all conflicts with grace and humility toward one another (Prov 6:3).

We acknowledge that we do not simply live in a solely physical world (Matt 1:23, 1 Pet 5:8). We understand that challenges and suffering are part of the spiritual battle we all face (Rom 8:18, 2 Tim 3:12), some of the trials of life arise from physical origins, and others spiritua. By keeping these realities in mind, we stay encouraged and diligent in our mission, focusing on God’s power and not being disheartened by difficulties. This perspective helps us move forward in faith and ministry knowing that persecution is a promise for those that live godly in Christ Jesus.

Christians have been reconciled back to God through Jesus Christ, and God has given all believers the ministry of reconciliation. We are all to be ambassadors of God’s grace. The Bible says that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, and Jesus called his disciples to be fishers of men (Matt 4:19). This means evangelism must be a central part of our lives. We believe every Christian should actively share their faith, following Jesus’ command rather than relying solely on church programs. Because Christians make up a local church body, it is the responsibility of the church (each local church member) to share Christ. Knowing the gift we have received, we excitedly prioritize personal evangelism, avoiding the trap of passive church attendance.