Introduction
Follow Jesus
Invite your neighbors
Train disciples
We enjoy life together with God, by following Jesus, inviting our neighbors, and training disciples, from Rockland to the ends of the earth.
Life with God is life under God and life for God. To follow Jesus is to put self in a position to be transformed by Jesus. To follow Jesus is the main activity of what the Bible calls a disciple.
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Therefore, we make disciples of Jesus who in turn make disciples of Jesus.
To help our neighbors follow Jesus is to love them, in Jesus' name. Our neighbors are the people God allows us to be near to, as we go through our daily lives, at home, work, school, the gym, movies, both in person and virtually.
Connexion is central to our life: connexion with God, connexion with followers of Jesus, connexion with others, connexion to give, to get, to bless; connexion to help people connect with both God and their neighbors; connexion in-person and virtual connexion, from Rockland to the ends of the earth.
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Connexion
We value simple and authentic relationships with God and our neighbors;
Affection
We value God-honoring, good-seeking, self-giving compassion, in words and deeds, without favoritism;
Declaration
We value: (1) truth; (2) honesty; and (3) the courageous and humble sharing of the Good News of Jesus, in plain language, to people with whom we connect;
Replication
We value making disciples of Jesus who make disciples of Jesus, and planting healthy churches that plant healthy churches;
Emanation
We value generosity by encouraging and sending our best to bless others, through the planting of Jesus communities.
Imagine a church...
A welcoming church: being hospitable and building authentic relationships.
A living church: valuing family, children, and youth; celebrating God and joy-filled life with Christ; expressing itself through the arts; and thinking deeply about our society.
A unifying church: being a crossroads for meeting and reconciliation; acknowledging and supporting; forgiving and encouraging; using French, English, and Frenglish freely.
A Good-News church: sharing the Good News of Jesus; engaging the current reality of Rockland and its surroundings; helping each person follow Jesus; and equipping people to help their neighbors follow Jesus; training and sending missionaries generously.
A compassionate church: involved in the community; fighting the social ills of Rockland; and participating in the development of the city.
Imagine a network...
Disciples making disciples
Churches working together to plant and replant churches
Christians partnering to bless people groups, in the name of Jesus
Church planting teams focusing on the people of Rockland (Francophones and Anglophones), and extending our attention to Orleans, Hawkesbury, and beyond
Imagine Connexion Rockalnd...
Our vision is to help establish a network of connected, multiplying, Jesus-following communities, starting in Rockland, Ontario, Canada.
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Connexion
We connect with God through frequent, individual or group-based prayer, singing, and engagement with the Bible (including reading, listening, memorizing, studying, meditating, and applying God's word); we seek to be good neighbors, e.g. by sharing a walk, a meal, a hobby, a sport, a cause, or a one-time or seasonal event;
Affection
We love by being grateful, patient, kind, generous, humble, polite, hopeful, and truthful, ceasing time to listen well and speak with compassion, with God's love, and pursuing God's will for all, in words and deeds, without favoritism;
Declaration
We communicate truth (including the Good News of Jesus), respectfully, humbly, courageously, and plainly, through various means, including conversations, songs, and blogs, sharing our experience of Jesus with our neighbors;
Replication
Through small-size life groups, we make disciples of Jesus who make disciples of Jesus, and, through a church planting residency program, we plant healthy churches that plant healthy churches;
Emanation
We live as ambassadors sent by Jesus -- ambassadors who bless others by leveraging a church residency program to encourage, train, and send our best, generously, to plant healthy multiplying churches.
