Our Values
Humbled by Grace & Depending on the Spirit
2 CORINTHIANS 12:9-10
Jesus says, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.
Jesus came to seek and save the lost. Therefore, we can be honest about who we truly are. We are all tax collectors (sinners) who like to dress up like Pharisees (perfect people). We all occasionally make the mistake of thinking, “I could serve your Kingdom better if only I wasn’t so broken!” But Jesus tells us that his power is made perfect in our weakness.
Being humbled by grace, means learning to boast in our weakness. We have to be broken if the power of Jesus is going to be displayed in our lives.
At New City Church, we believe in being honest about who we are. We not only tolerate one another’s brokenness (when things get really messy) but we celebrate it. God is calling us to this countercultural idea; that we can see into the core of someone and not be repelled by what we find. We don’t serve a God who expects us to get our act together before we come to him.
And our friends and neighbors are longing to hear about a God like this.
Learning to abide in Jesus and walk in the power of his Holy Spirit is the key to depending on him. This is done through regular confession, repentance, and worship
Our Values
In the City & For the City
2 CORINTHIANS 12:9-10
Build houses and live in them; plant gardens ... Take wives and have sons and daughters: ... multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city ... and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
Jeremiah encouraged a group of homesick exiles to build houses, plant gardens, take husbands and wives, to seek the welfare of the city where they were being sent into exile, and to pray to the Lord on its behalf saying that in seeking the welfare of the city, they somehow find their own welfare.
Jesus spent most of his life in the city of Nazareth and never really got further than the city of Jerusalem. He turned the world upside down but never left an area the size of Metro Atlanta. He was called to dwell among a specific people, in a specific place, with a specific purpose.
God has called us as New City Church to the same kind of incarnational living; to specific places; to neighborhoods, to cities all around Gwinnett County, because these places have eternal significance in God’s Kingdom. Will we simply be consumers of the commodities that these cities offer us, or will we lay down our lives for the welfare of these cities?
Our Values
Reconciled & Reconciling
2 CORINTHIANS 12:9-10
From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come … For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Every relationship within creation was fractured when sin entered into the world. Not only was mankind separated from God, but we were put at odds with one another. Jesus came to bring restoration to our broken relationships - first to God, and then to each other.
Because of the amazing work of Jesus Christ, in forgiving our sins when we did not deserve mercy, we can (and must) also seek to be reconciled with others. Scripture tells us that we have the ministry of reconciliation - it's our full-time occupation.
2 CORINTHIANS 5:18
All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation ...
Our Values
Planted & Planting
Jeremiah 17:7-8a
Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green ...
God’s call on our life as a church is much bigger than just what we see right now. We have to be very intentional in how we move forward, because we want to plant something in the city that outlasts us. We want to be a part of something bigger than us. The only way to be a church that outlasts ourselves, is to sink our roots deep into Jesus.
The Great Commission is really about church planting; the call to make disciples is about churches. We can't plant something if we haven't been planted ourselves. When a tree is healthy, its fruit is not for itself, it receives nourishment from the depth of its roots.
Matthew 28:19-20
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
We can’t make disciples outside of the Church; they have to be baptized into something - into the life and community of the Church. There is no such thing as an orphan in the Kingdom; we are all a part of the family. Of all the beautiful ministry that we could be a part of - in Lawrenceville, in Georgia, around the world - there is not a more effective ministry to be a part of than church planting.
Distinctives
What We Believe
We are a gospel teaching, Christ-centered, missional, covenantal, Presbyterian church in the Reformed tradition.
WE BELIEVE IN GOD
There is only one living and true God; infinite in being and perfection and creator of all things. He exists in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
WE BELIEVE IN THE BIBLE
God has revealed Himself to mankind, without error, through inspired Scripture which is the Word of God and thus the rule of faith and life.
WE BELIEVE IN GOOD WORKS
While mankind’s efforts can never provide salvation, good works done in obedience to God’s commandments, empowered by his grace are the evidence of true faith.
WE BELIEVE IN HEAVEN AND HELL
At the end of days, Jesus will return and all will be judged. Those in Christ, will live forever with Him in Heaven, (the world will be made perfect, and we will be given perfected bodies). Those not in Christ will be forever separated from God, cast into Hell.
WE BELIEVE IN THE SACRAMENTS
- BAPTISM: Baptism is ordained by Jesus Christ as the sign of the Covenant of Grace to replace the sign of circumcision. The element of baptism is water and the mode of administration is either pouring, sprinkling, or immersion. As infants received the previous sign of circumcision, so infants should receive the sign of baptism as well as adult believers.
- THE LORD’S SUPPER: Jesus Christ instituted the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper as a bond and pledge of his communion with believers. The elements, bread and wine (or juice), are sometimes called by what they represent: the body and blood of Jesus Christ. However, they do not somehow mystically actually become his body and blood.
WE BELIEVE IN THE FINAL JUDGMENT
God has appointed a day wherein Jesus will return and judge the world in righteousness. The day and hour of this judgment is unknown to mankind.
WE BELIEVE IN THE GOSPEL
For no reason other than his own glory, God has elected some who, being fallen because of Adam, are redeemed by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, are called to faith by the Holy Spirit, and are justified, adopted, and sanctified. This is salvation.
- WE BELIEVE IN THE FALL OF MAN
Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden and fell from their original righteousness and communion with God and became dead in sin – wholly defiled in soul and body. - WE BELIEVE IN ORIGINAL SIN
The guilt of our first parent’s sin is imputed to us – thus we are born corrupt and opposed to God, deserving of his wrath.
- WE BELIEVE IN ONE COVENANT OF GRACE
God has always only ever had one plan to restore his communion with mankind – the Covenant of Grace. God offers life and salvation by Jesus Christ on condition of faith in Jesus Christ. In the days of the Old Testament this was administered differently (looking forward to the coming of Jesus Christ) than in the present days (Christ is with us) but it is one and the same covenant.
- WE BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST AS SAVIOR
Jesus was fully God and fully man – living a sinless life and yet being crucified unto death only to rise from dead on the third day and ascend into Heaven where he now sits at the right hand of the Father. His sacrifice has fully satisfied the justice of the Father for the sins of those who believe restoring to them communion with God.
- WE BELIEVE IN PERSEVERANCE
Salvation comes not from our own works but from God’s eternal plan, his unchanging love, Jesus’ perfect righteousness, and the abiding of the Holy Spirit. All of these are certain and unchanging and so we are assured our salvation will persevere to the end.
- WE BELIEVE IN JUSTIFICATION AND SANCTIFICATION
Justification, being made right with God, comes from Christ’s righteousness alone. Sanctification, the process of being made more like Jesus, is lifelong. The corrupted flesh remains, warring against the Spirit within. Over time, relying on the strength of Jesus, sin will be overcome but never perfectly until glory.
Distinctives
Westminster Confession of Faith
We are a confessional church. While Scripture is the only infallible rule of faith and practice, we believe the Westminster Confession of Faith expresses the system of doctrine that is taught in the Holy Scriptures and thus is a reliable, yet imperfect, guide.
Our denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America, has made the Westminster Confession of Faith, along with the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, available for free online.
WCF Online
If you are interested in learning more about the Confessional of Faith and what it teaches, we highly recommend Chad Van Dixhoorn's book Confessing the Faith: A Reader's Guide to the Westminster Confession of Faith.