Mission, Vision, and Values

Have you ever tried to get to know someone online? Then you might know how tricky it can be to get a full picture! Our church is no different. Of course we want to provide clarity about who we are and what we do, so below you’ll find seven things that are helpful for you to know about Agape & Ecclesia. But each item is just the tip of an iceberg, and the best way to get to know more is to come visit us in person on Wednesday or Sunday nights. There’s a reason that the Psalmist invited people to “taste and see” the Lord’s goodness, not just “read and scroll.” (Psalm 34:8). So as you get to know a few things about us virtually here, don’t hesitate to reach out to our staff team with any questions!

1. We are a church at Loyola University Chicago committed to following and serving Jesus Christ, raising and developing disciples and growing in our love for God and all of God’s people of every ethnicity and culture. That’s our mission statement. We are serious about following God, loving people, and raising and developing disciples. Every action of our ministry is aimed at those aspects of God’s mission.
2. We are a church, located on a college campus. Both of these realities make us a little hard to categorize. Are we a church? Are we a campus ministry? The easiest answer is…Yes! Our church is different in that we do not own our own church building (the university allows us to use campus space for our services and Bible studies), our congregation is majority college students, and many of our pastors are former students. However, we believe that college is a formative time to learn how to follow Jesus and participate in the body of Christ. It’s not a four to six year break from the church, but four to six unique years of being the church.
3. The table is where our community happens. We have a (communion) table that has names carved into each block of students who have been a part of our church over the last ten years. It’s symbolic of how much time we spend gathered around a table in small groups, breaking bread, and praying together. We see Jesus making himself known to his disciples around a table and we are convinced that Jesus still makes himself known in this way. Whether you join us in the dining hall for Thursday lunch or Sunday night for The Lord’s Supper, we believe you’ll encounter the love of Jesus through the people, the food, and the drink in these places. If you’re thinking about visiting A&E, you can expect to be fed in more ways than one.
4. In order to lead, we first submit to being led. We have a team of students who lead small groups, disciple other students, and take a lot of ownership in the vibrant life of the church. Recognizing that a unique aspect of our church is a high turnover rate because of our location on a college campus, we also have a team of pastors responsible for the long-term vision, doctrine, and shepherding of our congregation. They also fundraise their salary and attend seminary. These pastors, along with our board, are committed to being discipled by men and women who have walked with Jesus longer, and who can help shepherd them in the Lord’s wisdom. This leadership structure is not designed to be hierarchical, but mutually submissive (Matthew 20:25-28). We also receive covering and accountability as a ministry of the Christian Reformed Church and membership in the Christian Reformed Campus Ministry Association. Students are not required to have a certain denominational affiliation, Christian Reformed or otherwise. Instead, we invite students to pursue our mission and to follow Christ through the leadership that our church provides.
5. Our church is a hospital for sinners, not a hotel for saints. There is no expectation of perfection at Agape & Ecclesia. When sin entered the world, it was so much more than “getting kicked out of the pool,” but all of creation got scrambled and distorted. No one comes through life without hurt, trauma, brokenness, fears, insecurities, or some combo of all of that. As a church, we’re committed to the messy and difficult way of being in fellowship with one another in a distorted world. We believe that this fellowship, by the grace of God, will ultimately bring restoration to all aspects of creation: mental health, broken relationships, addictions, creation care, and more.

Beliefs

What we believe is informed by our practices of life together, and our practices are shaped by what we believe. And we hold the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus at the center of it all. This give and take is deeply important as we do our best to communicate some of our core beliefs, as well as name convictions about which we often receive the most questions. This is not everything, but it is a starting place. Have more questions? Our staff would love to talk with you!

We confess…

The Nicene Creed, an early Christian confession of belief.

Jesus is Lord: We have been invited to trust Jesus with our whole selves. We follow Jesus as the one who has saved us and is inviting us to embody life in God’s kingdom before the watching world. Jesus is our center- his life is our example, his death our salvation, his resurrection our hope.

God is Love: God’s very being is a loving relationship between three distinct persons, Father, Son and Spirit. This relationship is marked by a self-giving love so closely knit that we say things like “God is three-in-one” or we use the word “triune”. This is an eternal mystery, one testified to in scripture and one which sustains all of life.

