Gateway Community Church
On a Mission
Growing at Gateway
Stage 1
Joining the Church
Contents
Our Story
Core Beliefs
Mission, Vision, Values
Growing at Gateway
The Importance of Small Groups
Expectations of Members
Newfrontiers
What’s Next
Our Story
Jesus’ Mission Is Our Mission
I. Jesus’ Mission is to seek and save the lost in the power of the Holy Spirit.
A. Jesus inaugurated his ministry by declaring both his purpose and his power. Luke 4:14-19
B. By bringing salvation to the home of a despised tax collector, Jesus demonstrated his desire to “seek and save the lost.” Luke 19:1-10
C. By healing a demonized man, Jesus demonstrated his compassion and purpose for those he changes. Luke 8:22-39
D. Jesus calls Matthew, another tax collector, to be one of his intimates, and immediately invites him into his mission to seek and save the lost. Mark 2:13-17
II. Our mission is the same as Jesus’ mission: Jesus expects his followers to “seek and save the lost” with the power of the Holy Spirit, just like he did.
A. Though the needs are many, and the workers are few, Jesus calls his followers into mission. Matthew 9:35-10:2
1. Gateway seeks to train and release workers to meet the needs of many people.
2. Jesus’ time in Samaria points to a magnificent harvest, needing workers. John 4:34-38
B. Jesus empowers his followers with Holy Spirit, and sends them to the farthest corners of the earth to bear witness that Jesus rose from the dead. Acts 1:1-8
C. Just like Jesus, we pursue our mission in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Our Message is Jesus, and We Call People to Respond to Him
I. We Preach Jesus, his birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension.
A. Through his birth God became man in order to bring salvation to those who could not save themselves.
B. Through his life, Jesus demonstrated his authority over sickness, sin, demons, nature, life and death; as well as his vulnerability to hunger, fatigue, misunderstanding, rejection and betrayal. See gospel of Mark.
C. Through his death, Jesus received the punishment sinners deserved, and satisfied God’s wrath against sin.
Isaiah 53
2 Corinthians. 5:21
For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God
D. Through his resurrection, Jesus’ perfect life was vindicated, and so he appears in heaven justifying those who place their trust in him, giving them new life.
E. Through his ascension, Jesus returned to his Father where he continues to serve his followers by baptizing them in the Holy Spirit, giving gifts for serving others, preparing an eternal home and waiting for his return to the earth. Scriptures reviewed during Stage 3: Our Statement of Faith.
III. Gospel Preaching Calls for a Radical Response Acts 2:22-47
A. Repent
B. Be baptized
C. Receive the Holy Spirit
D. Be joined to the community
Gateway Mission, Vision and Values
Our mission is to preach and demonstrate the gospel of Jesus Christ, make disciples and plant churches throughout greater Boston, New England and the world.
Vision
Knowing God, Enjoying God
The great purpose of our life is to know God, to understand His character, to learn His ways. Since we are made in God’s image, we can’t ever truly understand ourselves without knowing God. Beyond comprehending the truth about God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the loving Sovereign Lord of all creation, lies a knowing that means trusting Him and obeying Him. This faith relationship brings true happiness. Knowing God in this way enables us to say with the biblical psalmist that, “In His presence is fullness of joy; at His right hand are pleasures for evermore.” Psalm 16:11
Making Disciples, Teaching Disciples
In his final words to his disciples, Jesus commanded, “Go and make disciples of all the nations.” (Matthew 28:19) Our great purpose as the people of God is to seek those who do not know Jesus and invite them to follow him, to become his disciples too. Proclaiming the reality of a new life in Jesus, we baptize these disciples in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Since following Jesus means becoming like him, we teach new disciples to observe everything that Jesus commanded and invite them to join with us on our mission to demonstrate the good news about Jesus to our dark world.
Building Community, Changing Communities
Scripture tells us that, “once we were not a people but now we are the people of God.” (1 Peter 2:10) This is the church, the community of faith, built on the faithful following of the Lord Jesus Christ together. Since our community comes from the common experience of God’s loving presence with us through the Holy Spirit, we can love each other in real ways. We forgive, pray and encourage. We cook, paint and baby-sit. We laugh and cry together. We want this infectious love to overflow into our workplaces, neighborhoods and cities, changing them in the same way that God has changed us, so that they can also hear God say, “I will be your God and you shall be My people.” (2 Corinthians 6:16)
All Committed, All Trained
As followers of Jesus, we are joined together as a church. This is vastly different from simply attending services. The Bible calls the church Christ’s body, and so the church cannot effectively do Christ’s work without the participation of all. What use is an arm or a leg all alone? Commitment to each other and to the Holy Spirit inspired mission of the church is vital in order to fulfill that mission. Scripture exhorts, “As each one has received a gift, we must use it to serve one another.” (1 Peter 5:7) So we are not ashamed to ask our members for time, energy, talents and money. On our part, we commit ourselves to faithfully train every member who desires to grow as Christ’s disciple and wants to be better equipped to serve others more effectively.
