Chartwell Baptist Church

We have adopted faith, formation and focus values as a church community. We invite you to read each of our values for a better understanding of who we are called to be as a church community.

Faith Values
This is a description of what we believe, commonly referred to as a doctrinal statement, a statement of faith or a creed.

Formation Values
These values answer the question ‘what does it mean to form passionate followers of Jesus Christ?’ We believe that a fully formed follower of Jesus Christ is a person who will:
Worship God
Love Each Other
Care for Communities
Serve the World

Focus Value
While our focus value needs to be understood in the context of all four formation values, as together they form an integrated whole, this value purposefully enables us to understand what it means to live out the calling of God on us in our time and our place. We believe that God is calling us to live for the benefit of our cities, that we might become a vital and transforming presence in our communities. Our focus value provides criteria by which ministries can be validated and decisions can be made.

Faith Values

Preamble

As Christians, we affirm the historic Apostle's and Nicene creeds and we affirm our spiritual friendship with all those who seek to exalt and serve Jesus Christ.

We affirm the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the authority of scripture. We proclaim the message of a personal faith in the crucified Messiah and a transformed life in the Spirit. We seek to serve the global church in all its cultural diversity. We embrace the biblical call to seek justice and peace and to serve the poor, the vulnerable and oppressed.

We believe that:

There is one true living God who exists eternally in three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. God alone is the Creator, Sustainer and Lord of all things visible and invisible, at work in the world to redeem creation.

The eternal Son of God, incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth, was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He declared God's kingdom and embodied that reign in his life, teaching, ministry, death and resurrection. Having lived a life of perfect human obedience to the Father, he died on the cross as a vicarious and victorious atonement for sin. In his atoning death and resurrection, Christ opened the way of rescue from sin and death, and offered forgiveness and healing, in reconciling the world to God. Exalted as Lord, he continues to intercede for his people.

Holy Scripture, both Old and New Testaments together, is the authoritative written word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit, truthful and trustworthy in all that it teaches.

Human beings alone, both male and female, are created in the image of God. All people are created to enjoy relationship with God, with one another and with creation over which we are called to be stewards. Humankind's sinful rebellion resulted in God's just judgement, bringing sin and guilt upon all humanity.

God in mercy and grace redeems all who repent of their sin and trust Jesus Christ alone for their salvation, justifying them through faith, restoring their relationship with God, giving them new life by the Spirit, and forming them into the image of Jesus.

The one holy, catholic and apostolic church occurs in local communities of believers all over the world. The sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper are central to Christian worship and discipleship. We affirm the baptism of believers by immersion on profession of faith in Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead. He will establish his kingdom of peace and he will reign forever.

FORMATION VALUES

Chartwell is a faith community rooted in God’s love, called to forming passionate followers of Jesus Christ. We are passionate about worshipping God, loving each other, caring for our communities and serving the world in generous, creative and transforming ways in the power of the Holy Spirit.

• As a community we are called to be followers of Jesus and we are called to form disciples.

• Each of our four values describes a significant piece of our discipleship calling. Together, these values are meant to answer the question “What might it look like to be a person who is being formed into a follower of Jesus in the Chartwell community?”

• These values are not meant to be exhaustive in terms of faith and practice but they are meant to be descriptive of the priorities, the passions and the practices of our church.

Worshipping God:

We believe we are called to be worshipping people who love God above all else.

• Our lives are rooted in the living God who reveals and offers his love through Jesus Christ. We are committed to responding to God's love by living lives of worship (Romans 12:1-3).

• Worship is the central focus of our lives out of which comes everything we plan and prioritize personally, corporately and missionally. As Christians we recognize that loving God, loving each other, loving our communities and loving the world as expressions of worship is our true response to God's grace in our lives.

• Worship is the way we express our love for God in the way that only God deserves.

• Personal worship invites us to nurture our relationship with God through adoration, intimacy, reflection and gratitude.

• Communal worship is expressed and cultivated foundationally through the values and practices of celebration, praise, confession, prayer, scripture, giving, teaching, testimony, friendship, communion, and baptism.