Connexion
Rejecting isolation and self-centeredness, we connect frequently with God through individual and group-based prayer, singing, and engagement with the Bible (including reading, listening, memorizing, studying, meditating, and applying God's word) we are good neighbors, who share walks, meals, hobbies, sports, or causes with people around them;
Affection
Rejecting indifference, pride, and harshness, we love by being genuinely grateful, patient, kind, generous, humble, polite, hopeful, and truthful, taking the time to listen well and speak with compassion, pursuing the will of God for all, in words and deeds, without favoritism;
Declaration
Rejecting lies, cowardice, and disrespect, we communicate truth (including the Good News of Jesus), respectfully, humbly, courageously, and plainly, through various means, including everyday conversations, songs, and blogs, sharing our experience of Jesus with our neighbors;
Replication
Rejecting idleness, we make disciples of Jesus who make disciples of Jesus, through small-size Life Groups and mid-size Community Groups, and, we leverage a church planting residency program, to plant healthy churches that plant healthy churches;
Emanation
Rejecting selfishness, we live as ambassadors sent by Jesus -- ambassadors who bless others by leveraging a church residency program to encourage, train, and send our best, generously, to plant healthy multiplying churches.
Commit Freely
Having, as we trust, been brought by divine grace (Eph 2:8) to repent from our sins and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ (Mar 1:15, Rom 10:9), and to give up ourselves to him (Jam 4:7-8), and having been baptized upon our profession of faith (Act 2:41, 4:4, 8:12), in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit (Mat 28:18-20), we do now, relying on His gracious aid (2 Cor 9:8), freely, solemnly and joyfully covenant with one another (Heb 10:23-25) to form one local body in Christ (1 Cor 12:12).
Honor Jesus in All
We will seek, by divine aid, to live carefully in the world (1 Pet 1:15, Eph 5:3,18, Phil 2:14-16), denying ungodliness and worldly lusts (Tit 2:11-12), and living in the path of righteousness all the days of our life (Ps 23:3). We will remember that, as we have identified with Christ, in His death and resurrection, there is on us a special obligation now to lead a new and holy life (Rom 6:4).
Work Together
Having been called to be disciples of Jesus, who make disciples of Jesus, who in turn make disciples of Jesus (Mat 28:19-20), we will work together for the continuance of a faithful evangelical ministry in this church, as we sustain its worship to God, service (Ex 4:23), ordinances, discipline, and doctrines (Mat 18:15-18, 26:26-28, 2 Tim 1:13-14, Mat 28:18-20). We will responsibly steward our spiritual gifts to the service of this church and the community at large. We will contribute cheerfully and regularly to the support of the ministry, the expenses of the church, the relief of the poor, and the spread of the Gospel through all nations (1 Cor 16:2, 2 Cor 9:6-7, Lev 25:35, Mar 13:10). We will gladly cooperate with and submit ourselves to the elders of this church for the care of our souls, which is for our good (Heb 13:17). We will agree to the Statement of Beliefs and the principle of restorative church discipline upheld by this church (Mat 18:15-20).
Love our Neighbors
We will work and pray for the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph 4:1-3). We will walk together in brotherly love (Rom 12:10, Jn 13:34-35), exercise an affectionate care and watchfulness over one another and faithfully admonish and entreat one another as occasion may require (Gal 6:1-2, Luk 17:3-4, Heb 10:24-25). We will remember one another in our prayers (Jam 5:16, Eph 6:18, 1 Tim 2:1), help one another in sickness and distress, and cultivate sympathy and courtesy towards one another. We will be slow to be offended, ready to seek reconciliation, and, following the Lord’s exhortation, we will seek peace with all (Mat 5:23-24, Rom 12:18). We will not forsake the assembling of ourselves together (Heb 10:25), nor neglect to pray for ourselves and others (Jam 5:16, Eph. 6:18, 1 Tim 2:1). We will rejoice at one another’s happiness (Rom 12:15) and endeavor with tenderness and sympathy to bear one another’s burdens (Gal 6:2). We will endeavor to maintain family and personal devotions (Deu 6:7-9), to bring up all who are under our care in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Eph. 6:4), and by a pure and loving example to seek the salvation of our family and friends (Rom.10:1; 1 Cor. 9:20-22). We will be just in dealing with one another, and faithful in our commitments to one another. We will avoid idle talk, gossip, calumny, and sinful anger, and will be zealous in our efforts to expand Christ’s Kingdom in the world.
Continue to Follow Jesus
We will, when we move from this place, as soon as possible, unite with some other church where we can carry out the spirit of this covenant and the principles of God’s Word (Heb 10:23-25, Act 18:27, Rom 16:1-2, Phil 2:29). May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all. Amen. (2 Cor 13:14)
THE BIBLE
We believe that the Holy Bible, consisting of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, alone is the Word of God, being fully written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and therefore is without error in the original manuscripts and has supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct.
