Our Mission:
We believe that God has called us to a mission that seems impossible. That we would be a community, centered on Jesus, that devotes ourselves to love, service, and giving to anyone, no matter where they are from, what they’ve done or how we might disagree.
Jesus didn’t call us to win arguments or to point fingers, He called us to be His followers and that is what we hope to do, even when it's hard.
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Our philosophy of ministry is to be a "River Church" where resources flow into the church but aren't stored there, or pooled together for our own use. We want to be a place where the Lord's blessings freely flow into the church and freely flow out to be used to love, serve and give to everyone, everywhere, every day. That may be in the Riverbend or it may be in Rwanda. We don't want to be spiritual hoarders, but to see that what God can do when we share what we have.
Focused Purpose:
2026 STATE OF THE CHURCH ADDRESS
REACH The Lost
​​The church, made up of each and every Christian, has been tasked by God to tell the world about Jesus and to teach them how to live like Him. We call that becoming a disciple and the process of becoming like Jesus is called "discipleship".
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The Bible teaches that we are lost without Jesus and it is the responsibility of Jesus people to tell the story of Jesus. So, our purpose is to reach the lost by inviting our friends and neighbors to church, yes, but more importantly telling the story of how Jesus has changed us and can change them too.
TEACH the Truth
All of us are being influenced by someone or something, so what is it….who is it? Who is at the center of the church?
What we do here is important.
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So, our focused purpose is to teach the truth about who Jesus is and to tell the truth about who we are. We simply can't grow until we are honest about those both.
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“The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.”
~ Timothy Keller
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Let's seek the truth found in God's word together!
MEND the Broken
Mending the broken…includes everybody, not just people outside of the church. Emmanuel is an instrument for Jesus to use to mend the broken.
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But the church is a place of hope and healing. It should be a place of belonging.
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Healing take time, and Jesus is patient with us as we daily learn to depend on and find our hope in Him.
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God has called us to love courageously in a world that doesn’t feel so loved, to somehow figure out how to restore a person through the grace of Jesus without coming across as condescending and judgmental. To serve radically, in a world that only sees hate. To give sacrificially so people see that the gospel is more than just good news for a far-off distant day but is real and practical today. THAT is pretty exciting to see and be a part of.
SEND the Called
Healthy churches paint a healthy picture of ministry and people want to be a part of that. The more people serve, the more ministry fruit, the more ministry fruit, the more likely a person gets excited about ministry. Emmanuel can be and should be a ministry incubator for serving inside and outside of the church.
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We don't want to hoard our spiritual resources. They are not restricted, nor are the limited to only being used at Emmanuel. Our spiritual resources are to be shared with the world because we believe that Jesus is for everyone. ​
You have abilities that are given to you by the Holy Spirit. We call them "spiritual gifts". The Bible says those gifts are given when you become a Christian. But they aren't always obvious right away. Emmanuel is a place where you can learn about your gifts and how to use them for Jesus by serving others.
What We Believe About...
