WHAT WE DO AND HOW WE DO IT
We love God, one another, and the world through worship and relationships.
1. LOVE GOD: We are to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and mind. We do not love or worship him from a distance, but rather in the context of a relationship. We love him by worshiping him- celebrating and acknowledging who he is and what he’s done. We love him by knowing him and being known by him in a relationship through Jesus. We shepherd towards this through two primary means:
- INDIVIDUAL WORSHIP: We have access to God in Christ (Eph 2:18). We can enjoy this access through personal time with God in set aside time and throughout our day as we go. We worship him through this while growing in relationship with him. We shepherd our Troy Church Family towards knowing how to spend time with God alone.
- WORSHIP TOGETHER: God has also called us to meet together to worship him (Acts 2:42-47, 1Cor 14:26, Col 3:16). We meet to sing true things about God together. We meet to learn together. We meet to pray together. We meet to remember together, and so much more. When we love God together, it brings him worship while growing us in relationship with him and one another. We shepherd our Troy Church Family towards knowing how to spend time with God together.
2. LOVE ONE ANOTHER: We are called to love one another as a church family. We love one another when we help one another worship. This happens when we help one another learn from God, repent from sin, obey God’s Law, grow in our gifts, and more. We also love one another as we build relationships. We spend time together, share meals together, share happy times together, share hardships together, and care for one another. We do this with people on purpose that are not like us in celebration of the diversity God teaches us through. We cultivate loving, God-worshipping relationships through two primary means:
- SMALL GROUPS: a smaller gathering of people that meet for learning, relationships, care, prayer, and more. Small groups may or may not be open/closed, multi-generation/for a specific age, co-ed/gender specific.
- D-GROUP: a purposeful relationship and process in which a Christian helps another individual grow to maturity in Christ. D-Groups tend to be gender specific with a specified leader leading small group of people for a season of life.
3. LOVE THE WORLD: God has called us to serve outside of the body, into our community, and to the ends of the earth. We love the world when we take the Gospel forward in missions. We love the world through worship: using our gifts and proclaiming the Gospel message so more will know and worship God. We earn the right to share through forming relationships. We care for all peoples as those who bear the image of God. We truly love them as they are while praying they will see God through Jesus. We work towards this through three primary means:
- COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: We aim to be a family in a city. We meet needs in our city. We want our city to be able to say they would miss us if we were gone. We serve our city, schools, families, and businesses in creative ways to the glory of God. We serve the poor, the orphan, and widow as those who were all those things spiritually before we knew Jesus.
- PERSONAL EVANGELISM: We engage in prayer and Gospel sharing in the context of relationship. We shepherd our church family to approach ever sphere of life asking if the people God has placed them around know and walk with Jesus.
- FOREIGN/ DOMESTIC MISSIONS: We aim to love Christians outside of Troy Church because they are still our brother and sister in Christ. We seek out partnerships with churches and missionaries far from Troy as God leads. We will pray for God to raise up members of our family to go far and wide to the glory of Jesus to be a part of efforts towards those who do not know Jesus, especially those who have never heard.
WHAT WE BELIEVE
On essentials we have UNITY (Eph. 4:4-6) on non-essentials we have LIBERTY (Rom. 14:1,4,12,22) but in all we have LOVE (1 Cor. 13:2).
THE BIBLE IS ALWAYS TRUE IN EVERYTHING IT SAYS
We believe the entire Bible is the inspired Word of God and that men were moved by the Spirit of God to write the very words of Scripture. Therefore, we believe the Bible is inerrant, infallible, totally sufficient and trustworthy.
2 Tim. 3:16, 2 Pet. 1:20-21, Prov. 30:5, Rom. 16:25-26
THERE IS ONE TRUE GOD WHO EXISTS IN 3 DISTINCT PERSONS
We believe in one true God who exists in three distinct Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 1 John 5:7, Gen. 1:26, Matt. 3:16-17, 28:19, Luke 1:35, Heb. 3:7-11
JESUS IS TRUE GOD AND TRUE MAN SIMULTANEOUSLY
We believe that Jesus Christ, the second member of the Trinity, is true God and true Man, in a perfect unconfused union throughout His incarnation and now eternally. He died on the cross as a substitute for sinners, a sacrifice for sin, and as a propitiation of the wrath of God toward sinners. John 1:1,14, 20:28; I Timothy 3:16; Isaiah 9:6; Philippians 2:5-6; I Timothy 2:5, Matthew 1:18, 25; Luke 1:35; Isaiah 7:14
THE HOLY SPIRIT INDWELLS BELIEVERS FOR GODLY LIVING
We believe the Holy Spirit manifests the active presence of God in the world, and especially in and through the local and universal church. Specifically, His work of empowerment, purification, revelation, and unification are key to every believer’s life on earth. I Thess. 4:3, 5:23; II Cor. 3:18, 6:14-18, II Thess. 2:1-3, Rom. 8:29, 12:1-2, Hebrews 2:11
SALVATION IS AVAILABLE THROUGH JESUS CHRIST ALONE
We believe that the blood of Jesus Christ, shed on the cross, provides the sole basis for the forgiveness of sin. Therefore, salvation is available to people by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Ephesians 2:8-9; Galatians 2:16, 3:8; Titus 3:5; Romans 10:9-10; Acts 16:31; Hebrews 9:22, Acts 2:21, 3:19; I John 1:9
MANKIND’S SOLE PURPOSE IN LIFE IS TO MAXIMIZE THE GLORY OF GOD
We believe that every Christian should live for Christ and not for him(her)self. By obedience to the Word of God and daily yielding to the Spirit of God, every believer should mature and be conformed to the image of Christ. 1 Cor. 10:31, Acts 20:24, Phil. 3:13-14, 1Peter 4:10, 1 Cor. 12:7, Eph. 4:11, 13-14.