What is Emmaus Church all about?

The mission of Emmaus Church is simple. We exist to declare and display the gospel of Jesus. Every time the people of Emmaus are gathered and everywhere we are sent, our one objective is to make, mature, and multiply disciples of Jesus who make His gospel known. This mission comes to life through the church’s three-fold vision—Creed, Community, Commission.

Creed: We believe in sound doctrine.

The gospel we declare and display depends on a true confession of who God is, what He’s done, and who He calls us to be. In Scripture, God has given to us all that is necessary for life and godliness (2 Pet. 1:3). As such, the Scriptures are our highest authority. From Scripture, we learn to know, trust, obey, and teach what God has revealed.

But even though Scripture alone is our highest authority, God never intended for us to open the Scriptures all alone, as if our pilgrimage as Christians is to take place individualistically. All who have been united to Christ have been called into His church. So we open the Scriptures with the church—not only the church of today, but the church across the ages. Therefore we unite around the creeds of the universal church. 

If you worship with Emmaus on Sunday mornings, you will often hear us recite The Nicene Creed or The Apostles’ Creed. Creeds consolidate what Scripture teaches in order to confirm and cultivate sound doctrine among the Body of Christ. The word creed simply means ‘belief.’ So by confessing creeds, we locate our beliefs within the orthodoxy of the Christian church.

Community: We covenant to build gospel culture.

The gospel we declare and display creates a community defined by the love of God. We refer to this kind of community as ‘gospel culture.’ One of our deepest convictions is that what the church believes (doctrine) should determine what the church is like (culture).

Often, when the writers of Scripture talk about the culture of the church, love is the dominant theme. For instance, Paul’s list of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22–23 begins with love because “the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:13). Gospel culture is defined by Christian love. We love because God first loved us (1 John 4:19).

Yet gospel culture doesn’t happen by accident. No church drifts into it automatically. Therefore we view meaningful church membership as essential. At Emmaus, gospel culture requires adherence to clear terms and parameters of commitment to God and others, expressed in a written covenant. Therefore our members are referred to as ‘covenant members.’ 

Commission: We pursue kingdom advancement.

The gospel we declare and display tells us that “God so loved the world” (John 3:16). Emmaus has joined God’s mission to reach the world with news of His saving love. Jesus commissions us to make disciples of all nations. His Great Commission is God’s plan for spreading the gospel of His kingdom to the ends of the earth. 

One thing you’ll notice about Emmaus is that we are a sending church. We do a lot of what we call ‘gospel goodbyes.’ Because of our firm commitment to The Great Commission, we send people all over the world—from New England to the Middle East—to be pastors, church planters, and missionaries. Our prayer is that, having experienced gospel culture at Emmaus, those we send will be a blessing to their future churches and mission fields.

The bottom line? We are a people on mission. As such, we partner with other churches and ministries, plant new churches, care for those in need, and make every effort to reach our city and the nations with the gospel.