Values & Rhythms
Our Mission is to multiply disciples and churches of all nations.
RHYTHMS
GATHER
We gather on Sundays to worship together, delight in the Word, practice the sacraments, petition the Father, and celebrate stories. These Sunday gatherings serve to launch us into the broader mission of multiplying disciples of Jesus and churches by equipping one another to proclaim and glorify Him in our neighborhoods and the nations.
SCATTER
In order to live out the fullness of Jesus’ command to make disciples, we scatter throughout the week. They are not an optional program or a seasonal Bible study, but a family to belong to. A City Group is a mid-sized community of people who are growing in the Gospel, studying and obeying the Scriptures, connecting as a family, and striving to advance the Gospel in our city and around the globe. Our scattered rhythm helps us live out the gospel in our day-to-day lives.
CORE VALUES
The values that drive Citylight Church are a commitment to reveling in God’s act of reaching down to us in the Gospel and responding by reaching up, in, and out.
Down | The Gospel
The Gospel is the “good news” that God has reached down to us in His Son, Jesus, to defeat sin and death and their effects in our world. Through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, He has initiated and accomplished what we never could—restoring humanity and our world back into right relationship with God and therefore one another, making us who were dead, alive in Him purely through His great grace and mercy! This gospel is the “power of God” (Rom. 1:16) to overcome the penalty of sin and the power it holds over us and our world. The gospel holds the power for personal salvation, transformation, and renewal of neighborhoods, cities, and nations. We never move past Jesus and the Gospel.
Up | Formation
God’s work gives us a new identity which we will spend our whole life learning to live out of. In Christ, we are holy and blameless (Ephesians 1), given a new heart and a new spirit (Ezekiel 36), righteous (2 Corinthians 5), and citizens of heaven (Philippians 3:20). God’s own Spirit is given to us which has the power to transform how we live, think, and act. This means that goal of the Gospel is not just to save us from hell, but to renew our character and lives “until Christ is formed in us” (Gal. 4:19). With our relationship with God restored, we are now able to sit in His presence! As we experience the presence of God through the indwelling of His Spirit, through reading His Word, and through praying to Him, we become more like Him.
In | FAMILY
Because of Christ’s work on the cross, we are adopted into God’s family. Not only does Jesus’ Gospel break down the barriers built up by our sin, but it breaks down the walls between us and the rest of humanity. God is calling a diverse people to Himself and with our variety of gifts, talents, wisdoms, and experiences we get to bless one another. When Jesus called us to Himself, He also called us into His family—the church, and we, therefore, believe that the church is not a place but a people. It’s not just a weekly assembly of individuals, but a family committed to loving each other and doing life. We scatter into City Groups to be deeply known, experience discipleship, encouragement, accountability, and live on mission.
Out | Mission
Jesus’ work on the Cross gives us the power and responsibility to continue His work of seeing people restored to relationship with God through the Gospel. When Jesus returned to His disciples after resurrecting, He commissioned them to be His messengers of the Gospel throughout the world. That commission has been passed down to us! Our whole Bible is the story of God bringing in those who were once far off for the sake of His glory, including us. Just as Jesus left the comforts of Heaven and sacrificed Himself for our salvation, we get to the leave behind comfort and enter into a life lived sacrificially for the sake of others hearing the lifesaving truth of the Gospel. “Missions” is not one sub-ministry, but the very core of the church.
Down | The Gospel
The Gospel is the “good news” that God has reached down to us in His Son, Jesus, to defeat sin and death and their effects in our world. Through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, He has initiated and accomplished what we never could—restoring humanity and our world back into right relationship with God and therefore one another, making us who were dead, alive in Him purely through His great grace and mercy! This gospel is the “power of God” (Rom. 1:16) to overcome the penalty of sin and the power it holds over us and our world. The gospel holds the power for personal salvation, transformation, and renewal of neighborhoods, cities, and nations. We never move past Jesus and the Gospel.
Up | Formation
God’s work gives us a new identity which we will spend our whole life learning to live out of. In Christ, we are holy and blameless (Ephesians 1), given a new heart and a new spirit (Ezekiel 36), righteous (2 Corinthians 5), and citizens of heaven (Philippians 3:20). God’s own Spirit is given to us which has the power to transform how we live, think, and act. This means that goal of the Gospel is not just to save us from hell, but to renew our character and lives “until Christ is formed in us” (Gal. 4:19). With our relationship with God restored, we are now able to sit in His presence! As we experience the presence of God through the indwelling of His Spirit, through reading His Word, and through praying to Him, we become more like Him.
In | FAMILY
Because of Christ’s work on the cross, we are adopted into God’s family. Not only does Jesus’ Gospel break down the barriers built up by our sin, but it breaks down the walls between us and the rest of humanity. God is calling a diverse people to Himself and with our variety of gifts, talents, wisdoms, and experiences we get to bless one another. When Jesus called us to Himself, He also called us into His family—the church, and we, therefore, believe that the church is not a place but a people. It’s not just a weekly assembly of individuals, but a family committed to loving each other and doing life. We scatter into City Groups to be deeply known, experience discipleship, encouragement, accountability, and live on mission.
Out | Mission
Jesus’ work on the Cross gives us the power and responsibility to continue His work of seeing people restored to relationship with God through the Gospel. When Jesus returned to His disciples after resurrecting, He commissioned them to be His messengers of the Gospel throughout the world. That commission has been passed down to us! Our whole Bible is the story of God bringing in those who were once far off for the sake of His glory, including us. Just as Jesus left the comforts of Heaven and sacrificed Himself for our salvation, we get to the leave behind comfort and enter into a life lived sacrificially for the sake of others hearing the lifesaving truth of the Gospel. “Missions” is not one sub-ministry, but the very core of the church.
BELIEFS
THE BIBLE
The Holy scriptures, the Bible, is God’s revelation to man. It was authored and inspired by the Holy Spirit through men. It is complete, true, trustworthy, and inerrant in the original manuscript.
God
There is only one living and true God. He is all powerful, infinite, and eternal. God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.
man
Mankind carries special value as being created in the image of God. Man chose to rebel and sin against God, causing all mankind to be under the curse of sin and death.
DEITY OF JESUS
Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He is both fully God and fully man.
HOLY SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He calls men to the Savior, and effects regeneration and understanding of truth.
DEATH AND RESURRECTION
Jesus Christ, living a sinless life, fulfilled the law. His death and blood shed through crucifixion provided the only provision for redemption of sinful man. He raised from the dead in flesh and bone, appeared to His disciples, and ascended into Heaven.
CITYLIGHT FAMILY OF CHURCHES
Citylight North Lincoln is part of The Citylight Family of Churches, a network of autonomous churches that share the same DNA and values. The Family consists of other Citylight church plants. Each church is governed independently, but shares a vision to multiply disciples and churches.
Denomination
Citylight North is a church within the Christian and Missionary Alliance denomination. The C&MA is a missionary and church-planting movement that has a rich history of planting churches in the United States and all over the world. Citylight North is accountable to the leadership and doctrinal statements of the C&MA. You can view our doctrinal statement and learn more about the C&MA at www.cmalliance.org.
“The Alliance is a unique missionary denomination—a maverick movement into whose soul the Head of the Church breathed “Go!” from the very start.”
— L.L. King, C&MA President (1978-1987)
In addition, maintaining a commitment to gospel-centered ministry, we also gladly affirm the Gospel Coalition’s foundation documents which can be read at thegospelcoalition.org.