Mount Rose Evangelical Free Church

 

 

As the Word of God teaches the total sovereignty of God upon our lives, our purpose in meeting and continuing our fellowship as a local expression of the Church of Jesus Christ, Mount Rose Evangelical Free Church is committed to worship and glorify God in our corporate and individual lives, nurture spiritual growth and gifts through their exercise within our fellowship and equip its members for service and evangelism.

            Throughout its worship, programs and activities this church is seeking to achieve these broad objectives by striving specifically to integrate the Scriptures into all areas of its member’s lives through:

 

Worship

We believe that the highest purpose for the assembling together of the local church is worship.  Only secondarily does it unite for teaching, fellowship, ministry, discipleship, observance of the ordinances, etc.  although these are all important elements of worship in themselves the church’s existence firstly and primarily is concerned with coming together collectively to praise and worship the Lord God.

            We believe that the modern church in the West has by-and-large lost the vision of Jehovah given to us in the Scriptures as a righteous and Holy God, jealous for the praises of His people.  Instead, we have substituted a god of our own making; one which benevolently tolerates sin and demands only that we :sacrifice: that small Sunday morning part of our lives when we come to church to be entertained. 

            Thus, true worship not only ascribes to God His rightful praise as our supreme Lord but also affirms our position and function in His universe as creatures created to enjoy and love him.

 

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is our spiritual service of worship.                                                                            (Romans 12:2)

 

Everyone who is called by My name, and whom I have created for My glory, whom I have formed, even whom I have made.                      (Isaiah 43:7)

 

Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever.  Amen.                    (1Peter 4:11)

 

Education/discipleship

Through the ministries of preaching, adult and children’s education, small Bible Studies, various media and the encouragement of direct involvement in community ministries the leadership of Mount Rose Evangelical Free Church is trying to teach practical Christian responsibility in doctrine as well as in the daily outworking and application of our faith.

            Leaders are made, not born.  We believe that education should have as a direct result not only a changed life (as a person studies and applies God’s Word to their hearts and minds) but also should lead that person to desire to teach others likewise in the faith.  This process is called discipleship.

            Discipleship is literally the very process by which disciples are anchored in the faith and matured into leaders.  It is learning from example rather than from formula.  It is an important part of the believer’s experience which illustrates that Christianity is not merely devotion to a set of creeds or cold ethical propositions but a life to be lived, worked out and exemplified among people.

            Discipleship as provides a valuable opportunity for reciprocal relationships, mutual responsibility and maturing for both parties in the relationship.  Ephesians chapter 4 brings out the idea that the Body of Christ is a family:  one purpose, bonded together as a community of believers, committed to one another, “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for it serves as such a vital source of interpersonal accountability and growth, we see discipleship as an integral part of the Christian experience. 

 

Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude. (Colossians 2:6-7)

 

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; (Ephesians 4:11-12)

 

The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. (2 Timothy 2:2)

 

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20)

 

Evangelism

            We believe that the proclamation of the Gospel by all Christians is a natural product of the knowledge of God’s love and of salvation as well as an individual responsibility to those outside of the Church.  God’s Word teaches that all believers are priests in the truest sense and are thus all equally accountable fro this office.  Further, we are committed to encourage and train this church’s membership in that type of evangelism commonly known as life-style evangelism.”  We are convinced that it is the most meaningful, sincere and natural way to share one’s faith with another person.

            Along with personal evangelism to one’s own ‘world’, a fostering of global vision is also important to us through prayer, individual involvement and encouragement and understanding of Christian missionary activity on a worldwide scale.

 

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:19-20)

 

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth (Acts 1:8 )

 

Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:20)

 

Lifestyle

            People do not see real love and truth completely through words only, but through actions.  Through the acting out of faith in actual day-to-day living comes the demonstration of belief.

            The Apostle James said that faith without works is dead and an important part of our faith is the very lifestyle we project to each other and to the world outside of the Church.

            We do not seek to set down some shallow code of ethics, which by its very nature would be bound by our own culture and timeframe of history, but rather we seek to foster the Biblical overriding attitudes of lifestyle such as holiness, justice, repentance, forgiveness, commitment, discipline and social concern.  This is an ongoing process (not a static standard for all time) that must be consistently reexamined personally as well as collectively in the Body of Christ.  We need to always examine our personal and corporate contribution to the Kingdom of God.

`We Believe that discipline as described in Matthew chapter 18 is a vital part of the life of the local church.  Although it is a highly sensitive and difficult issue to deal with, when done properly in accordance with the Scriptures and through much prayer and humbleness, it seeks to accomplish two very important goals::

1)    The repentance and restoration of the person under discipline, and

2)    The witness to the congregation of God’s displeasure of sin and the opportunity of each individual to reexamine their own relationship with God.

 

The fostering of these genuine Biblical concerns are not meant to be ends in themselves but occur as results of our forgiveness from God.  The Scriptures plainly teach us that we are forgiven freely by the grace of God.  But actions follow after forgiveness as a testimony of that grace, and as a testimony to the creativeness of God those actions will manifest themselves differently in each individual. 

 

For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead. (James 2:26)

 

Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.  As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.”  If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; (1 Peter 1:13-17)

 

 

            It is to these objectives that we pledge ourselves in the hope that they will help prepare this church, under the strength of the Holy Spirit, for that Blessed Hope of the soon appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ and the physical establishment of His Kingdom.

 

 

The Leadership of Mount Rose

Evangelical Free Church