Our Values
Our vision is a family of fully devoted children of God who are fully mature in Jesus Christ and fully alive with the Holy Spirit, living as God intends and loving as God loves.
(listen to the story behind our vision statement)
(Listen here to the most recent "Vision Sunday" message to hear the latest on the amazing things God is doing in our church!)
We engage with the heart of God in holistic worship, edify the people of God in biblical discipleship, and embrace the mission of God in our community.
(listen to the message on Our Mission)
These core values articulate who we are and who we seek to be as a local church community—our unique DNA. These are the practices that advance our vision and mission and serve as guides for our life together and the decisions we make. To be sure, we are growing in these areas and are far from perfect; we are a community of weakness, stumbling, pain, and doubt. We do and will fail, but when we do we will seek to quickly repent and ask the Holy Spirit to help us. These core values help us refocus when we lose our way and to inspire one another toward kingdom living.
Note: A related message for each value can be found by tapping or clicking on the title of each core value.
Richard Foster says that "Prayer is the central avenue God uses to transform us," and we agree. At Oceanside we desire that everything we do flows out of a life of prayer so that our hearts are as closely aligned with God's heart as possible, what the great spiritual writers call "union with Christ." This prayer takes on many forms: passionate intercession, silent listening, liturgical prayer, groanings too deep for words, and much more. No matter the type of prayer, the purpose is always to engage the heart of God and allow Him to transform our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
We believe that prophetic worship—proclaiming and declaring the heart of God over people and circumstances—changes things in us and in our community. The Holy Spirit uses our worship, which includes music, preaching, fellowship, sharing, and testimony, to form us and ultimately to change what we love and desire. As we proclaim what God has done in the past through the historical Jesus, we also attend to the real-time Jesus who is present through the prophetic Spirit and who helps us to imagine and realize God’s desired future. Our goal is for people to experience what the kingdom of God is like in our corporate worship settings so that their hearts long for more of God’s kingdom in their homes, workplaces, and other spheres of influence.
Because we love Jesus, love His leadership, and trust Him, we believe following His Word is not burdensome but a joy. Because Jesus is Lord of All our life, we submit to the authority of the Bible in all areas of our lives and ask for the Spirit to help us delight in the ways of God. In this way, we seek to be doers of the Word, not just hearers.
The Scriptures and the Spirit call us to a generous lifestyle—to be generous with our words, our time, and our money and possessions. God by nature is a radical giver: God so loved the world that He gave His most precious possession, His one and only Son (John 3:16). We therefore are to reflect the generous heart of our God in our actions and in our finances. Because all is God’s and nothing is ours, we joyfully give and are generous with each other and our community when it comes to our love and resources.
We desire that all feel welcomed, loved, and accepted here. The God of hospitality calls us to open our doors and our hearts to one another. By “mutual” we mean that hospitality is a two-way street as we allow ourselves to be transformed by both giving and receiving, making ourselves vulnerable to each other, listening and confessing our sins to each other, forgiving each other, and bearing one another’s burdens. Biblical hospitality causes us to treat each other with humility and compassion, valuing others above ourselves. As in the early church, the message of forgiveness through Jesus and experience of the Spirit overcomes gender, racial, age, and socioeconomic barriers so that we testify to God’s kingdom by bringing and binding people together who might not otherwise seem to have much in common.
Every person is called to participate in the mission of God. Young and old, rich and poor, men and women, single and married, working and retired—all play an equal and important role in the kingdom of God and in our church. We pursue a non-hierarchical, egalitarian, and mutual structure which encourages and helps equip every person to be ministers of God in their neighbourhoods, families, and workplaces as they discover how the kingdom of God permeates every area of life. We gather weekly in order to be sent out into the world by the Spirit to share the good news and witness to God’s power, love, and reign in the world.
“In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams” (Acts 2:17). In order to discern God’s heart, we seek to hear from, esteem, and receive ministry from all generations. Part of the message of Pentecost (Acts 2) is that the young will surprise the old with their wisdom and visions of God’s kingdom: the Holy Spirit is not just for adults! But we also pay attention to the wisdom of our elders and encourage them to minister to all with their Spirit-inspired imagination that is reminiscent of young dreamers. We don’t just minister to different generations, but humbly affirm and receive ministry from all generations.
Our vision is a family of fully devoted children of God
who are fully mature in Jesus Christ
and fully alive with the Holy Spirit,
living as God intends and loving as God loves.
