Our Values

The Rockford Mission aspires to be a contrast community in Christ
by cultivating Presence, Belonging, Apprenticeship, and Participation
through a shared Rule of Life

A Contrast Community In Christ

The Church is more than a group of people with common beliefs; we are members of a new family, offered a new way of being in the world because we have been made new creations in Christ. In these early days we hope to focus on who we are becoming, a people who offer something the world cannot offer itself because of God’s work in and through us.

Cultivating

  • In a world of distraction, Presence

    Jesus, whose yoke is easy and burden is light, invites us to live our life from rest. In cultivating presence, we long to leave behind distraction and anxiety in order to be face to face with God, our selves, and our neighbors.

  • In a world of isolation, Belonging

    While the world at large experiences an epidemic of loneliness, the church offers a household of belonging through faith. All people can find welcome in this family structure, one body of many members whose head is Jesus Christ, who binds us together through his shed blood.

  • In a world of autonomy, Apprenticeship

    Left to our own devices we often choose things that are destructive to us in heart, soul, mind, and strength. In cultivating apprenticeship, we long to learn to live as Jesus lived by intentionally imitating him, knowing that as we take on a trellis of rhythms of grace, our abiding will produce fruit.

  • In a world of consumption, Participation

    We are called not just to accept facts about the resurrection, but to participate in God’s Kingdom. In his kindness, God invites us to become recipients in sacrament and co-laborers in the Kingdom.

Through a shared Rule of Life

The church exists not just to inform its members about the reality of the gospel, but to participate in their formation in Christ. We believe that formation primarily happens through cultivating new habits in community, entrusting the growth to God as we learn new ways of being through the grace offered to us by the Spirit in Christ.

Our congregation centers its life around shared rhythms like gathering for Sunday worship and being sent into the parish where we meet as small groups during the week. We also encourage our members to abide by their own personal Rule of Life.

The Rockford Mission is a plant of Cornerstone Tulsa. We are a part of Churches for the Sake of Others (C4SO), which is built on five key values: Kingdom, Spirit, Formation, Mission, and Sacrament.