The Lighthouse Model
At CityChurch, we strive to be Real, Relational and Religious Free. We believe we exist to see people encounter God and become the light of Jesus.
WHO WE ARE
Originally a church plant out of London, UK, we are a church with international roots looking “to know Jesus and make Jesus known.”
IT BEGAN IN LONDON, ENGLAND
WHEN A CHARLOTTE businessman visited a contemporary Anglican church in the heart of London, he was so inspired, he invited the church’s leader to come speak at his church in Charlotte!
That visit began a relationship between a thriving London church and a handful of Charlotte families and gradually became a church plant in 2007. That plant is CityChurch.
Starting in Al and Niki’s kitchen, the church then moved into a warehouse and later began sharing a building with another church. In 2013, we purchased that building, and the Plaza Midwood neighborhood became our forever home.
Then in 2022, after Al retired and Mark Bailey became the new lead pastor, CityChurch became a part of New Covenant Ministries International, a network of global churches that exist to “know Jesus and Make Jesus known.”
NCMI is made up of a team with recognized Ephesians 4:11 gifts (apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers) who partner in their commitment to accomplish God’s mandate of making disciples of all nations.
CITYCHURCH Mission
Building An Engaging Community
We strive to be a diverse congregation and to be a place where anybody can find friendship, belonging, and ultimately a church family! We believe in having fun together, and so we organize lots of ways for each of us to spend time with one another.
Enabling Life Changing Encounters with God
We believe nothing is more powerful than when we encounter God. We seek to have many occasions when we can intentionally meet with God and be impacted by Him. In our services, in prayer and in worship…our goal is to meet with Him and be changed!
Facilitating Genuine Discipleship
Ultimately, our goal is to help each other grow in faith and learn to follow Jesus as He leads us into life. We provide a variety of ways for each of us to grow in this way so that together we find the freedom and life that the Bible promises us..
Engaging in Courageous Evangelism
We are excited about finding ways to connect and build genuine relationships with those who do not yet know Jesus. Courageously, we will reach out beyond the walls of the church and seek whenever possible, to invite people to come and visit with us.
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Committed to Impactful Outreach
Our heart and goal is to be a blessing to our city and to make a difference to those in need around us. Through genuine and active partnerships with local organizations, we remain committed to getting involved and having a lasting impact!
STATEMENT OF FAITH
CityChurch Charlotte, also referred to as the “Church” and the “Corporation”, shall be committed to both the historic orthodoxy of the Christian faith and the reality of God’s presence and power through the work of his Spirit today. We believe that this historic orthodoxy is first and foremost articulated through the Bible. That the Bible is God's Word to all people and the final point of authority for Christians. We believe that human authors wrote the Bible under the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit and that God speaks to us through Bible, even today. As such we believe in:
• The doctrine of the Trinity: We believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit: God who is three-in-one, God who is infinitely perfect, infinitely great, and infinitely good and who exists eternally in three different & distinct persons -Father, Son & Holy Spirit - who all share the same divine nature, power & authority. [1 Corinthians 8:6, John 10:30]
• The Father: We believe in a good God of perfect love and grace. God is all knowing, ever present, unchanging, and completely worthy of our trust and love. We believe in God’s sovereignty in creating, sustaining, ruling, redeeming and judging the world.. [Ephesians 4:4-6]
• Jesus, the Son: We believe Jesus is the incarnation of God’s eternal Son—simultaneously divine and human, but without sin. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born to Mary, a young virgin girl. He lived a sinless life and died a gruesome death. We believe in the substitution and sacrificial nature of Jesus Christ’s life, in his death and resurrection, that He is God’s only plan for our salvation, and that in Him we can have eternal life. .[Matthew 1:23, Luke 3:21-22, Luke 24]
• The gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone: We believe that through his death and resurrection, Jesus Christ provided the only way for us to be reconciled to God. By dying, Jesus paid the price for our sin. By rising, He made a way for us to have eternal life. Salvation is God’s gift and cannot be earned. .[Ephesians 2:8]
• The Church as the body of Christ: We believe that the Global Church is a community of believers, not a location. The Holy Spirit empowers the Church so we can worship God, proclaim the gospel, and share God’s love and redemption with a broken world. We remain committed to the Great Commission and being God’s agents of reconciliation.. [1 Corinthians 12:27, Romans 12:5, Matthew 28:19]
• The Spirit filled life: We believe in the power and the ministry of the Holy Spirit today. The Spirit is eternally God, with the Father and Son from the beginning. The Spirit reveals sin in our lives, assures us of our relationship with Christ, empowers us with spiritual gifts, and guides us in our walk to be more like Jesus. .[Romans 8:9, Galatians 5:22-25, 1 Corinthians 12]
• Redemption and Eternal life with God in heaven: We believe that Jesus will return to this world again as a final act to complete His work of redemption. Just as Jesus was resurrected from the dead, we believe that those who have faith in him also will be raised to eternal life with God. The choices we make today impact our eternal destiny. .[John 14:1-3, Matthew 24:30-31, Matthew 16:27]
• The Value of Human Life: We believe that all human life is sacred and created by God in His image. Human life is of inestimable worth in all its dimensions and at every stage or condition of life from conception through to natural death. Scripture calls to advocate for and value all human life and to wrestle with applying that mandate to the lives, community and society around us.. [Psalm 139, Genesis 1:27]
• The Nature of Human Sexuality: We believe that God made us male and female in His image—a profound unity with distinction (Genesis 1:27) reflecting the triune God. Sexuality is God's good gift and all persons are sexual beings whether or not they are married. However, scripture teaches us that sexual relationships are affirmed only within the life-long ‘one flesh’ covenant of monogamous, heterosexual marriage (Genesis 1:28 & 2:24, Matthew 19:4-6) being a model of Jesus' relationship to the Church .[Ephesians 5:21-23]
This faith therefore affirms the dignity of all human life and the need of every person to experience forgiveness from sin, and encouragement in their daily relationship with Christ, through a new birth into the family of God.