These values reflect our best understanding of who we are as Emmanuel Eritrean Baptist church Arlington, Virginia. To be a church for all people who want to experience God’s welcome, understand God’s word, and join in God’s work.
The Lordship of Jesus Christ
We affirm the Lordship of Jesus Christ and His leadership as the head of our church. As a church and as individuals we submit our will to His. We are his servants for His glory ambassadors of Christ light and salt on this earth.
Bible-Centered Preaching and Teaching
We affirm the centrality of the Bible, God’s Word, in our preaching and teaching. The Bible is the authority for our faith and life as a church. We are committed to equipping people through Biblical instruction that addresses the opportunities and challenges of everyday life and calls on people to follow Jesus Christ in every sphere of their lives.
Outreach to the Lost
We value people, and we desire for all people to have a dynamic, growing relationship with God through Jesus Christ. We know lost people matter to God, so they matter to us, too. We seek to bring the unbelievers into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ and into our community of faith.
Inspiring Worship
We encourage people to praise God joyfully and to serve Him gladly with a heart of genuine agape love and gratitude in response to His grace. We believe that if there is someone who worships God in truth and Spirit but who does not love his brother is a liar.
Commitment to the Great Commission
We are committed to the fulfillment of the Great Commission of Jesus Christ (Therefore go and make them disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and make disciples of all nations and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. The focus of our missionary endeavor begins in our own community–our own “Jerusalem” Metropolitan greater Washington DC. Our heart is for the whole world (Acts 1:8). Therefore every member has a responsibility to be a witness in the way God wants to use us where we live, work, go to school, and play. We fulfill our commitment to missions through prayer, active ministry to the physical and spiritual needs of people in our community and throughout the world.
We pursue relationships with people who do not follow Jesus to love them, and to eventually communicate the gospel to them. We practice evangelism that is both intentional and culturally relevant, so that we can offer a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ to our neighbors here and across the world.
Christ-Centered Fellowship
We value Christian fellowship. We affirm our calling to live, love, and learn together in unity as the Body of Christ. We take seriously our identity as a family of faith where we accept one another and are accepted, love and are loved, care and are cared for, encourage and are encouraged, forgive and are forgiven, and serve and are served. We have a vital place for everyone–young and old, single and married, male and female.
Godly Leadership Equipping Every Member to Minister
We value leadership which is obedient to God and servant in nature. We look to pastoral leadership “to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the Body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:12-13). We believe God has called every Christian to minister and has given gifts to every Christian to fulfill the ministry to which they are called.
Stewardship of Our Whole Lives
We acknowledge that “the earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it” (Psalm 24:1) and we are stewards who are accountable to God for our use of every material and spiritual blessing He has entrusted to us. We are cheerful and generous givers, sacrificing our time and money to Jesus and his church. We are sensitive to material concerns of those in need, for people within and without our church family, and we are committed to serving one another by cultivating and using our spiritual gifts for the good of our church and our community. (Mt 6:19-21, 7:11, Lu 6: 38, Rom 8: 32, 1Co 16: 2, 2Co 9: 7 -14, Col 3:23.)
Reaching Our Contemporary World
We are committed to new approaches to sharing the gospel without compromise in our contemporary world. We believe God gave his best to us in His one and only Son, Jesus Christ. Consequently, we believe God deserves the very best we have to offer in our ministries, and activities to His glory.