About Us
ABOUT
Who We Are
We are a multi-generational and culturally diverse community of people, all of which are on a spiritual journey. While some have known Jesus for decades, others have just begun their journey and some are just now investigating the claims of Christ for the very first time. Some are yet to darken the doors of our building. Wherever you are in your spiritual journey, we are a place where you can feel at home. Whether you are single, married, divorced, young, old or somewhere in between, there is a place here where you can connect. We welcome you to join us on this amazing adventure of love and growth!
Our Mission Statement
In the simplest of terms Sugarloaf Baptist Church exists
to Reach Up, Reach Out, and Reach In!
Reaching Up
In Matthew 22:37-38 Jesus tells us that the most important commandment is to love God with all of our heart, soul, and mind. As a result, our goal is to increasingly know and love our God and experience His presence in our lives and church.
Reaching Out
In Matthew 22:39-42 Jesus also tells us that the second most important command of God is to love our neighbors as ourselves. As a result, our desire and goal is to be the heart, hands and feet of Jesus. We want to reach out with His love, compassion, and message in and from our own community all the way to the ends of the earth.
Reaching In
In the book of Acts we see that one of the most important actions of the early church was meeting together with great frequency in order to experience fellowship or community. As Acts 2:42 tells us…They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. As a result, our desire and goal is to build and strengthen our relationships by gathering together in various groups and settings for bible study, fellowship, meals, and prayer. SBC is not a building you go to, it’s a family you can belong to.
Core Values
At SBC we recognize that the overall purpose and mission of the New Testament church has been determined by Christ, who is the head of the Church. However, we also believe that churches can be extremely unique and distinct from one another. This is because each church’s setting and community is unique. Additionally, each church’s members have different natural talents, spiritual gifts and are motivated by various experiences, callings and passions. As a result, each church must seek God’s direction and discover its own niche, special focus, and or calling card. With this in mind SBC has prayerfully sought God for its own unique identity and niche. From this identity we have developed our own set of core values. These are the principles that set the direction of SBC and its ministries, thus keeping us on track to fulfill our mission statement!
Our Core Values
Catch the Wind
We Value our uniqueness. We believe that each church and its setting is unique. Therefore, we will be a Church that seeks the direction and enablement of the Holy Spirit to discover and fulfill our distinct mission. We are not looking to be like or follow the model another church. Nor do we seek to follow the direction of the latest best selling author or even what we have done in the years gone past. Instead, we want to tune into what the Holy Spirit desires specifically for us in the here and now, with an eye on the future. We realize that God has planted us in our own unique setting to be relevant for such a time as this and in such a place as this. Metaphorically speaking, since the Holy Spirit is the wind as He is described in scripture, then we want to be a sailboat. At SBC we are hoisting the sails, catching the wind, and setting sail on an adventure to go wherever and do whatever the Spirit leads!
Worship / Experience God
We value authentic and experiential worship. We believe that God has created us and called us to be in a special relationship with Him. Therefore, we desire to experience Him personally, as families, and corporately through prescribed activities. We value personal, familial, and corporate worship of God. We desire to be a church that meets with God and experiences His presence in our personal, family, and corporate contexts. We don’t wish go through the motions of religious activities…we want to experience God’s presence
Let’s go Fishing
We value God’s love for all people and His desire to have a relationship with each man, woman and child through Jesus Christ. We acknowledge that we have been both entrusted with the responsibility of declaring this Good News and called to be ‘Fishers of Men’. SBC will be a church that goes fishing corporately and personally. We understand the work of evangelism includes cultivation, sowing, reaping and reproducing disciples who will continue the work of evangelism.
Mature / Discipleship
We value the process of Christian discipleship and maturity (Ephesians 4:11-13). We believe that Jesus has called each believer to be a disciple and follow him on journey of spiritual maturity and christlikeness. Therefore, SBC will be a church that strives to help disciples deepen and grow through teaching, training, modeling and mentoring.
Hands and Feet
We value servanthood. We recognize our calling to be the hands and feet of Jesus to each other and our community! Furthermore, we believe that the Holy Spirit has gifted each believer with spiritual gifts and natural abilities to serve the church and community. In other words, every member is a minister. Therefore, we will seek to help each member discover and effectively utilize his/her gifts and abilities to serve others.
Fellowship/ Community
We value the biblical concept of community and or fellowship. In other words, the gathering together of believers in Jesus Christ to share and do life together. The bible teaches that community and fellowship are indispensable ingredients of the local church and that we were made for community. As a result, we will devote ourselves to meeting together, eating together, and sharing with one another.
Family
We value the Family Unit! We believe that the family unit is a God-ordained institution and the basic building block in God’s blueprint for society. Therefore, we highly value the family and understand our responsibility to strengthen it through our ministries. We are committed to building healthy, fruitful, and vibrant Christian families through meaningful and exciting ministries for each member of the family.
To the ends of the earth
We Value the world! We recognize our mission field is broader than our own community. We understand that Jesus has commanded us to go and make disciples of all nations. We will obey this command by giving financial and physical support both directly and indirectly.