In Columbus
As It Is In Heaven
Our Vision
We are a community of people following after jesus together and contending for AWAKENING in our city.Our Values
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The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah… (Mark 1:1 NIV)
The Gospel is the good news of Jesus about the Kingdom of God.
N.T. Wright said it this way,
“God’s “kingdom” in the preaching of Jesus refers not to postmortem destiny, not to our escape from this world into another one, but to God’s sovereign rule coming “on earth as it is in heaven.” (Surprised by Hope)
For our church, this good news is not one priority among many. It is the center that holds everything together. It shapes how we worship, how we preach, how we serve our neighbors, how we raise our kids, how we spend our money, and how we love one another. Every ministry we launch, every sermon we preach, every meal we share. it all flows from and points back to this: Jesus Christ is Lord, and that changes everything. -
… I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. (John 14:16-17 NIV)
The Holy Spirit is the very presence of the living God dwelling within us. He awakens dead hearts, draws us to the Father, convicts, comforts, counsels, and transforms. He is the down payment of everything God has promised.To be filled with the Spirit, simply means to be yielded to His presence and empowered by His strength every day. The same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead lives in us.
In our church, we expect Him to show up:
In our worship
In our weakness
In our witness
And in the ordinary moments of everyday life.We don't just believe in the Spirit, we want to be people who are filled, led, and transformed by Him.
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“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” (John 15:12 NIV)
This command of Jesus is not to relationships of convenience or common interest, but to committed, covenantal relationships.
We have a commitment to love each other beyond convenience. This love has a promise attached and is a reflection of God’s covenant love for his people: “When you can depend on little else in life and troubles are crushing in on you, you can depend on me.”
When you make a promise, you tie yourself to other persons by unseen fibers of loyalty. You agree to stick with people you are stuck with. When everything else tells them they can count on nothing, they can count on you. When they do not have the faintest notion of what in the world is going on around them, they will know that you are going to be there with them. You have created a small sanctuary of trust within the jungle of unpredictability: you have made a promise that you intend to keep. (Lewis Smedes, The Power of Promising) -
…everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher.” (Luke 6:40 NIV)
We practice a “rule of life” in our community with the aim of becoming like Jesus. These are 8 pillar counter-formational spiritual practices to help us meet God in the work of who he is making us to be.
INWARD
Sabbath for rest with God.
Scripture reading for knowledge of God.
Prayer for intimacy with God.
Fasting to elicit hunger for God.
OUTWARD
Generosity to share our resources with others.
Hospitality to share our tables with others.
Community to share our lives with others.
Vocation to share our good work with others.
The way to spiritual wholeness is seen to lie in an increasingly faithful response to the One whose purpose shapes our path, whose grace redeems our detours, whose power liberates us from crippling bondages of the prior journey and whose transforming presence meets us at each turn in the road. (Robert Mulholland, Invitation to a Journey) -
“…whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” (Matthew 25:40 NIV)
Jesus did not come to be served, but to serve and he sends us the same way. The gospel is not just good news we receive: it is good news we are sent to embody and give away.We refuse to be a church that exists for itself.
We are blessed to be a blessing.
We are saved to serve.
We are filled up to pour out.We are a sent people, released into our neighborhoods, workplaces, and city as representatives of the Kingdom. Every follower of Jesus has a role to play. The work is not somewhere else. It is yourstreet, youroffice, yourgym, yourdinner table.
We exist for the sake of others because Jesus gave himself for us.
Additional Resources on our Values
Our Beliefs
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There is one, eternal God, Creator and Lord of the universe who, in the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, both governs all things according to God’s will and is accomplishing God’s purpose in the world and in the church.
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The Holy Scripture in its entirety is inspired by God’s Spirit through human authors and constitutes the revelation of God’s truth to humanity. It is wholly true and trustworthy in all that it affirms. Whatever the Bible, rightly interpreted, is found to teach, we are bound to believe and obey. It is our supreme authority in every matter of belief and conduct.
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All human beings are created in God’s own likeness and therefore have inherent value and equality before God. Human sin and guilt since the fall have rendered us subject to God’s wrath and condemnation and have resulted in our alienation from God’s life, suppression of God’s truth and hostility to God’s law. God’s love desires all to come to repentance and to be reconciled rather than condemned.
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Salvation from the guilt, penalty and all other consequences of sin has been achieved solely through the work of Jesus Christ – his perfect obedience, substitutionary death, bodily resurrection and exaltation as Lord. Jesus alone is truly God and truly human, the only mediator between God and humanity. There is salvation through no other person, creed, process or power. Each sinner is justified before God and reconciled to God only by divine grace appropriated by faith alone.
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The work of the Holy Spirit is necessary for the individual’s new birth and growth to maturity. The Holy Spirit empowers and indwells the church, enabling its constant renewal in truth, wisdom, faith, holiness, love, ministry, power and mission.
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There is one, holy, universal and apostolic church, which is the Body of Christ, and to which all true believers belong. The church’s calling is to worship God forever and to serve God in the world.
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As the Father sent the Son into the world, so the Lord Jesus Christ sends his church to participate in God’s mission by words and works. The church is called: to make Christ known; to proclaim God’s truth and the gospel of God’s grace; to make disciples among all nations; to exhibit God’s character through compassionate care for the needy; to demonstrate the reality of God’s kingdom through creative and sacrificial living, the community of love, the quest for righteousness, justice and peace, and the care of God’s creation.
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As the Lord Jesus ascended to his Father, so he will return personally, visibly and in glory. He will raise the dead and bring salvation and judgment to final completion. God will then fully establish his Kingdom and finish the new creation – a new heaven and a new earth from which all evil and evildoers, all suffering and death, will be excluded and in which God will be glorified forever.
Our History
Westerville Christian Church was founded on November 3, 1968.Our church family gathered in a temporary meeting place until March 17, 1974 when the doors at 471 E. College Avenue officially opened. In the years to follow, WCC would not only grow in attendance, building square footage, and parking lot spaces – but also ministries provided, communities built, and lives changed.
For over 50 years, our community has been defined by living with purpose and being rooted in joy – working and walking out our faith alongside one another everyday. Together, we aim to live a life that is defined by hope in Jesus.
WCC is an independent, non-denominational Church.
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