mission

Every church has a unique identity, a DNA if you will, which is formed by the interaction of theology, philosophy and practice. It starts with theology from a church’s understanding of God and His scriptures. This theology affects the philosophy of ministry which each church operates by and within. Finally, this philosophy, affects the practical outworking of a local body. We believe in an incarnational, missional, sacrificial model which seeks depth over width. We pray, and work, that our practice lines up with those beliefs.

We become what we pursue. Jesus gave us purpose when he told us the greatest pursuit in life is to love God fully, and the second is to love our neighbor as ourselves. Consider that he followed up these statements with instructions to “go and make disciples” and our mission is clear.

The mission of Serve Baltimore and everything we do is based on these commands given by Jesus. We love God, we love people, and we follow Jesus everyday.

Loving God- Loving God starts with a holistic approach to life where Jesus becomes the focal point of our affection and worship and we live our lives daily to glorify Him. (Deuteronomy 6:4; Mark; Mark 12:30)

Loving people- Caring for people regardless of their own belief, culture, or background takes an intentional attitude of love. We are called to love without motive and share the story of Christ through our words and deeds. (Deuteronomy 6:5; Mark 12:31)

Following Jesus everyday- This means we commit to listen to the Holy Spirit and become more like Jesus through the empowering grace of the Gospel. This is both internally focused on our own hearts and outwardly into the faith community as we build one another up in the faith. We work on becoming disciples as well as making disciples. (Mark 1:14-15; Matthew 28:18-20)

The truth- “There is NO one perfect, not even one… all have fallen short.” -Jesus.

While there is no doubt that we desire to pursue these three basic practices. The reality is that we all mess up. While the concept is simple there is nothing simple about the practice. Our community, much like the community that surrounded Jesus, is full of people who have messed up. It’s what makes community so important and so desirable. We need each other if we are going to pursue loving God, loving people, and following Jesus everyday.