We value spiritual growth

Jesus Christ said that “everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40), and the leaders of the early church wrote “we proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ” (Colossians 1:28-29). We are instructed to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 3:18), and “we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ” (Ephesians 4:14-15).

Our dream is that as we grow in maturity we would “attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God…to the fullness of Christ…the building up of itself in love” (Ephesians 4:13-16) so that believers would be encouraged and built up in their faith and that we might “prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation…” (Philippians 2:15).

Therefore, the people of CBC will seek to grow in the following ways:

  • We will “press on to maturity” (Hebrews 6:1) and seek to become like Christ—the very definition of maturity (Luke 6:40; Ephesians 5:1, 2, 22-25; Philippians 2:5-8). This means all CBC members will focus on growing in character—who we are.
  • We will instruct and encourage each member to do regular evaluation of his/her growth and develop a plan for growth. This means all CBC members will focus on growing in knowledge—what we know.
  • We will devote ourselves to the command to “equip the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12). This means all CBC members will focus on growing in ministry skills—what we do.
  • We will “speak the truth in love” with the goal of helping believers “grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ” (Ephesians 4:15).
  • We will practice loving, Biblical church discipline in order to help each other stay committed to spiritual growth and to protect the purity of God’s church (Matthew 18:15-20; 1 Corinthians 5). Based on the clear Biblical commands such as Galatians 6:1: “Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness” and Matthew 18:15: “if your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private…” we will “gently” and “privately” appeal to those we believe are in sin as family members (1 Timothy 5:1-2)—seeking to win them back to a life of Biblical holiness. Formal, public discipline will be exercised as a last resort.

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