(listen to the story behind our vision statement)
(Listen here to the most recent "Vision Sunday" message to hear the latest on the amazing things God is doing in our church!)
We engage with the heart of God in holistic worship,
edify the people of God in biblical discipleship,
and embrace the mission of God in our community.
(listen to the message on Our Mission)
These core values articulate who we are and who we seek to be as a local church community—our unique DNA. These are the practices that advance our vision and mission and serve as guides for our life together and the decisions we make. To be sure, we are growing in these areas and are far from perfect; we are a community of weakness, stumbling, pain, and doubt. We do and will fail, but when we do we will seek to quickly repent and ask the Holy Spirit to help us. These core values help us refocus when we lose our way and to inspire one another toward kingdom living.
Note: A related message for each value can be found by tapping or clicking on the title of each core value.
Richard Foster says that "Prayer is the central avenue God uses to transform us," and we agree. At Oceanside we desire that everything we do flows out of a life of prayer so that our hearts are as closely aligned with God's heart as possible, what the great spiritual writers call "union with Christ." This prayer takes on many forms: passionate intercession, silent listening, liturgical prayer, groanings too deep for words, and much more. No matter the type of prayer, the purpose is always to engage the heart of God and allow Him to transform our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
We believe that prophetic worship—proclaiming and declaring the heart of God over people and circumstances—changes things in us and in our community. The Holy Spirit uses our worship, which includes music, preaching, fellowship, sharing, and testimony, to form us and ultimately to change what we love and desire. As we proclaim what God has done in the past through the historical Jesus, we also attend to the real-time Jesus who is present through the prophetic Spirit and who helps us to imagine and realize God’s desired future. Our goal is for people to experience what the kingdom of God is like in our corporate worship settings so that their hearts long for more of God’s kingdom in their homes, workplaces, and other spheres of influence.
Because we love Jesus, love His leadership, and trust Him, we believe following His Word is not burdensome but a joy. Because Jesus is Lord of All our life, we submit to the authority of the Bible in all areas of our lives and ask for the Spirit to help us delight in the ways of God. In this way, we seek to be doers of the Word, not just hearers.
The Scriptures and the Spirit call us to a generous lifestyle—to be generous with our words, our time, and our money and possessions. God by nature is a radical giver: God so loved the world that He gave His most precious possession, His one and only Son (John 3:16). We therefore are to reflect the generous heart of our God in our actions and in our finances. Because all is God’s and nothing is ours, we joyfully give and are generous with each other and our community when it comes to our love and resources.
We desire that all feel welcomed, loved, and accepted here. The God of hospitality calls us to open our doors and our hearts to one another. By “mutual” we mean that hospitality is a two-way street as we allow ourselves to be transformed by both giving and receiving, making ourselves vulnerable to each other, listening and confessing our sins to each other, forgiving each other, and bearing one another’s burdens. Biblical hospitality causes us to treat each other with humility and compassion, valuing others above ourselves. As in the early church, the message of forgiveness through Jesus and experience of the Spirit overcomes gender, racial, age, and socioeconomic barriers so that we testify to God’s kingdom by bringing and binding people together who might not otherwise seem to have much in common.
Every person is called to participate in the mission of God. Young and old, rich and poor, men and women, single and married, working and retired—all play an equal and important role in the kingdom of God and in our church. We pursue a non-hierarchical, egalitarian, and mutual structure which encourages and helps equip every person to be ministers of God in their neighbourhoods, families, and workplaces as they discover how the kingdom of God permeates every area of life. We gather weekly in order to be sent out into the world by the Spirit to share the good news and witness to God’s power, love, and reign in the world.
“In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams” (Acts 2:17).
In order to discern God’s heart, we seek to hear from, esteem, and receive ministry from all generations. Part of the message of Pentecost (Acts 2) is that the young will surprise the old with their wisdom and visions of God’s kingdom: the Holy Spirit is not just for adults! But we also pay attention to the wisdom of our elders and encourage them to minister to all with their Spirit-inspired imagination that is reminiscent of young dreamers. We don’t just minister to different generations, but humbly affirm and receive ministry from all generations.
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We gratefully acknowledge that we gather, serve, and worship on the traditional territories of the Qualicum and Snaw-naw-as (Nanoose) First Nations of the Coast Salish peoples.