Know God † Make God Known

Knowing God is at the foundation of everything and everyone in Gateway. We exist to glorify God and fulfill God’s purposes for our world. If you are looking for encouragement, applicable teachings, fellowship, healing, or transformation, we believe that Gateway has something to offer you in your walk of faith, whether you haven’t started walking yet or have been walking with Christ for many years. When we say we are dedicated to knowing God, we mean that we are a community of faith that spends significant amounts of time in worship, home devotionals (we call Life Groups), and privately trying to develop a deep, personal relationship with God. We strive to conform ourselves to God’s purposes and plans for the world by reading and listening to scripture, praying, worshipping, and spending time with God as well as cultivating community with other believers. We strive to know God deeply, thoroughly, and intimately like we would a close friend or family member. Knowing God is a way of life dedicated to changing our lives to look like the life of Jesus. Bottom line: we desire to love God with all of our heart, soul, strength, and mind

(Deut 6:4; Matt 22:37).

We are not only committed to developing a close relationship with God, but are also so impressed by the love God has for us that we want everyone else to know the love of God too. As we ask God to lead us, we find that God gives us all kinds of creative ways to live out God’s loving purpose for the world. We believe the love of God should be made known to others not only through our words, but more importantly through our actions: how we live our lives, love and serve others, and by imitating the life of Jesus. This means that while we do spend a lot of time in church worshipping and fellowshipping with one another, we also spend a lot of time out of the church (building) serving our community, bringing good news to the poor, meeting physical needs of hurting people, giving hope to the hopeless, and helping people to encounter the love of God through our actions (Matt 25:31-40). We invite you to ask God to show you how you can play a part in making God known.

If you feel led to worship with us here’s what you will find:

· Comfortable. Its okay to dress up but we encourage you to come casual. You won’t be asked to do anything embarrassing or pointed out in any way.

· Relevant. The sermons will explore the deeper truths of God’s Word but also show how these truths can make a difference and bless our lives.

· Participatory. We love singing so much we want everybody to join in praise and worship. All of us share in the communion every week. Anyone who wants to can take part in our discussions.

· For kids too. We have “Children’s Bible Hour” for our smaller children, led by dedicated teachers and helpers. (We need additional help in this ministry, so if you have talent or expertise with reaching children and or teaching children, we need your help. If you are a good planner, organizer, or recruiter of people, we need your talent at Gateway.) At various times we have had VBS (Vacation Bible School) events in the summer at Gateway.

If you have a church home already, then we ask that you pray for us. If you don’t have a church family, come to Gateway to know God more deeply and to make God known to others!

Getting Involved

When you experience a Sunday morning at Gateway it is easy to think, “How would I ever get involved here?” And the question is a fair one. You were designed for more than just sitting in rows and taking in all that a Sunday at Gateway has to offer. You were made to fully invest in a group of people, to have a home where you belong. You want to meet people! We’ve designed the Gateway experience in such a way that guests like you can come and be anonymous on a Sunday morning, sit in our services for a while and check everything out, but when you’re ready to take the next step, we want to help you do that. And it is not a complicated process.

We say if you really want to plug in, there are really only 4 things a fully invested individual at Gateway does: connect in a small group, serve on a volunteer team, give to the work and mission, and invite others to know God. The benefits are overwhelming for the individual, but, collectively, when the church is filled with families joyfully living out these four principles, nothing can stop our influence in our cities. These are four simple principles that not only give the church momentum, but catapult your faith too.

Commitments

At Gateway, we value the following commitments as we pursue our vision and mission:

Biblical Authority – God has spoken to us through the Bible and we recognize it as the final authority for our lives
Intimacy with God – God desires an intimate relationship with each one of us
Relevant Environments – each environment should be designed to effectively connect with its target audience
Relational Evangelism – God’s message of forgiveness through Christ is most effectively conveyed within the context of personal relationships
Authentic Community – accountability, belonging, care, and spiritual growth happens best with relationally connected believers
Strategic Service – our spiritual gifts have maximum impact when exercised in support of our strategy
Intentional Apprenticing – we are responsible to pass along to others the knowledge skills and opportunities that have been entrusted to us