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RiverTree DNA

RiverTree DNA is the unique personality of RiverTree.

Reaching lost people

It was Jesus’ top priority. It’s ours as well. Jesus risked his reputation for people who were away from God and so will we – as a church and as individuals. Our God proved that He is a God anyone can come to and so we will be people that anyone can come to. We will do anything short of sin in order to be “all things to all people so that we might win some.” We are called to “go” into the world and help people come back to God.

Matthew 28:19-20, Luke 19:10, I Corinthians 9:22

Intentional life transformation

God loves us just the way we are but too much to leave us this way. Jesus taught clearly that the goal of salvation is life transformation and he left his Holy Spirit with us for that very purpose. Salvation and transformation are inseparable. At RiverTree we expect every Jesus-follower, from children to adults, to be growing regularly. We believe this happens best as people continually come closer to God, continually grow together as disciples of Jesus, and as they go serve the world in Jesus’ name.

Matthew 28:19-20, Colossians 2:6-15, Matthew 5-7, Romans 8:29,12:1-2

Excellence

It honors God and inspires people. The lack of excellence communicates to people that God is not important or that we don’t care about them. We want to be excellent in all we do, but not perfect. We want to give our best, but we will also offer grace generously when mistakes happen. Excellence is so important that in most cases we will only start or continue something if we can do it with excellence. Whether it’s our communication and music, how we hold babies in the nursery or how we take care of the building, we want to bring our “A game”.

Colossians 3:23, Malachi 1:8

Cultural relevance

Jesus became a real person to minister to real people. The church must do the same. We will maintain the incredible message of Scripture and try to deliver it in the most culturally relevant way possible to both Christians and to those still away from God. It may mean we use drama, movie clips, popular songs or TV shows to help move people from where they are on to God’s agenda. So, whether its our publications, our messages, or our conversations with friends, we want to engage 21st century people in a 21st century way.

Acts 17:22-31, Matthew 9:10, Matthew 11:19

Serving - in the name of Jesus

We are most like God when we serve, because he is a servant at heart. We know too that when we serve, it changes us. We forget ourselves as we become part of God’s larger plan in this world. Serving those on the margin of society will always take priority in our service as the Bible commands. We serve people because Jesus first served us.

Philippians 2:1-15, James 1:27, Matthew 20:28

Children

We will invest in and love children for who they are right now and for how they will transform the future. They are made in God’s image and we have the wonderful privilege of teaching them who God is and learning from them how to trust Him. Children are not just a way to get to the parents, they are human beings created in God's image and an absolute treasure. Our hearts are especially drawn to the children at risk around the world.

Matthew 11:25, Matthew 18:3, Matthew 19:13-14, Matthew 21:15-16

Transformational Bible Teaching

The Bible is God’s Word and is to be used for transformation, not just information. At RiverTree, we don’t assume that everyone knows the Bible, but we assume that everyone is open to exploring it. The Bible is our ultimate authority for living and leading and so we will teach it as clearly as we can, using the most effective methods, so that people will hear and their lives will be changed. In our classes, seminars, and our weekend gatherings, we will trust the teaching primarily to those with the spiritual gift of teaching.

Romans 10:14-15, II Timothy 3:14-17, Matthew 7:24-27, James 1:22-25

Prayer

God’s power is unleashed through the prayers of his people. Prayer is our lifeline to God and the way we maintain the relationship we were created for. We will encourage prayer in the life of every Jesus-follower and build strategic prayer into the life and leadership of RiverTree.

Matthew 6:5-15, Romans 8:26, Ephesians 6:18, I Thessalonians 5:16-18, Matthew 17:20

Authentic Biblical Communities

Life change happens best in the context of relationships. This kind of community means knowing and being known, loving and being loved, celebrating and being celebrated, and serving and being served. Our goal for every Jesus-follower at RiverTree is that they be growing with other Jesus-followers. We will offer opportunities to build relationships in larger settings but will always encourage Christians to be part of a smaller community where real life transformation is the normal thing.

Acts 2:42-47, Galatians 5:13, Ephesians 4:2 and 4:32, Colossians 3:16, I Thessalonians 5:11

Generosity

Our God has been extremely generous with us, and so we want to be generous with the world around us. For RiverTree, this means everything from offering free CD’s of our gatherings to anyone who wants them to giving tens of thousands of dollars to build orphanages around the world. We want to manage our resources of time and especially money so that we can be a generous church full of generous people.

Matthew 6:1-4, II Corinthians 8:14, II Corinthians 9:6-7