Magnify Jesus by multiplying disciples and churches.

To see God grow a movement of disciples multiplying disciples
in their networks, the next generation, new cities, & the nations.

Just as Christians have been doing for 2,000 years, we gather together every Sunday to celebrate Jesus, delight in his Word, worship Him through singing, remember His sacrifice through communion, rejoice in baptisms & stories of His grace. These Sunday gatherings will serve the broader mission of multiplying disciples and churches, and we dream of these gatherings equipping disciples of Jesus to scatter in to City Groups and eventually multiply churches.

We scatter throughout the week in City Groups. City Groups are the heart of Citylight Church. They are not an optional program or a seasonal Bible study. A City Group is a mid-sized community (15-40 people) who are growing in the Gospel, listening to the Scriptures, connecting as family, and serving a specific neighborhood or network in the city. We envision City Groups that are small enough to care for each other’s growth in Christ, but big enough to dare to engage the culture around them. As disciples multiply among Citylight, so will City Groups and churches.

The Gospel is the good news that God saves sinners through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. God isn't waiting for us to claw our way up to Him, He has come down to us. Jesus has done for us what we never could do ourselves.  This gospel is the power of God to save sinners and transform neighborhoods and nations (Romans 1:16).  The Gospel isn’t just the ABCs of following Jesus – it is the A to Z of following Jesus.  This value is THE value that seeps into everything we do. It's of first importance as a church. (1 Corinthians 15:1-4)

Jesus is such a marvelous Savior that we can't help but want to be more like Him. And through the power of the Gospel & work of the Spirit, we are progressively molded into becoming more like Jesus (Romans 8:29) This doesn't mean our aim is simply to be better Christians, slowly improving our morality & cleaning our lives up. It means as we gaze upon Jesus together, through His Word, the trappings of sin lose their addictive appeal & we realize Jesus is better. As the old hymn says, "The things of the earth grow strangely dim in the light of His glory & grace"

The church isn't a place, but a people. It's more than a weekly assembly of individuals. It's a humble, joyful community committed to loving each other and doing life together. Jesus said that the world would know that we're Christians by the way we love each other (John 13:35) The primary expression of community in our church is City Groups, where we connect to hear the gospel, respond to the gospel, and share the gospel. We will never settle for being a weekly gathering for people to attend, but will continually invite people to share their lives with others in missional community.

The church is God’s missionary agency to reach the unreached with the Gospel. At the end of our streets & the ends of the earth. Missions isn't just a ministry within the church, but the very orientation of our entire church. The same gospel that transforms us within also compels us outward on mission. We exist as a church to be both “a city on a hill” and “the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). We do this by focusing each of our City Groups around a shared mission – seeking to love, serve, and make disciples of neighborhoods and networks of people throughout our city of Lincoln.