Stockton Covenant Core Values
IMAGO DEI: We believe all people are made in the image of God in body, mind, and soul. Each person is of infinite worth. That worth comes from God and is proven when Jesus Christ died on the cross for us.
SCRIPTURE: We believe the Bible is God’s love letter to us. It is our foundation for knowing God and how to live the life He intends for us.
SPIRIT LED: We consciously depend on the Holy Spirit’s direction, acknowledging prayer and worship as essential elements of our connection with God.
SPIRITUAL FORMATION: We are a community that values the ongoing journey towards maturity in Christ for all ages.
BIBLICAL JUSTICE: We stand alongside “the least of these” as commanded by God. We believe that God’s heart is for justice—from the Old Testament all the way through the teachings of Jesus Christ and the early Church.
SHARING JESUS: We want to equip all ages to participate in God’s mission, locally and globally—loving others well and experiencing the joy of seeing them meet Jesus.
DEEP HOSPITALITY: We are a community that feels like family. We value receiving and treating guests and strangers with warmth, friendship, and generosity.
SERVANTHOOD: We are compelled to sacrificially love and serve each other, our neighbors, and our city because of the love that God has demonstrated to us.
FOLLOWERS OF JESUS: We look to Jesus as our model for living, for loving God, and for loving our neighbors.
Covenant Affirmations
THE CENTRALITY OF THE SCRIPTURES, the Old & New Testament, as the authoritative Word of God and the only perfect rule for faith, doctrine, and conduct.
THE NECESSITY OF THE NEW BIRTH for entrance into God’s kingdom, and the importance of continuing growth in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ for sound spiritual health.
THE COMMITMENT TO THE WHOLE MISSION OF THE CHURCH including evangelism (telling of the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ) and compassion, justice, and mercy (living the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ). The Gospel is not just a message for the afterlife, it is a message of hope and joy today.
THE CHURCH AS A FELLOWSHIP OF BELIEVERS, characterized by mutual participation in and sharing of the new life in Christ.
THE MINISTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, who with the Father and the Son calls the Church into being, empowers its witness, guides its mission, and supplies the gifts needed by the Church and its members to exalt Christ.
THE REALITY OF FREEDOM IN CHRIST, who delivers us from the power of sin and moves us by his grace into a whole new experience of obedience and life.