The Bible is Trustworthy: God’s word is uniquely, divinely inspired, and it points us to Jesus. We affirm the centrality and sufficiency of scripture as it points us to Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. The Bible is not a list of rules, or a series of tips for a happy life. Rather, it is the winding, beautiful story of God seeking to be present with God’s people. This goes from the beginning when we were with God in the garden, to the last page when we will be with God in the city. 

Creation: Every person who has ever lived, or will ever live, is a person of infinite value, marked with the very image of God. Humans have been uniquely placed in the world as God’s image-bearers, given the task of tending and cultivating God’s good creation. 

Brokenness: God created the world and saw that it was good, because God and humans and creation could be in perfect relationship. Humans, however, wanted to “define good and evil for ourselves.” We went our own way, and sin entered the world. We understand sin to be much more than getting kicked out of the pool, but that all of creation got scrambled, and suffering, violence, pride, shame, lust, hatred, and so much more were introduced to our reality. Since then, God has been on a mission to reclaim and restore the goodness of creation, a mission which began in the people of Israel and culminated in the person and work of Jesus

Salvation: We have been saved solely by God’s grace. When Jesus died on the cross, he defeated the powers and principalities of this world, and bore the weight of our sin in our place. Through Jesus’ death on the cross, and his physical, bodily resurrection three days later, we are invited to take part in this great salvation. We do this through practices like baptism, repentance from sin, and confession of Jesus as Lord. 

Our Cultural Moment

In our current context, there are often a handful of other questions that newcomers are curious about. In the interest of honesty and clarity, we share a couple of teachings that our staff team hold:

We believe that women and men have been equally called and gifted by God to serve in all capacities in the local church. We affirm that all believers have been gifted by the Holy Spirit to take part in God’s church, and these gifts are to be shared and celebrated to God’s glory, regardless of gender. In God’s good design from the beginning, women and men served as equal partners and helpers, but these relationships became fraught in the wake of sin and brokenness. In the church, we partner together to point to God’s renewed creation when all will be made well once more. 

We want to help people lean into God’s wisdom when it comes to human sexuality. While marriage and children might not be part of your college reality, chances are that experiences or questions around hook-up culture, pornography, dating, singleness, or sexual assault, will be. We seek to provide a brave space where students can discern God’s wisdom for their relationships and body, unpack difficult experiences and hard questions, and develop a theology of sexuality. At the core of our understanding of human sexuality is the belief that all humans are made in the image of God and that God has a desire for all human flourishing that surpasses our human imagination. This flourishing does not require repression of identity, nor does it depend on sex or marriage for its fulfillment. Joined with these truths, we believe God’s wisdom (through Scripture and the history of the Church) outlines Christian marriage to be between one man and one woman. We echo many of the disciples who said in John 6, “This is a hard teaching, who can listen to it?” We believe that this teaching is difficult for queer and straight people. Our desire is that all students would feel freedom from shame, and to be honest about our relational desires and experiences.

As we hold this ethic, we also condemn the ways that this teaching has been misappropriated to justify hate toward the queer community. We denounce the Church’s past with conversion therapy, a past that has had disastrously harmful outcomes. We lament our own faults when it comes to ways that we could have loved our queer students better. If you are an LGBTQ+ student, please know that we will never reject, deny, or seek to change your sexual orientation, and firmly believe you have gifts to offer the Body of Christ precisely because of who you are, not in spite of it. If you’d like more information, please reach out to our staff team.

We believe in one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We welcome students to be baptized who have not been baptized before. If someone was baptized as an infant and now finds themselves wanting to make a public declaration of their faith as an adult, we welcome them to share their testimony and rededicate their baptismal vows. In order to affirm the mystery of baptism and the work of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the Christian Church, we do not “rebaptize” anyone.

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These three aspects in particular have been born out of many conversations — some invigorating, some difficult, and some that were both. As you can imagine, lack of clarity in any one of these things can cause strife and pain. We want you to know that while our staff team is committed to holding these beliefs, that this community is made up of diverse backgrounds, denominations, and understandings. We welcome those who agree with these teachings, those who disagree, and those who are still figuring it out. Regardless of where you land, this is what we ask: that we all come to the table with love, humility, and grace for others with whom we might not agree. We believe that our convictions can be held in such a way that enables us to recognize the inherent dignity of each person that walks through our doors. We continue to be committed to dialogue, to listening, to answering questions, and to seeking God together. And we’d love for you (yes, YOU!) to be a part of it.