Core Values
Our Mission:
To, as a body of believers, present everyone in West L.A. with a full and accurate picture of God and man with the goal that this picture of who He is and who we are will radically transform lives.
Our Vision:
Shoreline exists to delight in God above all else and through that delight to live God-honoring lives that transform the world around us.
Our Values:
Prayer
Prayer is not simply another part of what we do; it is the foundation and first step of everything in our lives. If we firmly believe in the sovereignty and power of God, then we must bring everything to Him through prayer. We believe that prayer is to be unceasing and will seek to manifest this through the church community. Prayer must be an integral part of our personal lives, personal relationships and corporate gatherings. As we bring our requests, concerns, praises, confessions, and intercessions before our great God, He will receive glory through our lives no matter the outcome of those requests.
High View of God (Seeking God’s Glory)
God is the sole and sovereign Creator of the universe, and His full glory and majesty are beyond our comprehension. Our ultimate purpose is to glorify God and to lift up His name among believers and non-believers alike. In every decision we make, personally and as a church body, we will seek to bring God glory rather than to please people or to attract crowds. We believe that the chief end of man is to glorify God—which is therefore also the chief end of the Church—and that there is no calling nobler or more joyous than giving glory to God. To that end, we will rejoice as we pursue God’s glory and fame in everything we do.
High View of Scripture (Exegetical Teaching)
The Word of God is powerful, effective, and life transforming. It has everything that we need for life and Godliness and is the living, breathing, and final revelation of God to us. As a result, we believe that it is not the thoughts of men that revolutionize hearts and inspire obedience—only the Scriptures illuminated by the Holy Spirit can truly change lives. For this reason, the teaching at Shoreline will be exegetical; that is it will focus on discovering and displaying the meaning of a portion of Scripture. In the end, when the Word of God is lifted up, God receives the glory for everything it accomplishes.
The Church Community (Relational Discipleship)
The church was never designed to be a weekly meeting or a building. The church is the body of Christ, the community of believers. We believe it is God’s desire that the church would live as a family in deeds, action, and love. While the vocabulary of family and community are popular today, we desire those ideas to be a reality by seeking to live life as that family of believers. This requires pastors to live with and among their people and to equip them for the work of ministry. Counseling, discipleship, exhortation, rebukes, and the meeting of physical needs are not the responsibility of the church ‘organization’ but of each individual believer as they live with their spiritual family. We will seek to pursue this ideal by structuring gatherings and leadership in a way that enables and requires this type of body. In this community, believers are able to benefit not simply from the gifting of a few either in leadership or within their small circle of friends, but from the gifts of the believers within the entire church.
The Local Community (Relational Evangelism)
As believers, we are the visual, tangible, hands and feet of God to the unbelieving world around us. We must question the reality of God’s grace and salvation in our lives if it does not produce in our hearts a longing to share that good news with those who are perishing. As a community of believers, it will be one of our highest priorities to share the good news of Jesus Christ with the thousands of people in West LA who do not know Him. We believe that the most effective form of evangelism is that which happens within existing relationships as a result of a transformed life and the witness of the Holy Spirit’s work in those who believe. We also understand that to effectively communicate as a community it is necessary to be culturally relevant in our style, form and vocabulary while at the same time never compromising our Biblical convictions. To this end, we will seek to love and serve those in the local community, understanding that the greatest form of love and service we can offer is the opportunity to know the Lord Jesus Christ.
Worship
The natural response to such an all-powerful Creator and Savior is humble worship. We believe that true worship comes from a heart and mind that acknowledges the Lord as God and gives Him honor in response. There are many different ways that we can worship God, and as a community we will seek to honor Him through many different effective, yet not distracting, forms (including music, reading, meditation, prayer, etc.), while understanding that offering our lives as sacrifices to God is our ultimate act of worship as believers.
Multiplication
While we place a heavy emphasis on reaching those around us in West L.A., the Lord commands us to make disciples of all nations, not simply our neighborhood. In response to God’s call we will be dedicated to the ministry of domestic and foreign church planting and to the many different ministries of missions. Our desire will be to help train, equip, and support others as they further the gospel throughout the world. However, this will not only be a commitment of the church as an organization, but of the church as a community as we continue to love and support our brothers and sisters who the Lord has called out from our local community.
Biblical Leadership
Throughout the New Testament, churches are led by a group of men providing oversight and shepherding for a community of believers. The only “chief shepherd” (or senior pastor) found in scripture is Jesus Christ. Consequently, we believe that God’s design for the leadership of the local church is a group of co-equal pastor/elders who function together to minister the Word and equip the body for the work of ministry. We also believe and trust that God has the power to unite His local leadership for the purposes He has set for that community. Pastor/elders must meet the biblical qualifications for eldership, be filled with the Spirit and actively growing, and be called to lead this local community.