Vision Statement
We are a gospel centered church in Bangalore seeking the cultural, social, and spiritual renewal of our city by the transforming power of the gospel to the glory of God!
Gospel Centred Church
The gospel changes everything. It is “the power of God for salvation” (Romans 1:16) and the transformative power that we are seeking for our city. It is not just good advice, nor is it a rule-book. Rather, the gospel is an announcement—Good News— that Jesus has come to live and die for sinful, broken, and shamed people. Jesus invites everyone everywhere to repent and believe this good news! Religion, contrasted with the gospel, tells us what we need to do to be accepted by God. The gospel tells us what Jesus has done in history in order to renew all things and bring them under his Lordship. That’s why Paul can say that the gospel “is the power of God”. That word “power” in Greek is dunamis, which is where we get “dynamite”. So the gospel is the dynamite of God, the explosive force that can radically change everything in our world.
The City—Bangalore
The city is important to our understanding of humanity. It is the centre of thought, culture, and life in a country. As a city goes, so goes the country. That is why we place high importance on reaching the city and influencing the city with the gospel of Christ. Furthermore, the city is more than just Bangaloreans. We see people from a vast array of backgrounds and ethnicities represented in the city. This diversity sets the city apart from other villages and towns. Nowhere else can we see Revelation 5:9 reflected better than when a multi-cultural group of image bearers comes together to sing praises to the Lamb of God. The cities are the only places in India where that type of diversity is possible.
Social Renewal
The need for social renewal is apparent in Bangalore. We see broken marriages, families, and corruption. In a city of 10 million, loneliness and depression are on the rise. People are having a harder time finding a place where they fit. Consumerism and expendable income have led a new generation of Indians to seek after what were once thought of as Western idols: namely wealth, security, and entertainment. Furthermore, we seek justice in our city and nation for the oppressed and show mercy to the needy. With the transforming power of the gospel, we can begin to see society turn towards Christ in repentance and reliance on him and God’s justice spreading across the land.
Cultural Renewal
Culture is in need of renewing. From the arts to the business world, we believe the Gospel speaks into culture; and therefore we engage in the business world, in the arts community, and in other expressions of the culture where our church can have an impact.
Spiritual Renewal
Ultimately, we are made for God, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in him. The transforming power of the gospel can give a repentant sinner a renewed heart and mind. As we live in this sinful, broken world and are sinning though we’re saved, we need the gospel daily to draw us to repentance and belief in Christ. NCF is a church that is for sinners, not the righteous, for those who desperately need a saviour.
Transforming Power of the Gospel
We believe that the best-kept secret in the Christian church is the gospel. We want to tell and retell the story of the gospel, as it is central to all of life and powerful to transform us. Not only does the gospel bring us from a kingdom of Satan into the realm of Jesus Christ, but it continually renews us day after day as we apply it to our lives. It is the only hope for both us and our city.
Glory of God
Man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. The Church is God’s “plan A” for making his glory known, in making the invisible Kingdom of God a visible reality on earth. God has commissioned the Church to play the most significant role in bringing about this coming of God’s heavenly kingdom to earth. This is why we believe that the planting of churches and the multiplication thereof, is the single most God-glorifying way to steward the gifts and talents that we’ve been given.
Mission Statement
We will do this by making disciples that make more disciples and increasingly display Jesus as a worshiping community. We will be a church planting church, raising up leaders and disciples for more churches in Bangalore and throughout the great cities of India.
In the Great Commission, Jesus’ mission statement for us, he is perfectly clear: “MAKE DISCIPLES” (Matthew 28:19). Still, two thousand years later, the single best way to build his bride the Church, stands strong: we are called to make disciples. In Ephesians 4:11-16 Paul calls on the leaders of the church to equip the saints, i.e. “make disciples”. The mission of NCF is to grow and foster leaders continuously, in line with what Paul called leaders to do. Therefore, we are committed to being leader makers as God has called us to be.
Values
When we talk about our “values”, we are talking about the DNA of a particular church or organization. When you are a part of NCF, you hopefully are exposed to our values deeply through the worship, preaching, teaching, and fellowship of our body life. We want these values to define us. We won’t always embody them perfectly, but we repent and move in that direction. The three values are as follows: GOSPEL, COMMUNITY, and KINGDOM.
We value the GOSPEL.
