Leading people into a growing relationship with Christ.

We have made a commitment to do whatever is necessary to reach unchurched or dechurched people. Once we establish a relationship with them and they establish a relationship with God, they become part of Christ's body or the church. We openly welcome people with challenges and problems but are seeking a relationship with God and others.

Celebration: We believe that to have an effective community we must commit to a time of weekly celebration. At these celebrations you will experience authentic worship and challenging Biblical teaching on issues that are important to you today. We are a church that is fluid…adjusting our methods along the way to more effectively be the Church to our community.

Community: We are a church that cherishes authentic community…providing community groups to foster genuine and transparent relationships. Community groups or small groups play an essential role in the care and development of a believer. We are a church that is constantly growing…knowing that none of us have “arrived” in our spiritual journey, but are here to spur one another on in our spiritual transformation.

Call: We are a church that sees the potential in people and facilitates them in discovering God’s design for their life and contribution to His kingdom. We believe that God’s design was for every believer to participate in serving and building the church. We are a church that is compassionate…about people with needs in our community and is actively looking for ways to serve others in our community and around the world.

Authenticity
As “a real place for real people” we believe we can’t be what God has called us to be if we play games with each other. Whether it’s what happens on stage, within our small groups, serving teams or in our homes, we need to be able to share our faults and weaknesses and not fake it. That’s authenticity, just being real.

Biblical Truth
Newark Naz is a place for people on every part of the spiritual journey, from those just investigating whether there is a God, to those who have made following Christ the priority of their life. This is a safe place for everyone. But safe doesn’t mean serenity. The Bible presents a dangerous message of life change. We don’t assume everyone believes, or even knows the Bible, but we do assume everyone who comes through our doors is open to exploring it. We believe the Bible is God’s inerrant truth and it is foundational to everything we do.

Culturally Relevant Communication
"Why did they do that?" "What does that have to do with church?" How many times have you heard (or thought) that after you saw something during a service here at Newark Naz? Maybe it was a movie clip or a secular song. Stuff that seemed to be the last thing you would have expected in church. Well, believe it or not, there is a reason for all of this. There is a method to the madness. Culturally Relevant Communication: is one of our 8 Core Values!

Newark Naz is a place that helps connect those who are spiritually exploring God’s love and truth. To do this, we’re committed to doing anything to help people connect God’s timeless truth from the Bible with their day-to-day life. We do not engage in anything immoral or anti-scriptural to do this, but we do embrace creative methods used in our current culture. The challenge for us is that the Bible was written a long time ago for people in another culture. The fact that we are in Newark, Ohio in the twenty-first century doesn’t change the message that God gave 2000 years ago, but it does mean that we need to do some work to connect it to our lives today. That’s what we mean by "Culturally Relevant Communication."

It’s nothing new. It’s the kind of thing the Bible referred to in Ecclesiastes 12:10 which says, "The teacher searched to find just the right words." In fact, it’s exactly what Jesus did. Whether it was stories about sheep and goats, vineyard workers, or a guy who throws a party, Jesus used the current language and daily life of those around him to communicate truth.

Doing Life Together
We aren’t interested in being a church where a lot of people get together for an inspiring service but never move beyond the casual arm's distance relationships of an auditorium. We want to grow by really "doing life together." Community is knowing and being known, loving and being loved, celebrating and being celebrated, and serving and being served. The people who really grow at Newark Naz, are those who move beyond the auditorium through serving and/or being part of a small group, service team and building friendships in which all of these happen.

Excellence
We don’t believe in striving for unrealistic perfection. We do believe excellence is about bringing your best to God’s work and to life in general. Whenever we do anything as a church we want to bring our "A Game." Whether it’s our communication and music, how we hold babies in the nursery or how we take care of the building, we want it to reflect this.

Functional Structures
We believe that ministries are only valid when they are functional. Ministries that no longer support the mission of the church or are not functioning effectively will be reviewed and eliminated. New ministries will proactively be encouraged and affirmed to meet the changing needs of the culture and our community.

Growth
We don’t expect everyone who walks into this church to be a committed Christ-follower. But we do expect everyone who is around our community for any length of time to be growing. We expect every person to be moving closer to being the complete image of Christ in every area of life. When it isn’t happening we need to ask why. The answers aren’t always comfortable. In fact we often grow only when we are pushed out of our comfort zone.

Reproduction
Reproduction is about recognizing something that God has created and then going about being a tool when He reproduces that element in other places. Newark Naz wants to be a place where Christ-followers reproduce Christ-followers, leaders reproduce leaders and churches reproduce other churches.