Engaging in God-centered worship and not man-centered
Corporate Worship
In John 4:24, Jesus told the Samaritan woman that God is looking for people who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. We believe that our highest calling as a church is to fulfill that command to our Creator.
Therefore, the foremost priority of our Sunday service is to worship and glorify God. Our primary task in worship is not evangelism, though all genuine worship should reflect the glory of God to the unbelieving world.
Our Sunday morning messages are geared toward equipping God’s people in the Scriptures. The Bible is preached systematically, book by book, so that “the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17).
Our praise songs are carefully selected for doctrinal accuracy. We believe worship that does not engage the mind cannot correctly engage the heart. We believe that it is not possible to honor God if we fail in corporate worship.
Equipping every believer with God's inerrant Word
Scripture
The Bible is God’s holy revelation of Himself. We believe in the inerrancy and sufficiency of the Word of God. Sunday preaching is expositional and weekly Bible studies are designed to study through the entire Bible — verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book by book.
We believe that if we attempt to apply the Bible without first properly interpreting it, it will lead to false applications. Understanding the proper context and cultural background is crucial in correctly grasping the intended message of each passage.
Before we can subjectively apply the teachings of God’s Word, we must first learn to understand its objective truthfulness.
Everyone attending Bible studies is encouraged to prepare on their own through inductive Bible study. Reading suggested commentaries is not required, but encouraged.
Building a community through love and accountability
Membership
Berean practices church membership to ensure commitment and participation from the body of Christ. We believe that it is through membership that the local church can best preserve its corporate testimony to the world.
Church membership enables the community interaction commanded in Scripture through fellowship, accountability and church discipline. Members’ meetings are held quarterly.
At these meetings, we review the current concerns of the church and discuss the next three months on the church calendar. Church finance and disciplinary issues are also topics discussed during these meetings.
Service
The Bible calls all believers to use their spiritual gifts of service to build up the church. Berean’s service teams provide a place for members to exercise these gifts.
We have a variety of service teams and opportunities to serve within those teams. We hold regular service team meetings where each team is represented and we discuss the current needs of the church.
You must be a member of the church to join one of these teams, but potential members are always welcome to serve the body informally as they complete the membership process.
The Bible calls all believers to use their spiritual gifts of service to build up the church. Berean’s service teams provide a place for members to exercise these gifts.
We have a variety of service teams and opportunities to serve within those teams. We hold regular service team meetings where each team is represented and we discuss the current needs of the church.
You must be a member of the church to join one of these teams, but potential members are always welcome to serve the body informally as they complete the membership process.
Reaching out to the community locally and globally with the Gospel of Jesus Christ
Evangelism
All believers are called to obey the Great Commission as commanded by Christ (Matt. 28:18-20). God is a missionary God, redeeming lost souls through the gospel of His Son. As a church, we desire to obey this important command both locally and globally.
We regularly offer outreach events and opportunities for evangelism. However, we believe that the most effective means of evangelism is by individually and corporately living life as lights in this dark world.
Since 2001, Berean has been going to Asia for summer missions. We routinely run English camps abroad as an avenue to send evangelists overseas, ultimately to make disciples. Our long-term vision is to send out full-time missionaries abroad to plant churches.