Every living organism has “DNA” that makes the organism unique. Evergreen has a spiritual “DNA” that makes us different from other churches. Evergreen’s “DNA.” is our core values. As individual Christians have a unique calling to serve and reveal God in the world, so do individual churches. While every church is called to fulfill the same basic commission—the Great Commission--how a church fulfills it will be unique. Each church has a unique calling. And Evergreen has a unique calling that is summarized by the acronym ATTRACT. This is the “DNA” of Evergreen that makes Evergreen who we are.
Our supreme desire is to glorify God. Our love for God and devotion to Him must be our deepest passion and greatest motivation—more than possessions, human relationships, and personal accomplishments, including ministry accomplishments (Matt. 22:37; Phil. 3: 7,8).
God’s grace through Jesus Christ is our bedrock and power supply for our salvation, our life in Christ and our ministry, both individually and as churches (2 Cor. 9:8).
We aspire to wholehearted devotion to God through prayer, studying, memorizing, meditating upon, obeying, and teaching His Word as individuals (Ezra 7:10).
Christian maturity is a work of God by the Holy Spirit. We do not believe that simply being a Christian a long time, or acquiring Bible knowledge, makes a person mature. Rather, obedience to God’s word over time is the primary factor in becoming spiritually mature (Ps. 111:10).
God’s purpose for every believer is to make us like His Son (Rom. 8:29).
The church is His main tool for growing believers (Ephesians 4:11-16). The holy example of leaders is a critical ingredient toward a holy church (Luke 6:40). Pastors/elders are to be appointed based upon the character qualities described in 1Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9.
In order to insure leaders of integrity, our practice has been to train and recognize pastors and leaders within the local church. Additional training (such as Bible schools or seminaries) is viewed not as a qualification for a pastor, but rather a possible supplement to the equipping of a pastor within the church.
Our practice is a plurality of pastors/ elders leadership model with pastors having equal authority in the church, rather than a traditional senior pastor model. Plurality provides greater accountability and balance.
In order to insure the future of Evergreen, we must deliberately pass the baton of faith to the emerging generation (Psalm 78:4-7).
Strong families are the key to the emerging generation. Therefore we make it a priority to equip parents to build their marriages and families. Strong families are a strong relational foundation for strong churches (Eph. 5: 22- Eph. 6:4).
Each parent, not the church, is responsible for their child’s upbringing in matters of spiritual, academic, and personal training. The means each parent uses to fulfill this responsibility will vary—and includes the parent choosing other people or institutions in that training such as local churches, home school resources, public schools, and Christian school (Eph. 6:4).
Every person in any stage of life (single, single parent, empty-nester, etc.) is important to God. Therefore, we are committed to serving all generations.
Good deeds glorify God (Matt. 5:14-16). Rather than a clergy-laity system, we affirm the “priesthood of all believers.” All Christians are “priests (1 Peter 2: 5, 9).” We are empowered through the Holy Spirit to worship God and be workers in the church and the world.
The pastors have the responsibility to train and equip the members in ministry, but not to actually perform all of the ministry of the church (Ephesians 4:11-16). Every member a “minister,” every pastor an “ad-minister.”
God desires each member to utilize his/her unique spiritual gifts in ministry (1 Pet. 4:10, 11).
Out of our love for God and people (The Great Commandment), our mission as individuals and as a church is to fulfill the Great Commission--making disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that Christ commanded (Matthew 28:18-20).
God’s desire is that every individual in the church “own” the Great Commission—that, in one sense, we are all “missionaries” wherever we are located. All believers are to be “on mission”, to do their part in reaching their city, nation and the world for Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 2:9).
Because the work of evangelism is often neglected by God’s people, we place emphasis on evangelism as a primary duty for believers (John 20:21).
We seek to be “culturally relevant” to those we are trying to reach with the gospel (1 Cor. 9:20-23).
The local church is God’s primary vehicle for accomplishing the Great Commission—winning people to Christ, building them to maturity, raising up leaders, and sending teams to start new churches (1 Tim. 3:15).
Our goal to spread the Good News through the multiplication of services, locations, churches, leaders and laborers. While God uses and honors many other types of organizations to further His work in the world, we feel called by God to emphasize the church. At the same time, we desire to partner with other organizations and churches to reach the world for Christ. Evergreen is only one part of God’s great effort of reaching the world.
We strongly revere the “doctrine of love and unity” within all of Christendom. God desires unity between believers as a high priority and we strive to maintain a unity with every believer (Eph. 4:3).
We believe in an elder-led (versus a congregational led) structure because it promotes and encourages unity in the church.
Because of a commitment to unity, we are pursuing an unusual and cutting-edge ministry approach: “One church family, many church locations.” Evergreen is a multi-site church that allows for greater efficiency and collaboration.