• We are open to developing our lives of personal and corporate worship through the use of various resources/disciplines and styles which are Spirit led, biblically rooted, Christ centered, historically respected, and creatively/innovatively profound.

• We pray for a deeper life in Christ.

Loving Each Other:

We believe that loving God means loving God's people.

• Loving the church as the body of Christ is a central value. We understand that the depth and quality of our lives together in community is the reality out which we offer ourselves as the attractive witness of God's love to the world (1 Peter 2). In humility, we realize that we are called to live out the goodness of God's life in the world as a sign of the kingdom.

• The Holy Spirit is our source for living holy, loving, truthful, peaceful, joyful, prayerful, caring, reconciled lives. The fruits of the Spirit are the marks of our lives together. The gifts of the Spirit are nurtured and exercised for the health, leadership, growth and ministry of the church. The unity of the Spirit holds us together.

• As a spiritual community, we are committed to building up, training and forming people of all ages and all backgrounds to become passionate, mature, faithful disciples of Jesus Christ.

• We do life together through life gatherings, meals, celebrations, ministry/mission teams, one to one relationships, and larger gatherings. We seek and are open to fresh expressions of being the church together in our time and in our culture.

• We pray for each other and our church.

Caring for Communities:

We believe that God calls his people to love and care for their local communities.

• We recognize that local Christian communities are called to care for their immediate neighborhoods, towns and cities as an initial expression of ministry and mission.

• We recognize that our church has been placed strategically in Oakville and Mississauga and that we have a calling to participate fruitfully in our communities by taking seriously the opportunities we are being given to "seek the peace, and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you." (Jeremiah 29:7).

• This local missional emphasis flows out of our worship of God and our love for each other. We are coming to realize that we are a community who exists for the sake of the wider community. This local focus offers us the possibility of a completely renewed way of thinking about the calling, structuring and resourcing of our church.

• We desire to continually practice a dynamic, responsive style of discerning, prioritizing and planning that encourages us to be more open to being defined and shaped by our relationship with the communities we are called to live in, love, care for and pray for.

• We do not assume that we already know what our communities require at any given time. This model of ministry development could require creative partnerships, non-traditional expressions of church life and vulnerable ways to use and share our resources. We look for the blessing and prosperity of the church in relationship to the blessing and prosperity of our communities.

• We pray for our communities and our neighbourhoods.

Serving the World:

We believe that loving God means loving God's world.

• Every local Christian community lives the calling and the challenge to go and serve the world as a fuller expression of their worship and mission. Serving the world compassionately and generously in Jesus' name means more than one thing. Ministry and mission mean sharing the good news of the kingdom, making disciples, meeting physical needs, stewarding the creation, and intercessory prayer for the church and the world.

• As a church community, we serve Jesus in the world in several basic ways:
 We go to share the Gospel.
 We go ourselves to serve.
 We share our material resources in partnership with others who are being sent.
 We respond to situations of crisis through providing physical/material relief.
 We support national Christians in their countries.
 We pray for peace.
 We practice responsible stewardship.
 We have a special calling to serve the poor.

• We pray for God’s will in the world and God’s kingdom to come.

Focus Value

To be a vital, transforming presence in our communities

“… God is one and there is no other. And loving him with all passion and intelligence and energy, and loving others as well as you love yourself. Why, that's better than all offerings and sacrifices put together!” When Jesus realized how insightful he was, he said, "You're almost there, right on the border of God's kingdom.” (Mark 12:32-34, the Message)

We are a people who are loved by the God who calls us to love others. We desire to generously and sacrificially love the neighbourhoods in Oakville and Mississauga in which God has placed us. The power of the gospel story proclaimed and practiced in the sanctuary will increasingly become a lived out reality on the sidewalk, the storefront, the school, and the public square. We will live out the good news of Jesus where we have been placed, in word and deed, committing our resources (time, talent, people, prayer, expertise, education, finances) for the greater community. This focus will intentionally move us into creative expressions of church life and beyond organizational self preservation and promotion.

Approved by the Chartwell Board, August 27, 2009