The Chapel - WHY WE EXIST
“The Chapel exists to glorify God.”
These six words written on a flip chart 20 years ago are the heart of The Chapel. From the beginning it has been our desire that everything we are and do would reflect His character and fulfill His purposes – that we would be all about Him!
“For He chose us from the beginning,
God’s purpose was that we…should praise our glorious God.”
(Ephesians 1:11,12)
But that brings another question: how can we do that? How can we, weak mortal beings that we are, glorify God?
“by bringing people closer to God,
to each other,
and to the freedom of life lived
God’s way
for God’s purposes.”
We bring God glory when we accept His love, and express our love and gratitude back to Him. (John 3:16; Mark 12:30) God’s love for us is amazing! We have done nothing to earn His love, in fact, just the opposite. Yet, He loves us and wants to be with us, and have us with Him – so much so that Jesus gave His life for us. When we stop trying to earn His love through religious acts and just receive it, our hearts overflow with gratitude.
The Chapel is a celebration of grateful people gathering to express their love back to God.
We bring God glory when we genuinely love and accept each other. (Mark 12:31; Romans 15:7) God lives in community and created us to do the same. We all have a deep need to be known, to be accepted and to be included in meaningful relationships with others. Selfishness and independence have erected barriers between us, but in the love and forgiveness of Jesus we can be to each other what we were created to be.
The Chapel is a community of loved people who know, accept, and include each other in loving relationships.
We bring God glory when we live our lives in the direction of Jesus. (Philippians 1:11) We all have sinful messes in our past. Thankfully, we can be forgiven by the incredible sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf. But we don’t have to live messed up lives any more! Jesus came not only to forgive us, but start us on the journey of life long transformation.
The Chapel is a camaraderie of forgiven people encouraging each other in the process of change.
We bring glory to God when we serve others with our God given gifts. (I Peter 4:10,11) We are unique individuals designed with certain abilities, gifts, passions and experiences. These are primarily given, not for our own enjoyment, but to meet the needs of others. No one has been given everything, so we need each other. We become the best we can be as a team working together.
The Chapel is a collaboration of gifted people using what they have been given for the good of others.
We bring glory to God when we tell others the good news about Jesus. (II Corinthians 4:15)
We are surrounded by people who are looking for something to fill the spiritual part of who they are. Many are feeling disconnected from God and unfulfilled by their religious efforts. We are called to build intentional bridges of relationship to them, so that we can tell them about the reality of a relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
The Chapel is a congregation of rescued people, telling spiritually lost people where to find hope.
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