A Safe Place

Church as a “Safe Place”

Authenticity: We strive to make HCC a place where people can be authentic with God and with one another. This means we don’t have to hide our rough edges and struggles. We know that we stumble all the time and so we encourage each other to admit our failings, not hide or try to cover them up. A sense of humor helps us to avoid taking ourselves and our mistakes too seriously—so that we can take the amazing grace of God more seriously.

Community: We want the church to be more than a disconnected group of people who attend public programs together. We strive to be a Christian community where we are connected to one another so that we may experience ‘life to the full’ that Christ offers us. We’re convinced that quality of life won’t happen if we fail to laugh and cry and work and rest and learn together, connected to God and one another.

Acceptance: We want to be a safe and accepting place for people, regardless of their background. We understand that we are all at different places in our spiritual journey; so we value the diversity of ages, experience, insights and gifts people bring to the mix. Because of our desire to remain diverse and mission-driven, we won’t spend energy splitting theological hairs. We work to keep “the main thing” the main thing and focus with wholehearted commitment on “core Christianity”—those essential truths and practices made clear in the Bible, which Christians across the ages have held in common and lead to spiritual vibrancy.

Modeling: People don’t go where we’re pointing; they go where we’re going. Christian leaders are called to follow Christ and point others to Him.

Communications: Over-communication is necessary because people tend to be suspect of what they do not understand or find out about after the fact.

Maturity: When we accept responsibility for our own actions and make appropriate adjustments we are on the path to maturity.

Health: When churches stay true to their God-given mission they grow healthy.

Healthy things grow

Growing things change

Changing things challenge us

Challenge forces us to trust God

Trust leads to obedience

Obedience produces self-discipline

Self-discipline makes us healthy

Healthy things grow….