Ex 24:4; Deu 4:1-2; 17:19; Jo 8:34; Ps 19:7-10; 119:11,89,105,140; Isa 34:16; 40:8; Jer 15:16; 36:1-32; Mat 5:17-18; 22:29; Luk 21:33; 24:44-46; Jn 5:39; 16:13-15; 17:17; Ac 2:16; 17:11; Rom 15:4; 16:25-26; 2 Tim 3:15-17; Heb 1:1-2; 4:12; 1 Pet 1:25; 2 Pet 1:19-21
GOD
We believe that there is one living and true God, the Maker, Preserver and Ruler of all things, having in and of Himself all perfections and being infinite in them all. To Him all creatures owe the highest love, reverence, trust, and obedience.
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Mat 28:19; 2 Cor 13.14; Jude 20-21; Heb 1:3; Col 1:16-17; Ps 83:18; Heb 3:4; Jer 10:10; Ex 15:11; Ps 147:5; Isa 6:3; 1 Pet 1:15-16; Rev 4:6-8; Mark 12:30; Rev 4:11; Jer 2:12-13; Matt 28:19; John 15:26; 1 Cor 12:4-6; John 5:17; John 14:23; John 17:5,10; Acts 5:3-4; 1 Cor 2:10-11; Phil 2:5-6; Eph 2:18; 2 Cor.13:14; Rev 1:4-5
THE TRINITY
We believe that God eternally exists in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that these are without division of nature, essence, or being and equal in every divine perfection.
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Mat 28:19; John 10:30, 15:26; Isa 9:6; Gal 4:6; Rom 1:20
GOD THE FATHER
We believe that God the Father, a personal spirit, infallibly foreknows all that shall come to pass, including the future free choices of all humans and other moral beings, that he concerns himself mercifully in the affairs of humanity, that he hears and answers prayer, and that he saves from sin and death all who come to him through Jesus Christ.
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Gen 1:1; 2:7; Ex 3:14; 6:2-3; 15:11; 20:1; Lev 22:2; Deu 6:4; 32:6; 1 Chro 29:10; Ps 19:1-3; Isa 43:3, 15; 64:8; Jer 10:10; 17:13; Mat 6:9; 7:11; 23:9; 28:19; Mar 1:9-11; Jn 4:24; 5:26; 14:6-13; 17:1-8; Ac 1:7; Rom 8:14-15; 1 Cor 8:6; Gal 4:6; Eph 4:6; Col 1:15; 1 Tim 1:17; Heb 11:6; 12:9; 1 Pet 1:17; 1 Jn 5:7
JESUS CHRIST
We believe that Jesus Christ is God’s only begotten Son and is fully God and fully man. We believe in his virgin conception by the Holy Spirit, sinless life, miracles, and teachings. We believe in his substitutionary atoning death, bodily resurrection, ascension into heaven, perpetual intercession for his people, and personal, visible return to earth. We believe that he is the divinely appointed and only Mediator between God and man, the Prophet, Priest, and King of the Church, and Sovereign of the universe.
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Gen 18:1; Ps 2:7; 110:1; Isa 7:14; Isa 53:1-12; Mat 1:18-23; 3:17; 8:29; 11:27; 14:33; 16:16,27; 17:5; 27; 28:1-6,19; Mar 1:1; 3:11; Luke 1:35; 4:41; 22:70; 24:46; Jn 1:1-18,29; 10:30,38; 11:25-27; 12:44-50; 14:7-11; 16:15-16,28; 17:1-5, 21-22; 20:1-20,28; Ac 1:9; 2:22-24; 7:55-56; 9:4-5,20; Rom 1:3-4; 3:23-26; 5:6-21; 8:1-3,34; 10:4; 1 Cor 1:30; 2:2; 8:6; 15:1-8,24-28; 2 Cor 5:19-21; 8:9; Gal 4:4-5; Eph 1:20; 3:11; 4:7-10; Phil 2:5-11; Col 1:13-22; 2:9; 1 Thes 4:14-18; 1 Tim 2:5-6; 3:16; Tit 2:13-14; Heb 1:1-3; 4:14-15; 7:14-28; 9:12-15,24-28; 12:2; 13:8; 1 Pet 2:21-25; 3:22; 1 Jn 1:7-9; 3:2; 4:14-15; 5:9; 2 Jn 7-9; Rev 1:13-16; 5:9-14; 12:10-11; 13:8; 19:16
HOLY SPIRIT
We believe in the Holy Spirit who came forth from the Father and Son to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and to regenerate, sanctify, and empower all who believe in Jesus Christ. We believe that the Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Christ, and that He is an abiding helper, teacher and guide.
