Values and Goals
We long to see lives transformed while learning to live the gospel in the city.
At Gateway Philadelphia we have 5 main values:
It’s because of these 5 values that we want:
- Committed Community
- Identity in Christ
- Discipleship
- Spiritual Formation
- The Gospel of Reconciliation
It’s because of these 5 values that we want:
1. To experience and model committed community that is practical, deep, and diverse and reproducible.
- Common occurrences of conflict followed by reconciliation encouragement and coaching in a grace filled space.
- Combination of individual character growth and mission in context of community living within the North Philly community.
- Empowerment by community and with community towards loving neighbors well.
- Challenging individualistic mission and communal mission.
2. To grow in our identity in Christ by pursuing issues of race, ethnicity, gender, and class.
- We will engage in deep and regular scripture study; both personal study and group study.
- Growing in self awareness (how God created you, family, gender, ethnicity) by living in a grace filled and diverse community.
- Healing of thoughts or previous pains brought up by the working of Jesus in community and scripture.
- Becoming aware and personally facing ones own sin as one chooses to engage in the different topics of the week.
- Growing in an awareness of goodness of God and his grace in the everyday.
3. To form a deeper understanding of discipleship.
- Giving ourselves to where we are and noticing God at work.
- Pressing past our fears to take risks towards loving others and meeting Jesus along the way.
- Character development through self-awareness, feedback, and staff coaching.
4. To experience and practice spiritual formation.
- Practicing and implementing different spiritual formation practices in our lives.
- Growing and expanding our small picture of God and being drawn closer to him.
- Encouraged spiritual disciplines will be sabbath, silence, worship, celebration, study and more.
5. To see the gospel expanded to the restoration of all things including individual lives and whole communities.
- Teaching and seeing how Jesus is good news in the city.
- Awareness that individuals need Jesus as well as systems and structures.
- Jesus is the one who can renew and give us hope.