Who are we?  It's a good question; one we've been trying to figure out for a while now.  Our church was planted nearly 30 years ago on the outskirts of Columbus—and some things have changed since then.

Today, a significant portion of our church speaks Spanish as their first language, whole neighborhoods have sprung up around the building we use to host programs, and it's getting harder and harder to find acid wash jeans and good Trapper Keepers. (big sigh...though we're not unhappy that basketball shorts have gotten longer...)

So we've been on a journey, trying to seek God and discover what's most true about “who we are.” The fruit of this has been what we call our Philosophy of Ministry—a document that sort of sums up everything we feel we're about as a community of Christians.  It's made up of a couple things—a Purpose Statement that really sums up who we think God has made us to be, and a list of some core values that we hold as non-negotiable in our attempt to live out our Purpose Statement. (We've also tossed a really brief motto in there to help us quickly summarize for ourselves and others who we are.)

Have a look:

Our Purpose Statement:
“We join together to pursue God's love, become more like Jesus, and expand God's Kingdom through word & deed.”

Our Core Values:
Contextual Brethrenism
Prophetic Multiculturalism
Intentional Christian Hospitality
Dynamic Corporate Worship
Biblical Spiritual Formation
Empowering Servant Leadership
Needs-oriented Outreach
Kingdom-building Stewardship

So that's us; we'd love to chat about what it means for us to own these things and live them out.  Our core values make a little more sense when we can talk about them, of course; but we do like to talk about them, and figure out ways to change the world in the process.  

That's what we've been up to recently; right now, we're discussing ways to restructure our leadership, so that everyone who makes up SRBC can use their graciously given gifts and passions.  We're daydreaming ways we can bless & build our neighborhood.  It's a great time...and if there's a place for us in it, there's a place for you here too.  We hope that as we become more like Jesus all the time, anyone who joins with us will too.  It's a prayer we think God wants to answer.