The Mountain is a family-integrated, non-denominational christian church. Our express purpose is to provide a place for families to come together who desire to experience the heights of God's holiness in their homes, church, and community. Click on the following links to find out more...
What's with the name The Mountain?
The "Mountain" is a powerful image of the challenging and exhilarating Christian walk, or rather climb, that God has called each person to embark on with their life.
The Mountain requires effort, perseverance, and a team to safely climb it. Most importantly, it requires proper equipment for those inevitable falls. Of course the most important safety piece is the rope. In spiritual climbing, we call it the "Rope of Grace."
The Mountain represents God’s Love for mankind. Even though we are separated from Him by our sin, he has still given us a chance to have a relationship with him right now. All he asks us to do is climb His "Mountain of Love."
What is a "family-integrated church"?
The Bible clearly shows two institutions ordained by God: the family (through marriage) and the church. No two institutions have been under more scrutiny in modern times than these two. Recent history is riddled with the church segregating family members from worship that we believe God intended together.
The Mountain is a church that encourages fathers and mothers to engage their children's spiritual growth, as commanded in Deuteronomy 11:19. The Mountain provides this atmosphere by allowing children to sit with their parents throughout the service. We also have mid-week family opportunities and special activities throughout the year.
Who leads The Mountain Church family?
The Mountain is led by a team of pastor/elders. The name "pastor" represents the hands-on shepherding that a church leader is called to give. The name "elder" represents the delegated authority that they are called to give as they oversee the local church family. (I Peter 5:1-4).
Each man within the church family is seen as the "lead climber" of his family. As he humbly and boldly leads his family in each aspect of life, the Word of God calls him to lead his family into biblical submission to the elders of a local church (Hebrews 13:17). This leads to a leadership model that clearly places the burden of family oversight on the shoulders of each man with the elders providing oversight over the church family as they have been called to do in the New Testament, especially in I & II Timothy & Titus. The elders are committed to God first, their own families second, and then to seeing that the church families are shepherded for their role in God’s great work through the church.
The Mountain's Core Values
As we climb together at The Mountain…
- We will trust completely in the Rope of Grace which is held tightly by God himself and made available by the blood of Christ.
- We will follow God’s Word as the Climbing Guide to direct our daily path in the steps of our Lead Climber, Jesus Christ.
- We will listen to the climbing counsel of the Holy Spirit as we humbly and boldly give our physical and spiritual gifts back to the Lord and his church.
- We will love our families sacrificially with a commitment to the sanctity of marriage, the blessing of children, and the God-given roles for each climber.
- We will reach out to our lost world through strong climbing families that overflow with God’s love into our local and foreign communities.
- We will persevere in truth and unity until we reach the Holy Heights of Heaven, where we will forever enjoy our Maker and perfect harmony with one another.
The Mountain's Statement of Faith
The following points outline our strong commitment to maintaining Biblical integrity while reaching out in a spirit of truth through love. Unity among believers will always be a high priority, but we will never compromise our commitment to Biblical truth.
The Bible
We believe in the inspiration and inerrancy of the Scriptures, both the Old and the New Testaments, and that they are of supreme and final authority in faith and life.
God
We believe in one God, eternally existing in three Persons: Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Bible teaches that God is the Creator of our world and sustainer and Lord of our lives.
Man
We believe that man was created in the image of God; that man sinned, and thereby incurred, not only physical death, but also spiritual death, which is separation from God; that, as a result of this sin first committed by Adam, all human beings are born with a sinful nature, and, in the case of those who reach moral responsibility, are accountable as sinners in thought, word, and deed.
Jesus
We believe Jesus Christ is the one and living Son of God and our Savior. Through Him, God opened the way of abundant and eternal life through His death, burial and resurrection, to all who call on the name of Jesus.
Jesus instituted a new covenant with God that succeeded and transcended His former covenant with the people of Israel : hence, we accept the Old Testament as preparatory to the New Testament, and we rejoice that we are related to God through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and not through the law.
Salvation
Salvation is totally by God’s grace, an unmerited gift to the believer. This gift is received by faith alone, apart from any works of the believer. True faith is always accompanied by repentance and a determination to follow Jesus in a life of obedience and good works.
The Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is God Himself and is encouraging, guiding, and transforming us in the way of Christ. The Holy Spirit gives various gifts to the members of the body so that every member can make a contribution to the effective ministry of the entire church.
The Church
There is one universal church of which Christ is the Head, made up of true believers in all places and in all times. The visible local church is the ordinary means of the spread of God’s kingdom and the building up of God’s people in Christ. The marks of a true church are the proclamation of the whole revelation of God in Scripture, the biblical administration of communion & water baptism, the exercise of biblical leadership, the edifying use of the spiritual gifts given to the members of the body, and a manifestation of unity and love among the members.
The Lord’s Supper & Baptism
Christ has ordained two outward acts of obedience for the church in the present age: the Lord’s Supper and water baptism, as signs and seals of the covenant of grace and given to every member of the visible church.
Last Things
We believe in "that blessed hope", the personal and imminent return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The righteous and the unrighteous will be resurrected to face final judgment. The righteous will enjoy eternal blessedness in heaven, and the unrighteous will suffer eternal punishment in hell.
What is Covenantal Membership?
The Mountain Church practices covenantal membership for those who wish to make a commitment to this fellowship of believers. We have chosen the word "covenant" to reflect the importance of being committed to a local church. Our God is a covenanting God. All the way through the Bible we see him being willing to enter into covenant with his children. He created two institutions on earth: marriage and the church. He asks us to covenant with him in our marriage. We believe that he would also have us covenant with him in our devotion to his church. In essence, when we commit to a local church, it is an agreement that is being made with God himself, as well as the people within that church family.
Committing to a local church body and the oversight of its pastor-elder team is a significant decision that we encourage each family to take plenty of time to prayerfully consider. In fact we ask each new family to prayerfully move through a time of six months that includes communication with the pastor-elders and fellowship with our church family. Once this process comes to an end and both the new family and the pastor-elders are ready for the next step, we look forward to publicly welcoming them into our local church body as a covenantal member.
This public proclamation to "tie into the rope of grace" through covenantal membership is a loving act encouraged for all our regular attenders. Covenanting is a means for committed families to love, serve, and climb with their fellow members at The Mountain. The commitment is a simple manifestation we believe was evident in the New Testament church and can still happen today because of God's grace. Because of His grace, we look forward to climbing for year upon year as a united church family up the Mountain of God's Love.
Feel free to contact us for more information on covenantal membership at The Mountain.
