WHO WE ARE
OUR MISSION
God has planted VRBC in a beautifully diverse community. The area around our church is filled with people from a rich tapestry of ethnic, socioeconomic, political, and religious backgrounds. Tragically, many of these people are disconnected – from God and from one another. We believe God has intentionally placed us here to invite these beautifully diverse and tragically disconnected people to find unity in one glorious calling: passionately following Jesus together.
OUR VALUES
BIBLICALLY
ROOTED
Shaped and directed by God’s Word.
STORY
TELLERS
Celebrating God’s work in our lives.
UNDER
CONSTRUCTION
More like Jesus every day.
HILARIOUSLY
GENEROUS
Serving and giving with joy.
HAPPILY
THIRD
God first, others second.
DIFFERENT
TOGETHER
Unique, yet one.
OUR CORE BELIEFS
GOD
God is the infinitely perfect creator and sustainer of everyone and everything, eternally existing as one God in three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is sovereign over all of creation and is unchangeable in his power, perfection, goodness, glory, wisdom, justice, truth, and love.
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Genesis 1:1; Exodus 3:14; Isaiah 46:9-10; Mark 1:9-11; John 14:9; 1 Corinthians 8:6;
2 Corinthians 13:14; Colossians 1:16-17; 1 Timothy 1:17; James 1:17
THE BIBLE
The Bible, written by people through divine inspiration, is the record of God’s revelation of himself to man. It is completely true and authoritative in all areas of faith and practice and is the supreme standard by which all human conduct and religious belief should be measured.
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Psalm 19:7-10; Isaiah 40:8; Matthew 5:17-18; John 5:39; Romans 15:4; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; Hebrews 4:12
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The Bible tells the following story of the universe:
CREATION
By his powerful word, God created the universe and everything in it. God created humans male and female in his own image to know, love, and glorify him. We are meant to reflect his goodness and love into the world and to steward and care for his good creation.
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Genesis 1:1, 26-30; Psalm 8:4-6, 33:6; Matthew 22:39
CORRUPTION
Through the temptation of Satan, the first humans sinned against God. By choosing their own way over God’s, they fell from their original innocence. As a result, all humans inherited a corrupt nature that is opposed to God. This sinful nature and our own willful rejection of God’s commands have corrupted God’s good creation, leading to brokenness and death.
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Genesis 3:1-24; Psalm 51:5; Romans 3:23
COVENANT
Despite our sin, God did not reject humanity. Instead, he made a covenant with Abraham and his family, promising to be their God and to bless the world through them. Even though God’s people continually turned their back on him, he was faithful to his covenant and steadfast in his love. Through his holy prophets, he promised to send a Messiah who would save people from their sins.
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Genesis 12:1-3, 15:1-6; Isaiah 53:1-12; Jeremiah 31:31-34
CHRIST
In the fullness of time, God sent his Son, Jesus, to earth to fulfill the Law and Prophets and to rescue and redeem his people. Fully God and fully human, Jesus was born of a virgin and lived a sinless life. After his ministry of teaching about the Kingdom of God and manifesting its power through miraculous works, he was crucified, died, and was buried. On the third day, God bodily raised him from the dead, and he appeared to numerous people before he ascended into heaven. Through his death and resurrection, Jesus served as the substitute for all who receive him through faith, demonstrating the love of God, bearing in his flesh the just penalty for sin, and securing ultimate victory over sin and death.
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Matthew 5:17, 17:5, 20:28; Luke 1:26-38, 68-79, 2:1-14, 4:43, 10:9; John 1:1-14; Romans 3:21-26, 5:6-8; 1 Corinthians 15:3-8; Galatians 4:4-5; Colossians 2:13-15; Hebrews 4:15
CHURCH
After Jesus ascended to heaven, God sent the Holy Spirit to permanently fill every person who puts their trust in Christ. The Spirit convicts of sin, guides believers into truth, transforms their character, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which Christians serve God through his Church.
In his wisdom, God created a community of fellow believers called the Church. The Church is the Body of Christ on earth, and its purpose is to continue his work of making disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything he has commanded us. This work is to be fulfilled by all the members of the church through the power of the Holy Spirit.
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Matthew 16:15-19, 28:18-20; John 16:8-14; Acts 1:8, 2:1-4, 42-47; 1 Corinthians 1:2, 12:4-11; Galatians 5:22-23; Ephesians 1:13-14, 22-23, 4:15-16; 1 Peter 4:10-11
COMING
In God’s perfect timing, Jesus will physically, visibly, personally, and gloriously return to earth. The dead will be raised, and Jesus will judge all people in righteousness. All those who are not in Christ will be eternally separated from God’s presence, while all those who are in Christ will, in their new and glorious bodies, live and reign with him forever in the new heavens and the new earth.
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Acts 17:31; Philippians 3:20-21; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17; 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9; Hebrews 9:28;
2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 1:7, 22:5
SALVATION
Salvation is a gift freely offered to all who repent (turn from their sins to God) and receive Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. It is received by grace alone through faith in the Lord Jesus and his redeeming blood shed for us.
When we are saved, we are justified (forgiven and made right with God), regenerated (born again as a new creation and given a new nature), and adopted (welcomed into God’s family). As we follow Jesus, the Holy Spirit sanctifies us (transforms us so that we grow in holiness). When Christ returns, we will be glorified (resurrected, given new bodies, and made to live and reign with Jesus forever).
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John 1:12, 3:16; Acts 2:38; Romans 5:1, 10:9-10; 1 Corinthians 15:35-58; 2 Corinthians 3:18, 5:17; Galatians 4:4-5; Ephesians 1:7, 2:8-10; Philippians 3:20-21; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 John 1:9
BAPTISM AND LORD'S SUPPER
We celebrate two ordinances: Believer’s Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
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Baptism is an act of obedience where a follower of Jesus is immersed in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an outward picture of an inward reality - the lowering of the person under the water symbolizes the death and burial of their old life, and the raising of the person out of the water symbolizes their participation in Jesus’ resurrection and the new life they have in him.
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Matthew 3:16-17, 28:18-20; Acts 16:31-33; Romans 6:3-4; Colossians 2:12
The Lord’s Supper, also called Communion, is a symbolic act of obedience where followers of Jesus, through taking the bread and the cup, remember and proclaim his redeeming death, signify their unity with other members of his body, and anticipate his return.
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Matthew 26:26-28; Luke 22:19; 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, 11:23-26; Revelation 19:9