Small Groups, Large Gatherings
From the very beginning, the early church gathered daily in the Temple for worship and teaching from the Scriptures. They also broke bread in homes, “with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God.” (Acts 2:46-47) As we model our church gatherings on their example, we benefit in many ways. Our large gatherings emphasize celebratory worship, God’s direction for our church, and Bible teaching. When we meet in homes as small groups, we enjoy friendship, mentoring, Bible discussion and prayer. Small groups are also a perfect time to imitate the early church and break bread together. Joyfully, we know that as we worship in large or small gatherings, Jesus is there in the midst of us. In both settings, we welcome visitors, hoping that they too will experience the wonderful presence of the Lord.
From the Nations, To the Nations
We desire a church that reflects the culture of heaven where God is present and has gathered His people from “every tribe, tongue, people and nation.” (Revelation 5:9) Therefore, our church will make intentional efforts to welcome people from all nations. By training multinational leadership, indiscriminately sharing the good news of Jesus, and stressing our unity in the Holy Spirit while enjoying cultural differences, we hope to demonstrate the oneness Jesus procured for us through his death on the cross. (Ephesians 2:14) Joyful because Jesus promised that his good news would be preached to the whole world, we will participate in this mission with our prayers and resources. Working together with Newfrontiers we will send our members to serve the nations as we look forward to the day when Jesus “will draw all peoples to himself.” (John 12:32)
One People, Many Churches
As naturally as acorns fall from an oak tree, sprout and grow, we want many churches to grow from our one church. If one tree can provide shelter for many birds, how much more shelter can a forest provide? Of course many churches working together are more effective than only one. Since our mission is to make, baptize and teach as many disciples as we can, starting new churches is an excellent way to see God’s kingdom come. God loves cheerful giving. We can give away our equipped members and trained leaders by planting new churches and then train and equip more. This is an exciting way to experience Jesus’ teaching that the Kingdom of God begins like a tiny mustard seed but ends up as the largest tree. Matthew 13:31-32
Values
The Bible
The Bible tells us what to believe and how to live. To ignore the Bible is to ignore God; to obey the Bible is to obey God. Since God has disclosed Himself to us in the written words of the Bible, we study, teach and preach from its writings, while seeking relevant application to every area of life. We want to live out what it teaches.
Worship
God desires worshippers, men and women who love Him more than anything else. While worship means total living before God, we also talk about the worship meeting, when we gather together for special times of celebrating God’s goodness to us. For us, these times are vibrant, participatory, and filled with abundant display of spiritual gifts. When we worship we don’t watch a band perform. We enter into God’s real presence. Our worship leader is more of a lead worshipper.
Prayer
God invites us to ask Him for great things. Boldly, we pray big prayers as we pursue our dreams. Prayer also puts God in His rightful place as provider, and us, in our humble place as receiver. From this vantage we confess our need for God and ask Him to meet our needs. Moreover, we serve and support each other by praying for each other. Prayer is important in all of our meetings in addition to regularly scheduled prayer meetings. Prayer gets us involved in what God is doing on a local and global scaled. During prayer God shares His thoughts with us and we are conformed to His desires.
Leadership
God gives leaders to us so that our church can reach its full potential. We look for leaders to emerge in every area of church life. We seek to train and release leaders. Leaders have followers and they take responsibility for the well being of others. We also value informal leadership from all members as they take initiative, create opportunities and solve problems. For us to fulfill our bold vision, we will always need leaders.
Every Member Participation
God calls every member to fully participate in church life by giving them unique gifts and abilities. Good churches are made of contributors, not spectators. Our church is a community to join, not a product to be consumed. Our church gets better when every member does his or her part.
