At Immanuel, we desire to see the following values shape who we are as a Church:

 
CHRIST CENTERED

Immanuel Church is all about Jesus and the Good News of his life, death and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-8).  In fact, the whole Old Testament looked forward to his coming (Luke 24:27).  The New Testament is full of stories about Jesus (the Gospels) and how his church began (Acts).  It is also full of letters written by early church leaders to the first Christian churches as they worked out how to follow Jesus in the world they lived in.  Today, we read the Bible with the same Christ-centered lens, and explore the same thing today as a church:  how to follow Jesus in the world we live in.

SPIRIT EMPOWERED

When Jesus walked this earth, he preached a clear message: the Kingdom of God was near! (Matthew 4:17).  Jesus brought God's Kingdom from heaven into this world with great authority and power.  He healed the sick (Luke 4:40), cast out demons (Luke 11:14-23), and taught with great authority (Matthew 7:28-29).  This was all by the power of the Holy Spirit  after his baptism (Matthew 3:13-17).  We see the early Christians in the book of Acts doing the same things Jesus did through the same power of the Holy Spirit after Pentecost (Acts 3:1-11, 16:16-18, 19:11-12, etc.).  We believe that the present Church continues this supernatural ministry today through his Holy Spirit in the church today.  

COMMUNITY FOCUSED

From the beginning, the church was a local presence.  Each of the early churches were known not by fancy names, but by the place they were located in (The church in Corinth, Galatian, Ephesus, etc.).  This meant that as each church lived out the Good News of Jesus, they did so with so in their own cities and neighborhoods.  As Jesus sent us to go to all nations and make disciples (Matthew 28:16-20), we also embrace the same job but locally.  And in a way, in modern day America God has sent the nations to us.  Therefore as Immanuel Church, we are focused on reaching our own community with the Gospel through both word and deed as we love God and love our neighbor as ourselves.  In 2024 we seek to launch our new Lightouse Ministry for this purpose.