MISSION & VISION
Our mission and vision is to build environments that equip people to know God intimately, invest in one another deeply, and reach Manhattan and the world creatively, through ministries that espouse communion, care, commitment, and compassion.
Through Communion,
we connect with God,
and God connects with us
To commune means ‘to communicate intimately’. It’s a perfect description of the relationship that God wants to have with us: He wants us to communicate intimately with Him, and allow Him to communicate intimately with us. To commune with God is paramount; everything else that God wants to do in our lives has its roots in genuine communion with Him.
Communing with God happens through times of genuine worship & passionate prayer. We recognize the confidence that comes with hearing God’s voice; His leadership in us brings an irreplaceable peace, genuine strength, and real hope for our lives. So, we choose to mold our lives, and our church, around personal & corporate times of seeking Him. The ultimate result is that we wind up looking more like Christ & walking in His will.
We like to emphasize that opportunities for true communion with God are all over our daily lives: at a Wednesday night corporate prayer gathering; while sharing thoughts on Scripture with friends at one of our small groups; during a time of prayer with a co-worker who’s family is in crisis; or as you worship during one of our Sunday morning services. In each of these moments, God wants to commune with us, and invites us into a relationship where we seek His face, and hear His voice.
Through Communion, we connect with God, and God connects with us
God designed the church to be a genuine community; when we are mutually invested in one another, we’re fulfilling His plan for our lives, and His church. So at Manhattan First, we value those opportunities to genuinely show care for one another. Being intentional about loving others & helping meet their needs results in a God-centered, outward-focused church.
Connecting with people through times of fellowship, service, and ministry causes us to look more like Jesus and causes our relationships to become more genuine & valuable to our lives.
Through Commitment, we connect your gifts and abilities to the church
God has deposited unique gifts, talents, and abilities in each one of us. His purpose in investing those gifts in us is that we would use them, both in our daily lives and in the community of our church. Our goal is to see everyone in our church involved in a ministry that utilizes their gifts & enhances the ministry that happens here.
Through Compassion we Connect Christ’s message
to our city and the world
God is doing great things in our community, and around the world. Our goal as a church is to contribute to both: By valuing effective, relationship-based outreach that connects with our community, we reach people with the love and message of Jesus; through missions giving & involvement, we join in with what God is doing around the world, and become His tool to reach people.
Jesus loved sacrificially, for the sake of those who needed to know Him; we want to do the same, modeling His desire for all to know His love & truth. Just as He gave selflessly to do what God had called Him to, we will give sacrificially of our time, gifts, and finances, in order to connect Christ’s message to our city and the world.
At Manhattan First, we value:
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The Bible as God’s written direction & final authority
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Passionate prayer
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Discipleship-Becoming like Jesus
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Getting everyone involved in ministry
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The empowerment of God’s Holy Spirit
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Genuine Worship
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Reaching people with the love & message of Jesus
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A global impact, through World Missions