People
Because all people are created in the image of God, we treat all people with dignity and respect, regardless of race, creed, gender, age, culture or socio-economic status. While we desire all people to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, we sincerely want to do good to everyone, even to those who are rejecting Christ. Our business is people, and we want to do them good. However, we realize our ultimate good is introducing people to a saving knowledge of Jesus and his work. In this we possess a theology of lostness, knowing that only through Jesus can anyone be saved from eternal damnation.
Multiplication
We want to grow. We expect to grow. The gospel has power to change sinners from spiritual death to spiritual life. Our vision compels others to join us and make us a better church. We want to multiply leaders, small groups and churches. Because of this we anticipate that we will always be in transition. Moreover, we expect individual members to grow. In fact, the Bible assumes those who follow Jesus will grow in character, knowledge and responsibility.
Food
Really! You’ve got to be kidding me? No, we’re not kidding. We enjoy each other over meals, parties, picnics and other informal gatherings. We continually enrich our lives by making new friends, eating meals together and enjoying each other’s company. Maybe friendship is a better word, but we chose food because it vividly demonstrates our desire for authentic relationships.
Growing at Gateway
Stage 1: Joining the Church
Our Story
Our Mission is the same as Jesus’ mission
Gateway Mission, Vision and Values
The Importance of Small Groups
Expectations of Members
Newfrontiers
What’s next: Join the church
One-to-one mentoring going through Start
Go on to Stage 2
Stage 2: Tools for Growth
Spiritual disciplines: prayer, study, fasting and giving
What’s next: One-to-one mentoring
Go on to Stage 3
Stage 3: A Firm Foundation
Gateway Statement of Faith
What’s next: One to one mentoring
Go on to Stage 4
Stage 4: Trained to Serve
Church metaphors: body, building, family
Servant leadership
Spiritual Gifts
What’s next: Specific ministry training in leadership, small group leading, evangelism, worship leading, mentoring, study and preaching, marriage mentoring; regional and national training.
The Importance of Small Groups
“A small group is six to sixteen committed people who participate in Welcoming people into the group, Worshiping the Lord Jesus, teaching preaching and studying the Word, and Witnessing to others.”
These numbers are based on experience. Less than six creates a huge burden on those in the group. Six creates a good group dynamic where responsibility can be shared, and community can be established. A group can obviously multiply if you have two sets of six committed people in the same group (twelve people, so why sixteen.) It seems as though sixteen people are when things get a little too comfortable, and a little too stable. Growth is no longer necessary, and so these are good, but flexible values.
The four W’s are what a small group does together. They can be done in a meeting type setting, but they should be practiced throughout our lives, together.
Welcoming people into the group and into our community
Worshiping God in our speech, our acts and our attitudes. Especially through our interactions together.
Teaching, correcting, rebuking and Training one another through the Word of God.
Witnessing to those who don’t know God both in the group and outside of the group by treating one another in a loving way.
Are small groups the only way that we will grow this church? No.
Other ways include discipleship, corporate meetings, one time events, and outside help.
Could we build the church without small groups? Yes.
There is no place in the Bible that says small groups are required to build Gods church.
Why then, are we using small groups? Four reasons:
1. Small groups are one way to fulfill some practices we do see in the Bible
(Acts 2v46, Acts 20v20)
2. We have seen from experience that this is a good way to build community in a growing church.
(CCK, Bristol)
3. We do believe that God has told us that this is the way in which we should build the church here in Boston.
“Small Groups are important for strengthening the community inward to reach the community outward”
Simply, the purpose of a small group is to build up the members of the group who are following Christ, maturing, training and motivating them to the point where they can effectively reach and convert those both inside and outside the group who don’t know Christ, into people who do know Christ, who need to be built up.
We do this through the four W’s.
Small groups are important because they help us succeed in our mission.
To preach and demonstrate the gospel of Jesus Christ, make disciples, and plant churches throughout greater Boston, New England and the world.
Expectations of Members
To follow Jesus in every area of life
To pursue life, led and empowered by the Holy Spirit
To own our mission, vision and values
To participate regularly in our meetings and events
To invite new people to our meetings and events
To contribute financially
To work for our success
To leave well
Newfrontiers
Newfrontiers is a worldwide family of churches together on a mission to establish the kingdom of God by restoring the church, making disciples, training leaders, and planting churches.
For more information www.newfrontiers.xtn.org
Newfrontiers USA www.newfrontiers-usa.org
Newfrontiers Northeast Region
What’s Next
Verbally express desire to join Gateway Community Church
Voluntarily receive one to one, or small group mentoring working through Start
Participate in a small group
Attend Stage 2 seminar, Tools for Growth