About Valley Chapel

We are a community of people who holds to the authority of God and his Word over all things. As we have been gathered into a community we believe the church is directed and governed by King Jesus, who uses appointed leaders to govern his church. We are a historically reformed, bible believing, covenantal, gospel centered, elder led church, as we see it in Scripture. If that language doesn’t mean anything to you, you will see that with our convictions about God’s Word and the structure of the church we are learning to worship together and enjoy the rich blessings of the gospel. We do this as we live and rest under the rule and redemptive work of the Cross. Every Sunday we talk about the good news of Christ bringing his kingdom and presence into this world through his Word.

Primary Values 

Prayer and Spiritual Renewal

We believe that the primary need in the church is not merely practical but spiritual. We are meant to seek God and his renewing power through the gospel and the power of the Spirit. It is easy to think we just need to display Jesus and life in the church as a list of moral commands, but even for believers, we need to be grounded in our union with Christ for any substantial change to occur. Spiritual life flows from union with Christ, and the work of the church is spiritual in nature.

Shepherding

There is a great need in the church for shepherds to care for God’s people. It says in Matthew 9:36-37 that Jesus looked out at the crowds, and he saw them as sheep without a shepherd. He goes on to say, “the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” It is the shepherd’s responsibility to know, feed, lead, and protect people under their care. We believe that shepherding should be one of the central responsibilities of the elders. 

Worship that Faithfully Honors God

Worship is to be a gathering of God’s people to give honor and glory to him. This must be done in a way that is faithful to how God asks us to worship him. That is primary and fundamentally important. Secondarily, if we are to honor God, we should worship in the context of our culture. This must still be faithfully honoring the worship that God commands of his people. 

Family

Men and women are primarily called to take care of their homes as a function of first importance. We hold to a complimentary view of men and women. Men are the primary leaders of their homes, yet as we saw in Genesis in the creation account, it was not good for man to be alone. Women hold a significant and valuable role as a co-laborer and helpmate. One of the first places members are to look at elders' lives is in their homes. Forming godly families that reflect the biblical pictures of family is of primary importance for models of discipleship, care, and hospitality in the church. We believe this means that the church must make room for families to exist and grow within the church. Kids should be allowed in the worship service with their parents and have the space to learn how to do that. 

Preaching and Teaching

Preaching and teaching are laid out in scripture as tasks that are of utmost importance for the church. God has identified elders as those who oversee the teaching of the church. In the Old Testament we regularly see that the people of Israel are always directed back to teaching and to the Word of God. Jesus would also regularly emphasize teaching with his model of discipleship. We see this primarily in the great commission, as he commands his disciples to go and make disciples of all the world, “teaching them all that I have commanded.” Disciples must be taught. Teaching is meant to call God’s people back to him, to give guidance in life for flourishing, and to shape people for the mission of God. This is seen in Genesis 18:18-19 as God gives his call to Abraham to be a blessing to the nations. Abraham is to lead and teach his offspring in this. 

God’s word is authoritative and we believe we need to hear the the full counsel of God. One of the best ways this is accomplished is through expository preaching, or preaching that explains the meaning of the scripture plainly, clearly and accurately. There are many different venues for reading and hearing God’s word, but it is of primary importance that the church has a regular diet of expository preaching. 

Equipping Saints for Ministry

One of the most important tasks and roles for the church is to equip the saints for the work of ministry. God has given gifts to his church and his grace is poured out on his church. The saints are meant to use the gifts God has given for God's purposes. This is the work of the church as the apostle Paul says in Ephesians 4, the church is called “to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”

Church Planting & Evangelism

Calls toward evangelism in the New Testament seem as though they have a greater push toward church planting and expansion of the kingdom than toward personal testimonies of faith. In Matthew 28, in the great commission, Jesus calls his disciples to make disciples of all nations and baptize them. This baptizing of people is really to bring them into a worshiping covenant community. It is not just a call to share the faith, it is a call to make new disciples in new communities or groups of people. Church planting is a very effective way of reaching new communities of people, even if there are already churches in that city. 

Evangelism seems to be connected with relationships. There is a specific command in scripture toward reaching the nations, and we believe that this should be done in the context of relationships that exist or in pursuit of long-standing relationships. It is not enough to just share faith and consider a response to be enough. People who respond to biblical evangelism should have a way to immediately be brought into a worshiping community. 

Relational Outreach Ministries

Outreach is a necessity part of the Church. There are many mandates laid out throughout scripture for God’s people to reach into the world with the gospel. Many wonderful outreach programs are reaching people in many different contexts. The outreach programs that exist in the church should be first and foremost relationally driven. Any outreach should be done within the context of some relationship or within the context of developing new relationships as we are sent into the world.