Who We Are
We are beloved by God and one another.
We are a welcoming and affirming church. (statement below)
We are a peace church that works for justice. (statement below)
We are Baptist by name, but in fact, are a conglomeration of Baptists, Presbyterians, Catholics, Mennonites, and a bit of everything and everyone else.
We are followers of Jesus, working for justice, expanding grace, and sharing love. (covenant below)
Mission Statement: Jeff Street is a welcoming and affirming faith community rooted in extravagant love. Following Jesus' example, we are called to do justice, stand with the poor, offer hospitality, wage peace, deepen our spirituality, celebrate the creativity of God and God’s people, and love each other into radical belonging and Christian discipleship.
JEFF STREET BAPTIST COMMUNITY AT LIBERTY
CHURCH COVENANT
Having experienced God's love as shown through the
life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we, the
members of the Jeff Street Baptist Community at
Liberty, share this promise of commitment and
covenant to:
cultivate an awareness of God through
devotional activities such as Bible study,
prayer, and worship experiences;
share all things, regarding our possessions as
gifts from God to be used for the betterment of
all persons one to another;
deepen our relationships by being honest,
open, and forgiving one another;
work to ensure that Creation is respected,
enhanced, and protected;
discover and affirm our individual gifts and use
them in celebration as God's servants;
speak out against all forms of oppression to
insure the dignity and worth of all people;
accept our responsibility as ministers of
reconciliation in the world by helping people to
accept one another and God;
do peace and justice in all life circumstances;
witness to the redemptive love of Jesus Christ;
participate in and contribute to the mission of
the Church.
With God's help, and the support of one another, we
covenant together to fulfill the purpose of the Church.
We, the Jeff Street Baptist Community at Liberty, as
Christians, aim to love God and others by helping them,
believing as God loves us, we should love others.
Jeff Street Baptist Community at Liberty
Statement of Affirmation and Welcome for All
For in Christ Jesus you are all children of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
(Galatians 3:26-28)
Having covenanted together
To discover and affirm our individual gifts and use them in celebration as God’s servants;
To speak out against all forms of oppression to insure the dignity and worth of all people;
To accept our responsibility as ministers of reconciliation in the world by helping people to accept one another and God; and
To promote peace and justice in all life circumstances;
We, the Jeff Street Baptist Community at Liberty, further state that we
welcome and affirm all people, regardless of race, nationality, class, gender, age, ability, sexual orientation, or gender identity as we seek to understand and live a life reflecting Paul’s statement that we “are all one in Christ Jesus.”
PEACE STATEMENT
As a community of faith we have covenanted together:
to work to ensure that Creation is respected, enhanced, and protected;
to speak out against all forms of oppression to ensure the dignity and worth of all people;
to accept our responsibility as ministers of reconciliation in the world by helping people to accept one another and God, and;
to promote peace and justice in all life circumstances.
As a community of faith we further declare that:
Peace is the will of God and all war is sin. All persons are created in the image of God and owe their first allegiance to God.
All persons have the responsibility:
to read and interpret the Scriptures,
to reflect on their religious experience in order to understand peacemaking for them and the world, and
to obey God's will for peace above all human directives, even when obedience requires conscientious objection or civil disobedience.
As a community of faith we believe that all persons should examine and speak out against individual, corporate, and national participation in the forms of political and economic oppression that cause war and work, even if at some cost to themselves, to discover constructive avenues of peacemaking within these venues, for in doing so we demonstrate our obedience to Jesus Christ.
The rational for our Peace Statement can be found HERE with Biblical references and specific commitments.