03 Renewed Lives

 We believe the gospel is the only true hope for a transformed heart, both for the Christian and non-Christian alike. We are committed to seeing the gospel holistically integrated within our personal and shared lives together.

What is gospel renewal?

Christianity isn’t simply about empty traditionalism, impersonal spirituality, or guilt-driven obligation. We believe that at the center of the Christian faith is a person and not a principle and that in following Jesus we’re changed as individuals and communities - a change that in turn can renew your life, our neighborhoods, and our city for the good.

Gospel renewal is based upon the belief that genuine spiritual change always takes place below the surface, in the heart. Tim Keller comments, “Our heart is the center of our personality, the seat of our fundamental commitments, the control center of the whole person. What is in the heart determines what we think, do, and feel – since mind, will, and emotions are all rooted there.”

While religion and moralism may play upon your will and change your behavior, the gospel is intended to speak to your heart and transform your whole life. When the knowledge of what Christ has done to rescue you through his life, death, and resurrection moves beyond information (the mind) and into deep and real experience (the heart); when you transfer your trust from what you’ve accomplished to what Christ has accomplished; when you reject self-justification and rest in Christ’s justifying work on your behalf, only then will the true power of the gospel “come home” in your life. Performance anxiety is replaced with the joyful recognition that our identities are no longer tied to what we do but to what Christ has done. This, in turn, sets us free to admit our weaknesses, to expose our faults, and to end the patterns of hiding our sin and shame.