Mission and values
Mission Statement
With Jesus as the cornerstone… Cornerstone Church exists to worship and follow Jesus. Just as a cornerstone provides stability and integrity for a building, Jesus serves as the Cornerstone of our faith (1 Peter 2:6). Everything we do as a church is grounded in him. Our hope is built on his life, death, and resurrection. Our lives are patterned according to his teachings. Our ministries exist to point people to him. The Apostle Paul says “we proclaim Him” (Colossians 1:28), and Cornerstone Church will have fulfilled its mission if everything we do as a church comes back to proclaiming Jesus, the Cornerstone.
We want to know Christ
“Come to him, the living Stone…” (1 Peter 2:4)
Our #1 goal at Cornerstone Church is to point people to Jesus. He is light for those who are in darkness, bread for those who are hungry, a good shepherd for those who feel lost. One theologian said that our hearts are restless until they are found in him. We want everything we do as a church to offer Christ to the weary soul – whether we’re preaching or singing or serving in mission and everything in between. We want our neighbors, our community, our world to “come to him,” to know him, and to find abundant and eternal life in him.
Grow in Christ…
“You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood…” (1 Peter 2:5)
At Cornerstone Church, we come with expectancy to see the Spirit of Jesus make us more like Jesus. As we pray, search the Scriptures, worship together, and share in community with one another, Jesus makes his home in our hearts. As we make room for him there, as we grow to trust him more, he begins to live his life in us and through us.
And show Christ to others.
“…that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9)
As we come to know Jesus, as we grow up to be more like him, we will naturally go out into the world to show him to others. Our hope is that the 10,000 people in Clay County who either don’t know Jesus or aren’t connected to a church will come to name him as their Cornerstone and begin to live their lives for him. We answer his call to be about his mission wherever we go.
CORE VALUES
1) We are rooted in the Lordship of Jesus and the authority of Scripture.
The Bible is God’s true word to humanity, and it tells the story of God’s great rescue plan to save the world through his Son, our savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Everything we do as a church is built on this foundation – Christ our Savior and his Holy Word.
2) We are a church for everyone.
No one belongs here more than you. We are committed to being a welcoming community where everyone can experience Jesus’ embrace. Jesus shows radical grace to everyone, regardless of their history or their background, and we seek to imitate him by extending that same grace to others.
3) We seek to reach the lost, the unchurched, and the dechurched in our community.
Jesus said he came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10). Many in our community have never heard the gospel, while others may have drifted away from faith. We strive to be on mission to our community and to share the hope and healing we have found in Christ with others. We are dedicated to being a place of refuge, restoration, and renewal, where everyone can find their place in God’s family and grow in their knowledge and love of Jesus.
4) We are a hospitable, joyful, and caring congregation.
Whether you’re brand new to our community or you’ve been with us from the beginning, we want you to feel welcomed and loved from the moment you walk in. Our commitment is to love you from the parking lot to the pew. The church is not a building – it’s a family. Every time we gather, we want everyone to experience the love and joy of God the Father for his children.
5) We follow the Spirit’s lead in faith.
From the very beginning, the story of Cornerstone Church has been written by the Lord. He has consistently provided everything we’ve needed at every turn. We are so inspired by the story God is writing here, and we want to continue to follow the Spirit’s leading wherever he takes us. He has given us a new testimony, and we are learning to trust him more and more. We pray that our church will continue to trust God and follow the Spirit’s leading throughout all its days.
6) We desire to equip the next generation to follow Christ.
We who follow Jesus as his disciple today do so because of the prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness of the generations before us. We believe that our whole church is called to pour ourselves into the next generation. Our children and youth are not just the church of the future - they are the church of today. With the Lord’s help we want to do everything we can to equip them to live for Christ all their days.
7) We witness boldly to the community around us.
Jesus commissioned his first disciples to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). We, too, sense his call to be witnesses for Christ in our immediate surroundings where we live, work, and play; in our region and state; and as we go into the whole world. Mission is not just one thing we do as a church alongside other ministries; everything we do as a church revolves around this mission.