The following statement was developed by the Riversgate Staff along with with several lay leaders from the Fall of 2022 to the Summer of 2023. We sought to communicate what we believe, who we are and some of our aspirations. If you want to know more please come visit or reach out for a meeting with one of our pastors.
We believe God the Father has and continues to reveal the fullness of himself through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus his Son. Through Jesus and the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit, we are invited to experience and be witnesses to the ever-expanding love of God which seeks to enfold every person into the joys of being known and loved through intimate community with the triune God and each other.
We believe the Church is the primary expression of God’s ongoing faithfulness to the world. The lonely are invited into families, families are invited into community, the voice and contribution of every generation is valued, and we desire to actively welcome everyone into our community. Unified by Christ and undivided in disagreement we are always learning to trust the often-slow pace of God’s Spirit to transform ourselves and others. Riversgate is just a small part of the diverse body of Christ, gathered across time and place under the confession that “Jesus is Lord.” We deeply value and participate in various traditions handed down to us by the Church but we are not bound by traditionalism as we seek to discern and follow the movement of the Holy Spirit into the future. We reject the political partisanship of our culture and aspire to faithfully witness to the Kingdom of Jesus by not only believing in Him as Savior but following and obeying Him as Lord.
The scriptures and traditions of Jesus’ followers have taught us that worship includes both adoration of God and tangible love of neighbor. With this two-fold expression of worship, we aspire to:
Study the scriptures and seek to implement what we learn.
Gather on Sundays and in our homes with each other and our neighbors.
Receive the Eucharist and offer ourselves as a gift.
Speak truth in humility and necessarily be well-versed in forgiveness and reconciling practices.
Carry each other’s burdens and look to serve Jesus among the poor and disenfranchised.
Celebrate the complete work of Jesus and recognize the need for ongoing practices that cultivate freedom.
We humbly embrace the reality of our imperfect witness and strive to reflect Jesus more faithfully to the world around us. Here are some of the current ways we desire to more faithfully love and follow Jesus:
Develop a local accountability board to mitigate and prevent harm from imperfect leaders.
Practically love persons with disabilities (and those who support them) by addressing and removing obstacles that actively prevent participation in the community.
Help cultivate and participate in an ecumenical and interfaith community committed to participate in and work towards shalom.
Value and listen to the younger generations to discover the ways that Jesus is lovingly pursuing them, that we might partner with Him.
We recognize and are grieved by the countless ways the Church has passively and actively brought harm to disenfranchised communities and are seeking to repair and restore relationships by actively welcoming and enfranchising the historically hurt into our community.