Worship is meeting with God in our daily lives and in the regular gathering of believers. Since God is the “audience” for our worship, our primary goal is bringing honor and pleasure to Him. That which honors and brings Him pleasure is directed by our knowledge of His attributes as communicated through His Word, Divine revelation, and His work among us. In worship we will meet with God. Fully aware of His presence, we will engage physically, emotionally, spiritually and intellectually by responding to His glory with reverence, joy and thanksgiving through prayer, music, celebration, the teaching of the Word, stewardship of our resources and lives of obedience.

Our worship is not limited by style; it has much more to do with people truly engaging their hearts and minds in exalting God. In spirit and in truth, our worship involves a variety of expressions honoring God, motivating us to spiritual change and maturity, evangelizing the lost and encouraging the believer. We strive to make our reflection of Christ creative, relevant, understandable, memorable and engaging. For the believer, we offer personal worship experiences, prayer and communion. For the seeker, we offer a welcoming place to come to know Christ.

The authority of leaders is derived from God’s calling, and is then fleshed out in the Christ-like, “above-reproach” character of the leaders as they seek to become servants of the flock. Leaders are not to use their authority in a way that “lords it over” others. Pastoral staff, in concert with elders and other lay leadership, initiate and set goals and define vision for ministry that reflect the leading of the Holy Spirit and God’s will as expressed through the Body. It is our responsibility to develop, recognize, support and respect leaders, in our church.

We also recognize our responsibility to act with vision, ever mindful of the effects of our actions today and in the future. We believe that the church should operate as a unified community of servants with men and women stewarding their spiritual gifts. New Hope Baptist Church is committed to a team ministry that seeks to equip lay leaders and members of the congregation to utilize their gifts in ministry.

While looking for leadership from the Pastors, we depend not only on the energy and gifts of a single individual—or even the entire pastoral staff and elders—but on a broad based commitment of all members, as well. This decentralized and enabling shared ministry reflects the acceptance of others’ ministry gifts and creatively motivates individuals within the fellowship.

The church is a relational community and disciple-making is a continual cycle of introducing Christ to others, growing and equipping them in the knowledge of Christ and sending them into the world to serve and minister to others. Evangelism becomes the natural outgrowth of effective discipleship. We accept the biblical teaching of spiritual gifts and believe that every believer should manifest authentic fruit of the Spirit and yearn for continuous growth.

Every believer, employing their spiritual gifts, should be involved in the discipleship process, as a disciple-r of others and/or as one being guided toward spiritual maturity. With this in mind, we are committed to providing the means (Sabbath School, Bible studies, small groups, etc.) through which believers are encouraged to grow in their understanding of the Christian faith and in their relationship with each other and with God. This will be accomplished through study, teaching, training opportunities and through practices that encourage lay initiative, leadership responsibility and authority in various ministries in the church. The ministries of this church, carried out by lay and ordained servants, will employ all of its God-given resources for this great commission.

Paul clearly implies that the temptations and opportunities faced by one age group are somewhat different from those faced by a different age group (Titus 2:2-8). For this reason, there is biblical merit for recognizing, within the unity of the body, the unique ministry needs and opportunities of specific age groups. It is within this general framework that our church body seeks to nurture children and youth toward maturity in Christ, with recognition of their specific age-related needs and abilities. The Scriptures provide clear teaching that primary responsibility and accountability in the training and nurture of children belongs to their parents, and parents may not abdicate this responsibility to others.

Our youth-focused ministries, programs and activities will support parents by ministering to their children and youth in appropriate ways, exercising our gifts so as to build them up, and modeling and encouraging godly character–all aimed at their spiritual growth and maturity. No ministry, program or activity of the church will usurp the parents’ place in the life of their child, or encourage the parents to abdicate their parental responsibilities, as this is contrary to the express will of God.

While most aspects of spiritual nurture are best accomplished by the parents within the home, we recognize that the larger body of Christ may also provide some valuable contexts for spiritual nurture that the home cannot easily provide. The church provides a safe and supervised environment in which a young person can develop both spiritually and relationally with God, themselves and others. While the church gives broader access to the diverse gifts that God has given for the common good of our younger members, the church is also the proper context in which our children and youth may exercise and develop their spiritual gifts. Within this context, we will also seek to develop and nurture youth who demonstrate an ability to provide leadership among their peers.

We regard ourselves not as the only Christians, but as Christians only. It is the responsibility of each of us to reach out personally and congregationally with a credible witness of the good news of Jesus Christ. We clearly communicate Christ’s call to repentance, faith and obedience. Empowered by the Holy Spirit, we invite people into this community of faith to worship and to serve God. Our aim is to be more intentional and strategic in opening wide the welcoming doors of New Hope Baptist Church to the city we serve. We seek to break down barriers across race, culture, socio-economic status, denominations and beliefs, working vigorously both locally and abroad, to make a difference in the world God has called us to reach. We recognize that the church must stay doctrinally pure first and then, at the same time, carry out the ministries in creative and culturally relevant ways, adapting the methods and means we use to minister to the needs of people.

We honor God by faithfully, joyfully, and sacrificially stepping up to His call of workmanship in giving our time, opportunities, spiritual gifts, talents and abilities, blessings of the earth, financial resources, tithes, and possessions—for these are given and made available to us for the purpose of fruitful service to God and man. We also honor God by following biblical principles for good health in our spiritual, mental, physical and social responsibilities. We are committed to God-centered planning and the effective use of our resources. It is our responsibility to recognize, develop, support and employ the giftedness of every individual by supplying what is necessary for the deployment of his servants. All ministries and activities must be central to the purposes for which God has directed us. Activities that don’t meet this standard will be eliminated regardless of the perceived results. We demand ourselves to be accountable and dependable and strive to be people who exude excellence in everything we do in order to bring glory to God. We will align our personal, physical and financial resources with that direction.

It was written by human authors, under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit. Every Christian has a responsibility before God to take ownership for their spiritual life. So we seek to practice a daily dependence on Him, and this dependence is developed when we spend time with God in His Word, in prayer and in study. This is the catalyst for transformation in our lives. The church has a responsibility to equip its people by providing teaching, inspiration and resources necessary for life change to reach our highest God-given potential. For our students, this is further supported through our biblically-based, local and worldwide education system. We direct our resources so that Christian education, whether relational or academic, is accessible for everyone.