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Gen 1:2; Judges 14:6; Job 26:13; Ps 51:11; 139:7; Isa 61:1-3; Joel 2:28-32; Mat 1:18; 3:16; 4:1; 12:28-32; 28:19; Mar 1:10,12; Luk 1:35; 4:1,18-19; 11:13; 12:12; 24:49; Jn 4:24; 14:16-17,26; 15:26; 16:7-14; Ac 1:8; 2:1-4,38; 4:31; 5:3; 6:3; 7:55; 8:17,39; 10:44; 13:2; 15:28; 16:6; 19:1-6; Rom 8:9-11,14-16,26-27; 1 Cor 2:10-14; 3:16; 12:3-11,13; Gal 4:6; Eph 1:13-14; 4:30; 5:18; 1 Thess 5:19; 1 Tim 3:16; 4:1; 2 Tim 1:14; 3:16; Heb 9:8,14; 2 Pet 1:21; 1 Jn 4:13; 5:6-7; Rev 1:10; 22:17
PROVIDENCE
We believe that God from eternity decrees or permits all things that come to pass and perpetually upholds, directs and governs all creatures and all events, yet so as not in any way to be author or approver of sin nor to destroy the free will and responsibility of moral beings.
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Mat 25:34; Luk 1:68-79; 24:44-48; Jn 1:12-14; 6:65; Jn 10:27-29; 15:16; Jn 17:6, 12; Ac 17:24-31; Eph 1:11
THE FALL OF MAN
We believe that God originally created man and woman in His own image and free from sin, but they willfully sinned against God and thereby incurred physical, spiritual, and eternal death, which is separation from God, and that, as a consequence, all human beings are born with a nature corrupt and wholly opposed to God and His law, are sinners by choice, and are under condemnation.
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Gen 1:26-30; 2:5,7,18-22; 3; 9:6; Ps 1; 8:3-6; 32:1-5; 51:5; Isa 6:5; Jer 17:5; Mat 16:26; Ac 17:26-31; Rom 1:19-32; 3:10-18,23; 5:6,12,19; 6:6; 7:14-25; 8:14-18,29; 1 Cor 1:21-31; 15:19,21-22; Eph 2:1-22; Col 1:21-22; 3:9-11
REGENERATION
We believe regeneration is a change of heart, wrought by the Holy Spirit, who gives life to the dead in trespasses and sins, enlightening their minds spiritually and renewing their whole nature, so that they love and practice holiness.
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Jn 3:3-21; 10:28-29
REPENTANCE AND FAITH
We believe that salvation is conditioned upon genuine repentance and faith, which follow upon God’s gracious drawing of sinners through the gospel. Repentance occurs when a person, being by the Holy Spirit made sensible of the manifold evil of his sin, detests and forsakes it, humbling himself with godly sorrow and self-abhorrence, and endeavors to walk before God so as to please him in all things. Saving faith is the belief, on God’s authority, of whatever is revealed in his word concerning Christ and accepting and resting upon him alone for justification and eternal life. It is accompanied by all other saving graces and leads to a life of holiness.
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Mat 4:17; 16:21-26; Ac 17:30-31
John 1:11-14; 3:16; 3:36; 5:24; Ac 15:11; 16:30-31; Rom 1:16-18
JUSTIFICATION
We believe justification is God's gracious and full acquittal, from all sin, of sinners who believe in Christ; through the satisfaction that Christ has made, not by anything done by them, but on account of the obedience and satisfaction of Christ, they receive His righteousness by grace alone through faith alone.
