Who We Are

TRUTH

KNOW AND LOVE THE GOD WHO KNOWS AND LOVES YOU

The gospel is the good news that we can enjoy a relationship with God and bring renewal to the world through the work, record, and performance of Jesus, rather than through our own performance. The gospel is how we both get in and grow in the Christian life. This message changes us from the inside out, transforming our hearts and our behavior. The gospel frees us to continually discover and say, “I am more broken and sinful than I ever dared believe, but in Jesus I am more loved and accepted than I ever dared hope.” This provides a radically new orientation to life and work for everyone. The gospel of grace frees us from the idols that enslave us— frees us to live for God’s glory, not our own.

What every human wants is to be both known and loved. The gospel announces that because of Jesus, we can have this: we can be known and loved by God. Jesus changes everything. Jesus gives his disciples a new identity, a new record, a new power, and a new future. The gospel is the driving center of everything we are and everything we do as a church. We not only proclaim the gospel, we aim to create a gospel culture at Parkway.

We value the Truth, which means we commit to know and love the God who knows and loves us.

LOVE

KNOW AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER

Through the gospel, we gain a new family of deep and diverse friendships with brothers and sisters in Christ who come from all walks of life. The church is not a meeting you attend, it is a network of relationships you belong to—a big family that’s built upon grace and is busy pursuing Jesus’ mission together. As we do life together as members of a family, knowing and loving one another, our community will notice. “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). We gather and scatter in our community no longer living for ourselves, but as connected and committed members of a family/body.

In community, Jesus changes us and uses us. He shrinks our pride and surfaces our gifts. We come to see that all people stand on equal ground at the foot of the cross, giving us a freeing humility that welcomes the messy and glorious work of being a family and finding our unique place in the family.

The church family is modeled after our Triune God—Father, Son, and Spirit—who have eternally enjoyed loving, servant-hearted community, yet with each member of the Trinity exercising different roles. Both men and women are equal and lead in our family, yet in a way that honors the distinctive leadership role God has given qualified men as the head of their homes and as pastors.

We value family, which means we commit to know and love one another.

COMMUNITY

KNOW AND LOVE YOUR COMMUNITY

We are a church of missionaries, a church where every member is on mission to declare and demonstrate the gospel to our community, yet in unique ways that are true to who we are and the unique vocations to which God has called us. Disciple-making isn’t something we add to our lives, it’s something we weave through all that we do as part of the diverse ways we’re each called to know and love our community. God wants us to thrive in our daily lives, and minister through our daily interactions. We must carry out our callings with excellence, thoughtfulness, and prayer in the homes, neighborhoods, and workplaces where God has placed us.

We do our most fruitful mission work by living out our ordinary lives with gospel intentionality, not through attending a busy schedule of religious activities. As we each explore and discover who we are and the unique work God has called us to do, we will be a church that touches lives in our community.

We value community, which means we commit to know and love our city and surrounding areas