It’s really simple. The gospel changes everything. It is “the power of God for salvation” and the transformative power that we are seeking for our city. It is not just good advice, nor is it a rule book. Rather, the gospel is an announcement—Good News— that Jesus has come to live and die for sinful, broken, and shamed people. Jesus invites everyone everywhere to repent and believe this good news!
We express this value through the following:
- Desiring only to preach the gospel of grace and nothing but “Christ and him crucified”. As Paul said, it is foolish to the powerful, absurd to the proud, and offensive to the religious.
- Believing the gospel is for both Christian and non-Christian alike. You never graduate from being in need of the gospel. It is the same message of grace that saves a sinner to Christ and likewise encourages and motivates sinful, imperfect Christians to a deeper, more loving relationship with God their Father.
- Pursuing spiritual growth and holiness, putting to death the sin in our flesh, and battling against the kingdom of Satan in the world by no other means than faith in the love of the Father, the finished work of Jesus Christ his Son, and the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit.
- Believing that, as Paul said, “I am the chief of sinners.” In other words, never seeing ourselves as more righteous than others apart from what has been accomplished on our behalf.
- Believing that no one is ever beyond the reach of the power of the gospel. It is for the unrighteous, the broken, and the destitute, not the righteous.
- Resolving that the Christian life be characterized by continual and constant repentance. This means daily turning from the idols that plague our hearts, rob our affections, and destroy our courage. As Martin Luther famously said, “When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said ‘Repent’, He called for the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.”
We value the COMMUNITY.
As Christ’s Church we are a preview, a model, of the fullness of God’s coming Kingdom. While we still live in a broken world, we know that Jesus is renewing all things through his Church, as it proclaims the Word and serves the world through good deeds. As the gospel transforms our own lives, we, as members of Christ’s body, have the opportunity to see Jesus’ Kingdom come. This happens as we bring people to Jesus, and as we radically serve our city and love our neighbours.
We express this value through the following:
- Believing and teaching that the local church is the primary vehicle through which the Kingdom of our Lord advances on earth.
- Holding to the belief that winning, building, and sending people is primarily the church’s responsibility.
- Encouraging artistic expression, business and professional involvement, and vocational empowerment in all our members.
- Promoting and engaging in the arts and culture.
- Encouraging, supporting, volunteering, and teaching about the importance of justice and mercy ministries in our city and in our nation.
- Praying for, loving, training, and supporting parents as they raise their children to serve and love the Lord.
- Praying for, loving, supporting, encouraging, and speaking positively towards other Christian leaders and ministries who are collaborating with us in the mission of God.
- Committing to reproduce more church plants in and around Bangalore and India, as the Lord leads us in prayer and resources.
We value the KINGDOM.
We are not alone on this journey. God has put us into relationships with other journeyers to help us along the way. We are not a church of programs but a church of people, and we invest in people. Primarily, we do this through our Fellowship
Groups. We believe that as the gospel transforms our hearts, we begin to grow in showing Jesus to our community.
We are a community of sinners in need of a saviour. We are a community of broken people who are learning to trust. We are a community where people belong even before they believe. While we live in a very disconnected city and our lives are incredibly and increasingly fragmented, we believe that as we are called into community, we will see our lives change and be renewed by the gospel through the lives of others.
We express this value through the following:
- Cultivating a culture of authenticity and unconditional love. Everyone in our community has the freedom to struggle and fail.
- Cultivating a culture of openness, safety, and not fear. There are no questions too hard to ask. There are no doubts too large. If you have a major doubt or are skeptical about something, the church is a safe place to express it.
- Emphasising the importance and centrality of Fellowship Groups to the life of our church. They are not just an option of NCF, but we want them to be the central nervous system of our body.
- Humbly living in community with one another. We acknowledge that no one ever crossed Jordan flying solo, that we all need each other, and that your relationship with God is only as good as your relationship with your community.
- Embracing our city. We want to be city positive. That means that we invite, welcome, love, and move towards the city that God has put us in, rather than running from it, complaining about it, and ignoring it. We believe that the city, even this city, is central to God’s design and purpose for his great work in India. Therefore, we desire to be a church in the city and for the city.
- Having an “outward face” toward the world. There are many not yet in the fold of God’s Kingdom, so we design a community and a worship experience that is inclusive for any who are far off.
- Modelling sacrificial commitment to one another.
- By involving and investing everything we can in our people. We are a church of people, not programs.