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Gen 15:6; Rom 1:17; 3:27, 3-31; 4:2, 5, 15-17; 5:1; Gal 2:16
SANCTIFICATION
We believe that those who have been regenerated are also sanctified by God’s Word and the indwelling presence and power of the Holy Spirit. While it has a categorical beginning at the point of regeneration, sanctification is also progressive through the supply of divine strength, which all saints seek to obtain, pressing after a heavenly life in delightful obedience to all Christ's commands.
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Jn 15:1-16; 17:17; Ac 20:32; Rom 7:14-24
SAINTS
PERSEVERANCE OF THE
We believe that those whom God has accepted in Christ and sanctified by His Spirit will never totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace but shall certainly persevere to the end and though they may fall, through neglect and temptation, into sin, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, bring reproach on the Church and temporal judgments on themselves, yet they shall be renewed again unto repentance and be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.
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Jer 32:40; Mat 24:22; Jn 10:28; Rom 8:38-39; Eph 1:5; 4:30; Phil 1:6; 2 Tim 1:12; 1 Pet 1:5; 1 Jn 2:19; Jud 24;
THE CHURCH
We believe in the universal church, a living spiritual body of which the Lord Jesus Christ is the head and all regenerated persons are members. We believe in the autonomous local church, consisting of baptized believers in Jesus Christ, who have given a credible profession of faith and have covenanted together for worship, edification, discipline, fellowship, and spreading of the gospel. We believe that the scriptural offices are bishops/pastors/elders and deacons.
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Mat 16:15-19; 18:15-20; Ac 2:41-42,47; 5:11-14; 6:3-6; 13:1-3; 14:23,27; 15:1-30; 16:5; 20:28; Rom 1:7; 1 Cor 1:2; 3:16; 5:4-5; 7:17; 9:13-14; 12; Eph 1:22-23; 2:19-22; 3:8-11,21; 5:22-32; Phil1:1; Col 1:18; 1 Tim 2:9-14; 3:1-15; 4:14; Heb 11:39-40; 1 Pet 5:1-4; Rev 2-3; 21:2-3
THE ORDINANCES
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has committed two ordinances to the local church, baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Baptism is obligatory upon every believer, wherein a person is immersed in water in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, as a sign of their fellowship with the death and resurrection of Christ and of remission of sins. We believe that the Lord’s Supper is in no sense a sacrifice, but was instituted by Christ to commemorate his death, to confirm the faith and other graces of Christians, and to be a pledge and renewal of their communion with him and with each other. We believe that these two ordinances should be observed and administered until the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Mat 3:13-17; 26:26-30; 28:19-20; Mar 1:9-11; 14:22-26; Luk 3:21-22; 22:19-20; Jn 3:23; Ac 2:41-42; 8:35-39; 16:30-33; 20:7; Rom 6:3-5; 1 Cor 10:16,21; 11:23-29; Col 2:12
THE LAST THINGS
We believe in the personal and visible return of the Lord Jesus Christ to earth and the establishment of his kingdom. We believe in the resurrection of the body, the final judgment, the eternal joy of the righteous, and the endless suffering of the wicked.
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Isa 2:4; 11:9; Mat 16:27; 18:8-9; 19:28; 24:27,30,36,44; 25:31-46; 26:64; Mar 8:38; 9:43-48; Luk 12:40,48; 16:19-26; 17:22-37; 21:27-28; Jn 14:1-3; Ac 1:11; 17:31; Rom 14:10; 1 Cor 4:5; 15:24-28,35-58; 2 Cor 5:10; Phil 3:20-21; Col 1:5; 3:4; 1 Thes 4:14-18; 5:1; 2 Thes 1:7; 2; 1 Tim 6:14; 2 Tim 4:1,8; Tit 2:13; Heb 9:27-28; Jam 5:8; 2 Pet 3:7ff.; 1 Jn 2:28; 3:2; Jud 14; Rev 1:18; 3:11; 20:1-22:13
