“TO GLORIFY GOD”
Our purpose
God has orchestrated human history to display His glory. Therefore, the purpose of the Church of Jesus Christ has always been the same. The Church exists to glorify God. Though methods and strategies are always changing to adapt to the shifting culture, the ultimate purpose of the Church has never changed. Because of this truth, our purpose as a local church is first and foremost God-centered; we exist to glorify God. Everything we are and do as a church is designed with the ultimate goal of exalting and glorifying Him above all.
“THROUGH LIVES TRANSFORMED”
Our vision
We believe the Bible teaches us that God is most glorified by people who are finding their ultimate joy and satisfaction in Him. However, the default mode of the human heart is to glorify ourselves rather than to glorify God. When we close our eyes and imagine what glorifying God looks like, we believe the only way God will ultimately be glorified is if He is transforming our lives from that of finding our joy in our own selfishness, to that of finding our joy in Him. Another way of saying that we believe the life that is transformed for God’s glory has three essential pillars:
ENJOY God
We believe God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. As we are reoriented to the Gospel, our hearts genuinely begin to find their ultimate satisfaction and joy in God resulting in authentic worship of Him.
GROW within Community
We believe life transformation happens best in the context of small groups of people doing life together where we can use our gifts to constantly reorient one another back to the beauty and truth of the Gospel so that our joy is found in God alone.
LOVE others
We believe as the Gospel transforms our lives, it produces sacrificial people on mission who live to glorify God by joining Him in restoring all things and pushing back the darkness of people’s lives with the light and power of the Gospel in Bakersfield and the whole world.
“BY THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST”
Our power
We believe the only way for our lives to be transformed is by the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel isn’t a program, but rather it’s the good news about a person, Jesus – that through His death and resurrection, we can be reconciled to God. In other words, we are not accepted by God based on what we do, but instead we’re accepted by God based on what Jesus did for us. Only the truth of this message has the power to radically transform our lives. As the Gospel is understood more deeply, we see the beauty of God more clearly, and our heart’s affections are then drawn to Him more completely. So as a church, Disciples Church is “Gospel centered” in that everything we do as a church is driven by the Gospel and is designed to help us deepen in our understanding and faith in the Gospel.