CORE VALUES
Believing that all people are created in the image of God, are objects of His love, and have value and dignity imparted by God, Abundant Life follows the 8 Key Components articulated by the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA):
- RECONCILIATION – Seeking to reconcile people to God, themselves, and one another through mutually transformative relationships
- LISTENING TO THE COMMUNITY – Hearing and acting upon the ideas, hopes, assets, and felt needs of Prospect residents
- CHURCH-BASED – Churches should be seen as lovers of their communities and neighborhoods. Partnering with local churches is key to sustained community development
- HOLISTIC APPROACH – Concerned with all parts of each person’s being – including the spiritual, physical, emotional, relational, economic, and other domains
- LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT – Raising up Christian leaders from Prospect who are committed to leading and serving the neighborhood
- EMPOWERMENT – Developing individual and collective resources and assets as a means to achieve their goals
- RELOCATION – Living and serving in community with our neighbors
- REDISTRIBUTION – When the people of God are living in community and loving their neighbors, just distribution of resources will follow
STATEMENT OF FAITH
The work of Abundant Life is guided by the CCDA Statement of Faith:
The Lord Jesus Christ, God’s son, redeems us through His death and resurrection and empowers us by the Holy Spirit. The Bible is God’s Word and through it we are called to live out justice, reconciliation, and redemption. The church nurtures God’s people gathered in a community to carry out God’s Word.
Doctrinally, we follow the NAE Statement of Faith, as adopted by the National Association of Evangelicals, and the Apostles’ Creed:
NAE Statement of Faith
We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.
We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.
We believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful people, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.
We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.
We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.
We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary, Suffered under Pontius Pilate, Was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell; The third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty; From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; The Holy catholic Church, the Communion of Saints; The Forgiveness of sins; The Resurrection of the body, And the Life everlasting. Amen.