Mission
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Our Mission: We are becoming the kinds of people who build the kinds of churches that transform communities (Matthew 28:18, Acts 1:8, I Corinthians 13).
Becoming ... discipleship is a life-long process. We accept people where they are and promise to journey with them as they risk becoming more like Jesus Christ. We view this as a recurring cycle of hearing God’s promises, risking obedience, and experiencing his faithfulness. Becoming is best facilitated in an environment of grace and truth, of authenticity and accountability.
... the kinds of people ... our lives are centered around the worship of God through Jesus Christ. Evidence that our lives are centered in Him is expressed by:
• A demonstrated commitment to pursue life in Christ by living in authentic Biblical community with other believers who share a common mission;
• Crucifying the false self in order to fulfill a commitment to nourish and live out of your true self;
• A reflective life-style that utilizes the classic disciplines of the Christian faith such as study, prayer, fasting, silence, service, solitude and others to nourish the true self. This will result in increasingly authentic expressions of the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control, Galatians 5:22-23).
• A missionary mind-set that obeys Jesus’ command to make disciples by engaging unchurched people in authentic relationships of love that result in establishing church planting churches.
• Investing spiritual gifts to engage in significant risk-taking to pursue a ministry calling.
... who build ... unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain (Psalms 127:1). There are some things that only God can do, and there are some things God will not do unless we do some things. Intentionality regarding the things that we must do is at our core. “Building” implies a creative order to the process and it implies that leaders are diligently listening to and obeying the Lord’s voice.
... the kinds of churches ... God uses churches to transform communities. In the Harbor culture, church is not about a building. It is a counter-cultural community that stands in contrast to the prevailing culture – on mission to transform that prevailing culture with the values of the Kingdom of God. These counter-cultural communities contain believers who are unified in their commitment to personal transformation through living authentic, transparent, missional lives. These missional communities (churches) intentionally join other churches in the larger Body of Christ in fostering the church in the city.
... that transform communities ... transformation is an inside out process (II Chronicles 7:14). As a growing percentage of those in the prevailing culture are reconciled to God and living a life of worship in a counter-cultural community, the larger community begins to change. Our goal is an ever-expanding circle of counter-cultural communities that will ultimately result in the transformation of Montrose.
Montrose is our Jerusalem. Our commitment to Montrose does not mean that we are not committed to the rest of our city or the world. As we respond to the larger Houston area and to select communities around the world, we will do so with a clear awareness of Montrose as our primary responsibility.