Our Values
Humbled by Grace & Depending on the Spirit
Jesus came to seek and save the lost. Therefore, we can be honest about who we truly are. We are all tax collectors (sinners) who like to dress up like Pharisees (perfect people). We all occasionally make the mistake of thinking, “I could serve your Kingdom better if only I wasn’t so broken!” But Jesus tells us that his power is made perfect in our weakness.
Being humbled by grace, means learning to boast in our weakness. We have to be broken if the power of Jesus is going to be displayed in our lives.
At New City Church, we believe in being honest about who we are. Our motto is: "It's better to live found out than to be found out!" We not only tolerate one another’s brokenness (when things get really messy) but we celebrate it. God is calling us to this countercultural idea; that we can see into the core of someone and not be repelled by what we find. We don’t serve a God who expects us to get our act together before we come to him. And our friends and neighbors are longing to hear about a God like this.
Learning to abide in Jesus and walk in the power of his Holy Spirit is the key to depending on him. This is learned through life-on-life discipleship and accomplished through regular confession, repentance, and worship - through the means of grace: prayer, the Word, and the sacraments.
Being humbled by grace, means learning to boast in our weakness. We have to be broken if the power of Jesus is going to be displayed in our lives.
At New City Church, we believe in being honest about who we are. Our motto is: "It's better to live found out than to be found out!" We not only tolerate one another’s brokenness (when things get really messy) but we celebrate it. God is calling us to this countercultural idea; that we can see into the core of someone and not be repelled by what we find. We don’t serve a God who expects us to get our act together before we come to him. And our friends and neighbors are longing to hear about a God like this.
Learning to abide in Jesus and walk in the power of his Holy Spirit is the key to depending on him. This is learned through life-on-life discipleship and accomplished through regular confession, repentance, and worship - through the means of grace: prayer, the Word, and the sacraments.
2 Corinthians 12:9–10
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
In the City & For the City
Jeremiah encouraged a group of homesick exiles to build houses, plant gardens, take husbands and wives, to seek the welfare of the city where they were being sent into exile, and to pray to the Lord on its behalf saying that in seeking the welfare of the city, they somehow find their own welfare.
Jesus spent most of his life in the city of Nazareth and never really got further than the city of Jerusalem. He turned the world upside down but never left an area the size of Metro Atlanta. He was called to dwell among a specific people, in a specific place, with a specific purpose.
God has called us - as New City Church - to the same kind of incarnational living; to specific places; to neighborhoods, to cities all around Gwinnett County, because these places have eternal significance in God’s Kingdom. Will we simply be consumers of the commodities that these cities offer us, or will we lay down our lives for the welfare of these cities?
Jesus spent most of his life in the city of Nazareth and never really got further than the city of Jerusalem. He turned the world upside down but never left an area the size of Metro Atlanta. He was called to dwell among a specific people, in a specific place, with a specific purpose.
God has called us - as New City Church - to the same kind of incarnational living; to specific places; to neighborhoods, to cities all around Gwinnett County, because these places have eternal significance in God’s Kingdom. Will we simply be consumers of the commodities that these cities offer us, or will we lay down our lives for the welfare of these cities?
Jeremiah 29:4–7
“Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
“Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
Reconciled & Reconciling
Every relationship within creation was fractured when sin entered into the world. Not only was mankind separated from God, but we were put at odds with one another. Jesus came to bring restoration to our broken relationships - first to God, and then to each other.
Because of the amazing work of Jesus Christ, in forgiving our sins when we did not deserve mercy, we can (and must) also seek to be reconciled with others. Scripture tells us that we have the ministry of reconciliation - it's our full-time occupation.
Because of the amazing work of Jesus Christ, in forgiving our sins when we did not deserve mercy, we can (and must) also seek to be reconciled with others. Scripture tells us that we have the ministry of reconciliation - it's our full-time occupation.
2 Corinthians 5:16–21
From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Planted & Planting
God’s call on our life as a church is much bigger than just what we see right now. We have to be very intentional in how we move forward, because we want to plant something in the city that outlasts us. We want to be a part of something bigger than us. The only way to be a church that outlasts ourselves, is to sink our roots deep into Jesus.
The Great Commission is really about church planting; the call to make disciples is about churches. We can't plant something if we haven't been planted ourselves. When a tree is healthy, its fruit is not for itself, it receives nourishment from the depth of its roots.
The Great Commission is really about church planting; the call to make disciples is about churches. We can't plant something if we haven't been planted ourselves. When a tree is healthy, its fruit is not for itself, it receives nourishment from the depth of its roots.
Matthew 28:19-20
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
We can’t make disciples outside of the Church; they have to be baptized into something - into the life and community of the Church. There is no such thing as an orphan in the Kingdom; we are all a part of the family. Of all the beautiful ministry that we could be a part of - in Lawrenceville, in Georgia, around the world - there is not a more effective ministry to be a part of than church planting.
Jeremiah 17:7–8
Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.
Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.
It's Better to
THAN TO BE FOUND OUT
The Word
We believe in the Bible. God has revealed Himself to mankind, without error, through inspired Scripture which is the Word of God and thus the only infallible rule of faith and life. Our statement of beliefs is based upon a Reformed interpretation of the Bible.
The Confession
We believe the Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) expresses the system of doctrine taught in Scripture and thus is a reliable, yet imperfect, guide. To learn more, we highly recommend Chad Van Dixhoorn's book, Confessing the Faith.
The Network
As an Acts 29 church, we ascribe to their Five Theological Distinctives and have alignment with the principles contained with the Lausanne Covenant Statement of Faith.