Our Values
Why the name “Reality”? The startling thing about the Bible is that when its authors pull back the curtain on what reality really is, they don’t point to principles or platitudes; they point to a person. Colossians 2:17 tells us, “Reality is found in Jesus.” Our church is built on these convictions because Jesus is reality. Below you can find a description of how this truth shapes the values of our church.
At Reality, we desire to be:
A gospel-centered church, seeking to make it all about Jesus.
Jesus is the word of God in flesh, come to our world to fulfill all the promises of God for us by living, dying and rising on our behalf. Jesus is the true prophet, the true priest, the true king, the true sacrifice, the true lamb, the true light, the true bread, the true and only way to God. To preach the word ultimately is to preach Christ. (John 5:39) To put it simply, we are not the hero of the story, Jesus is. We aim always to show that His work is both the grounds and the goal of our salvation and the motive which we appeal to for change. Doing this will bring radical change in ourselves, in the Church and to the lost. (Another way to say this is that we are “Christocentric”—recognizing that Jesus is the center and source of all things.)
A theological church, seeking to be biblically faithful.
The Word of God is a lamp unto our feet. One of the primary responsibilities of the church and its leadership is to guard and proclaim the truth, to “declare the whole counsel of God... not shrinking back from what is helpful.” (Acts 20) Our aim is not to shape the teaching of our church according to our likes and dislikes, but be faithful to the Bible. We try to model this in our gatherings with expository preaching, by working through books and passages of the Bible each week.
A missional church, actively seeking God’s purposes for our whole lives.
When God is our central focus, His mission will define our involvement in the world. God is seeking to save and redeem people through His Son Jesus Christ. It’s through this that He shows His love for the world. To be a missional community is to be aware of and involved in what God is doing in the world around us. We are sent by God to preach the gospel and live lives worthy of it. To be missional means that we are to view all of life with gospel intentionality, not cutting off portions of our lives from our faith but seeing every aspect of our lives as an opportunity for God’s cause, on God’s mission.
A relational church, seeking to share our lives in community.
God, through the gospel, has entered into a relationship with us; likewise, we are to be in relationship with others. If God is the focus and His mission the activity, then relationships are the context of our lives. For this reason, the Church ought to be relational in everything so that we might reflect the character of God. From serving teams and Sunday gatherings to Bible studies and community groups, we desire to emphasize the building of relationships as a part of the culture or our church.
A contextual church, seeking to be culturally thoughtful.
Though the divine content of the Bible never changes, our cultural context continually changes. The answer to this challenge is never to change the truth of the Bible but rather to clearly explain it in a way that everyone in our community can understand. In part, this means being sure to apply the timeless teachings of scripture to the timely issues of everyday life. In this, we do not seek to make the gospel relevant, but to show that it already is.
A spiritual church, seeking to be supernaturally empowered.
We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit, Who gifts us to accomplish God's purposes in the world and Who manifests His presence to the world through Christ's church. Spiritual gifts are abilities sovereignly given by God to serve the church and the world. Our attitude toward spiritual gifts in the church should be one of expectation (being open to the reality of spiritual gifts), discernment (operating in line with the truth in the Bible about spiritual gifts), and love (being motivated by the purpose of spiritual gifts). All three attitudes flow from an honest reading of scripture’s teaching on spiritual gifts.