So how will this central idea that “Wherever the River flows everything will live” (Ez 47:9) move forward for River47? We believe that a first step is to know, understand, embrace and be able to communicate the core values, which will serve as the focus of this Adventure, Risk and Life to which the Lord is calling us. Below you will find those values distilled to their bare essence.

The River Wide
• Kingdom Growth
• Bringing Persons Different Than Ourselves
 
The River Deep
• Depth of Relationship with Fellow Believers
• Depth of Commitment to Christ’s Church (past, present, future)
• Depth of Relationship with the Triune God and the mysteries of the faith
• Depth of Care for a Broken World.

The Vision of River47: Deep and Wide
Our vision is anchored in two streams of growth which we refer to as the River Deep and the River Wide. One stream is about us, while the other exists always just beyond us.

The River Deep is about us. In this stream we are challenged to delve deeper into the true character of following, knowing and growing closer to the heart of God for His church and creation. The River Deep is about moving and growing in those qualities that make us true children of the King.

The River Wide is not about us. This stream is grounded in the heart of Jesus that the lost of this world would be actively sought and saved through Christ’s life, death and resurrection. The River Wide is about proclamation and invitation. It is about a heart of inclusion and transformation for the other whom God’s heart longs to call family.

Of course, at the core of both the River Deep and the River Wide is the Lord of the river itself. In all things River47 is about Christ’s life in us calling us to adventure, risk and the joy of glorifying God.

Core Values: The River Wide

Extend: Kingdom Growth

We are blessed in this congregation by great people who have come to us from other congregations. Still, a congregation that is growing simply by transfer is not growing the Kingdom but simply church swapping. At River47 one of our greatest joys is to see people come to know Jesus for the first time.

Each time this happens, the Kingdom of God actually grows. More than that, in the words of Jesus Himself “they have crossed over from death to Life!”(John 5:24).

Here at River 47 we believe that not only is that person changed, but we are wonderfully changed as each new individual brings the gift of all the Lord has truly crated them to be.

Variety: Bringing Persons Different Than Ourselves

As human beings we tend to group ourselves together with people exactly like us. But that is not the vision that God has for His Kingdom! Jesus’ vision for the church calls for it to be comprised of people from every culture, nation, language and socio-economic group. If this is true, why is it then that local congregations seem to be so homogeneous (made up of people from one group)?

One reason is that walking outside of our boundaries be they language, culture, race, education or economic involves the risk of reaching out to the unfamiliar. Still, imagine the adventure and beauty of a congregation like that. A tapestry of all the wonderful diversity of persons the Lord is seeking to weave into His church. This is the way it is going to be in heaven when we sing this song together: “Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty, King of the ages. Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed. Rev 15:4” To make this real the value is not that people would come and be like us, but rather through the joy of the rich diversity, giftedness and insight of God’s people we would be changed together into the body of believers Jesus desires us to be.

If you are a visitor to River47 and notice that there is no one else that you would consider like you in the congregation, consider that God may have brought you here today as the first among many that He will use to broaden our diversity.

Core Value: The River Deep

Relationship: Depth of Relationship With Fellow Believers

Here at River47 we desire to truly know and be known by one another. Not the superficial stuff of “Here’s a donut and some coffee. What do you think of this weather?” That’s not what Christ wants for His community.

Here at River47 we desire to truly know and be known by one another. Not the superficial stuff of “Here’s a donut and some coffee. What do you think of this weather?” That’s not what Christ wants for His community.

Deep relationship doesn’t just happen. It takes work. Not only in terms of time, but also in what we will share of ourselves. Deep relationship with fellow believers means a willingness to see each other grow by entering into each other’s lives. It doesn’t mean we’re perfect, but it does mean we are seeking to follow together the One who is.This balance of our own weaknesses in the midst of God’s perfection and the means to depth of relationship are put this way in 1 John 1:7, “But if we walk in the light as He is in light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

Such depth cannot happen in the Sunday morning worship setting alone. For this reason we regularly set aside times for greater building of relationship including small groups, special events, adventure trips and more. We encourage all to make a high priority of opportunities to be together. We believe that each time we come together for such opportunities River47 changes for the better.

Commitment: To Christ’s Church (past, present, future)

At River47 our desire is to be a people who are deeply committed to the Church, the body of Christ. The Church is bigger than any one person, congregation or denomination. The Church is the people of God across the world and across the ages, faithful to Christ and His calling. We commit to the church in the past by remembering and honoring the legacy created for us through faithfulness and sacrifice.

We commit to the church of the future by not remaining in the past but looking to the future, giving a timely message about timeless truths of God. We commit to the church in the present by making a commitment to be part of God’s people, working together for the Kingdom and living up to the legacy passed down to us.

We are the Church, the Bride of Christ. We are not called to private, lonely faith, but to a community of believers. As the Bride of Christ our vow is to love each other and stick with each other for better or worse. Our vision is for River47 to be a place where people are faithful to each other through good and bad, thick and thin, no matter what happens, always staying true to our first love: Jesus Christ.

In the future the church will be fully united to and in Christ, the great Bridegroom, our savior and Lord. An anthem of praise will rise forever on the lips of the redeemed; we will worship together with all the saints: past, present and future.

Mystery:

It’s in our nature…. We want to quantify everything. If you can’t dot it or cross it, or put boundaries around it, there will be someone to tell you it doesn’t exist. Still in each of us there is an embedded understanding that what is deepest and most wonderful is beyond boundaries and measurement. It is a mystery. The early church understood this. The Bible even tells us that “the mystery of Godliness is great.”

There is still more there than any tongue or pen could ever hope to show. God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) who made you and holds you together beckons “Know Me and be known

more deeply than you’ve ever imagined possible.” At River47 we long for that kind of relationship with God. The kind we do not fully understand, but washes over us in wonder. Not quantified by words, but embraced by the human heart.

For us it’s OK to say, “Hey I don’t know that.” We are not mired down in the insecurity of not being able to explain everything. We know we don’t get it all, but we know the God who does. Living this way allows us to enjoy the freedom of life’s journey, discovering all that the Lord has for us.

This makes life in the body of Christ an adventure, allowing for risk and the exploration of the next bend in the river because our security does not rest in what we know but in the God we know.

Care: Depth of Care for a Broken World

A little girl approached her daddy with what was left of a ladybug. She had picked it up and pulled it’s wings off while examining it. In great sadness she held it up to her father and said, “Look Daddy, it isn’t a lady bug anymore.” The inference was clear, “Can you fix it Daddy?” Like that lady bug, we live in a broken world. From broken people, to broken societies to breaks in the environment around us, everything is not as it should be.

Studying Ezekiel 47 and the corresponding passage in Revelations 22, we realize that the Lord calls us to care about our broken world.. Christian environmentalists? Christians for social and racial justice? Actually, followers of Christ were leading these things through the beginning of the 20th century when, for some reason they began walking away from the table. Slowly God was taken out of the equation; a sure way to get things warped.

At River47 we don’t pretend to have this emphasis figured out or how the Lord will ask us to play this value out. We do understand from our vision text that when the river reaches its final destination the water becomes fresh (the word in Hebrew is “healed”) and that somehow, some way God calls the church to a ministry of healing what is broken. So we have determined to care about the brokenness of people, societies and all of God’s creation that we might have a part in the healing process and become a stream that would make glad, not only our city, but the city of God(Psalm 46:4).