At Farmstead, it is our desire to build a culture in our church that is built around the belief and proclamation that God is great and what He offers us in Christ is greater than anything the world can offer. We believe this culture is built around 5 markers.
A Majestic View of God
In his book The Knowledge of the Holy, AW Tozer writes, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” What we think about God influences every aspect of our lives, as spouses, as parents, as employees, as neighbors, and especially as Christians. The Bible declares the majestic greatness of God and the more we can see and understand what the Bible has to say about God, the more we will love Him and follow Him and want to tell other people about Him. It is our goal to be driven by a big, Biblical view of God.
Sufficiency of Scripture
We completely agree with the Bible’s self-proclamation that it is the word of God (2 Timothy 3:16-17, Hebrews 4:12). Because it is God’s word, it is true and there are no lies or falsehoods in it. We believe the Bible is sufficient to show us who God is, who we are, why we so desperately need Him, and what He has done to draw us to Himself. The Bible is the center of our teaching at Farmstead as we strive to build a foundation of truth for us to stand on, in the good and difficult times.
Family
In Deuteronomy 6, God establishes the family as a method of discipleship. We believe God has given parents the main responsibility of discipleship in the home. A partnership exists between the church and the family to see children, youth, and adults grow in their faith. It is our goal to equip and encourage parents and guardians to impact the faith of their children in a beneficial way. It is our goal to help build a foundation of Biblical truth for children and youth so when they become adults, they know what they believe and can stand boldly for Christ.
Outreach
God has not called the church to sit in a building but to take the truth of who Jesus is and what He has done for us into the highways and byways. We are called to be light in the darkness. We are called to make disciples. At Farmstead, we want to be active in making disciples. This starts with sharing the gospel. Telling people who Jesus is and what He has done for us. We want to be active in missions, across the street and around the world. God has given us the greatest gift ever, we should look for every opportunity to share it.
Unity
Without unity, none of the other cultural markers are possible. If we are not unified, then we will fail in every other area. We find our unity in Jesus. We find our unity our faith and our desire to follow Christ. Because of this we love each other, we forgive each other, we speak truth to each other, we do not give a foothold to lies or gossip, and we fight for this because God has commanded it and because we do not want to be ineffective in reaching others for Christ. We are unified in Christ and it shows in everything we do as a church.