Mission / Vision

MISSION: 

Catalyze a Decentralized Network of Ordinary People who are Continuing Jesus’ Mission in Portland and Beyond.

VISION:

We envision a reality where followers of Jesus are valued for their character and generosity toward people in their communities; demonstrating God’s presence in ways that transform neighborhoods, equip ordinary people to become His heroes, and draw new people into His family.

A DECENTRALIZED MODEL:

We believe we have discovered a way of empowering the Church that inverts conventional notions about who can lead and what it looks like, which prioritizes mission over all other enterprise.  Rather than relying on clergy and paid staff to do the work of ministry, who then recruit volunteers to carry-out a centralized vision to attract potential new members; our approach moves the emphasis to empowering ordinary people to live as missionaries, launching new ministries through discipleship and leadership development. The result is a decentralized expression of church that revives mission, exponentially multiplying the impact of the Church in the world.  

We call these unique church expressions "Microchurches," but you can call them whatever you want.  The important thing is that we get serious about "equipping the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ" (Eph. 4:12).

A "BEAUTIFUL MESS"

We inspire, equip, train, network, pray for, coach, support, and celebrate every individual who desires to know and respond to God's unique calling on his/her life...without any predetermined model.  This is a distributive, rather than a centralized, manifestation of Church.  We gather occasionally for teaching, worship, prayer, encouragement and camaraderie...so that we can effectively scatter constantly to re-present Jesus to the world around us.  So this is not a centralized thing that looks like a finely-tuned machine, but a de-centralized network that's constantly developing, adapting, expanding....and it's a bit messy.