Our Mission

Ebenezer Church of the Nazarene exists as a vehicle for identity, community and compassion.

Identity

This is the first aspect of our mission. It involves connecting with people whose lives have become dislocated from their true source. We believe each individual has been created as a bearer of a piece of the Divine Image, each of us reflecting a particular aspect of who God is. Unfortunately this is often burried under baggage we have picked up along our journey. Some of us choose this baggage, others are handed it without being given a choice. Either way, many of us are stuck in lives and patterns that are not allowing us to step in to who we have truly been created to be. As we begin to reconnect with our Creator we are able to begin shedding the baggage that has bogged us down and kept us from embracing who He has said we are. We then are freed to begin discovering who we truly are in Christ.

Community

As we begin to embrace the truth of who God says we are we then are able to come to the Body for the sake of the Body rather than ourselves. As each member of the Body brings their unique gifts and abilities to the table we soon find the Kingdom of God forming in our midst. This is what Paul is talking about in Ephesians 4:12 where he explains the reason behind God giving distinguishing gifts to members of His body, namely, "to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." By ourselves we cannot come to a full understanding of who Christ is. It is in the midst of our collaboration, in the midst of us bringing our unique gifts to the table for the good of the whole that we begin to catch a glimpse of the fullness of Christ and, at the same time, move towards a fuller understanding of who we are. As with our identity, it is only in and through Christ that these things are possible. Though the word "community" has been tossed around and used up a bit lately we believe it is what God has called us to as the Body of Christ and seek to discover its true definition in Him.

Compassion

Compassion is what happens when the Body, functioning properly together, gives itself freely to the world in which it lives. As the Body of Christ we have been called to embody the redemptive presence of Jesus in our world. Through a compassionate presence in our world we seek to participate in the ushering in of the Kingdom which is coming and even now is in our midst. As we embrace those around us our prayer is that in they would sense the arms of Christ embracing and inviting them to discover life in the Kingdom.