Values of Taipei International Church

Our "Core Values" are those commitments that guide our vision and strategy. These values define who we are and what we want to become. The core values of Taipei International Church are built around The Gospel. They shape us in our mission to “Celebrate, Communicate and Cultivate” the glory and love of God in the Taipei International Community.

CELEBRATE

Prayer is fundamental, not supplemental. - Prayer is the breath of the soul. Our corporate and personal ministry must be born out of prayer, bathed in prayer, and moved forward by prayer (Luke 18:1). We experience immediacy, intensity and intimacy with our God.

Worship of God is our delight. - The glory and praise of God is our “chief end”. “Let the peoples praise Thee, O God; let all the peoples praise Thee! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy!” (Psalm 67: 3 - 4; John 4: 23-24; Revelation 15:3-4). Where passion for God is weak, zeal for ministry will be weak. Private worship, family worship, and corporate worship will be “to the praise of his glory” and the glory of his grace” (Ephesians 1:6, 12).

God's Word is our guide - The Bible is our guide for faith and practice. We want to “let the word of Christ dwell in us richly” (Colossians 3: 16). We are confident that the benefits will be wisdom (2 Tim. 3: 16), guidance (Psalm 119:105), personal growth (1 Peter 2:2), faith (Romans 10:17,), spiritual power (Ephesians 6:17) and true knowledge of Jesus Christ (John 5:24, 39; Luke 24: 44 - 47).



COMMUNICATE

Outreach - We are Christ's witnesses to the world (Acts 1:8). We communicate the love of God for the world. We embrace the “missional” nature of the church. The gospel gives us deep respect and great hope for every non-Christian. It frees and empowers us not to live for ourselves but for our friends, neighbors and associates who do not believe. We are eager for the privilege of drawing many people to God. The gospel makes us a people and a place where non-Christians are expected, welcomed and respected. Their questions and objections are invited. Their struggles and doubts are taken seriously. They are loved, not that we might evangelize them, but we evangelize them because we love them.

Service - The gospel calls each of us to serve. The Bible says: "Christ's love compels us" to live for others (2 Corinthians 5: 14 - 15). To claim we believe and yet not be engaged in the needs of our church and our world reveals that our faith is not in the living, powerful gospel of Christ (James. 2: 17).

We minister from weakness. - The gospel makes us into “weak - strong” people, people weak before God, deeply conscious of our sinfulness, but also strong in the continued, fresh discovery of the pardoning grace of God as revealed in the cross. Our weaknesses do not hinder God's power working through us in ministry and, in fact, God's power is actually manifest and perfected through them (1Corinthians 1: 27; 2 Corinthians 12: 10). Therefore, we will not hesitate to confess and even boast in our weaknesses in such a
manner that will show the all surpassing power is from God and not from us. We also believe that through this confession a style of repentance and servant leadership will be conveyed to those we touch and seek to train in gospel living and ministry.


Passing the Gospel to the next generation - We want the children of our church and young people in the Taipei community to grow in the knowledge, grace and service of Jesus Christ. Therefore we will train families to be the central context of discipleship, and will develop ministries that assist parents in the Christian nurture of their children. We will strive to make our ministries engaging and accessible to young people.




CULTIVATE

New Life comes from vital union with Christ - The gospel brings new life (Acts 5:20). When the gospel comes to us and faith unites us to Christ, we are "a new creation" (2 Corinthians 5:17). We become stewards of this new life, using all our resources -- our time, our talents and our treasures, which God has entrusted to us. We will provide preaching and teaching that calls and instructs God's people to “put off the old man”, and by faith, “put on the new”.

Community - We cultivate the life of Christ in each other. We want to be a loving, maturing, discipling church. Christianity is not merely a “private religion”. We want families and households learning to worship, study God's word, pray and serve together. We will give priority to attending the corporate gathering of the church for the purpose of worship, teaching, and participation in the sacraments. We will be relationally connected (adults, teenagers and children) to each other in loving relationships through small groups for the purpose of mutual encouragement, pastoral care and support.

Every member ministry - We are a body composed of interdependent members, each uniquely fitted by the holy spirit for the purpose of building up the body and furthering the ministry of the church (Rom. 12:6 - 8; Eph. 4:12). We want to help every person discover, develop and deploy these God-given gifts and abilities in community, outreach and service.

Giving - Christians give. We realize that we have been bought with the price of Christ's blood, and that everything we are and have belongs to him. We are what the Bible calls “stewards” of the spiritual and material resources God has entrusted to us. We will give generously. Will give proportionally, seeking to give as high a percentage of our income as possible, recognizing the tithe (10 percent) as a long-established benchmark which may well be exceeded as we prosper. We will give regularly, as resources flow in, offering the “first fruits” back to God, honoring him before any others.

We will strengthen marriages and families. - In a day when marriages and families struggle to survive we want to cultivate families that live together with Jesus Christ. We will learn and live
out the practical ways in which we may follow God's way and God's will for our families.