About Harvest
About Harvest
GET TO KNOW US
Harvest Community Church is a growing church-planting movement in Central Florida. We believe the message of Jesus is essential for everyone and are committed to building churches that share Jesus with their community.
ABOUT US
OUR PURPOSE
We believe that we are created to love God, love people, and impact our world.
Unfortunately, all of us have experienced distance in our relationship with God and difficulties loving people—even the people closest to us. What's more, the impact we are making often falls short of the good one we desire.
At Harvest, we believe that Jesus provides us with the only workable solution to these problems. The Bible describes these problems as sin and demonstrates how Jesus uniquely provides the solution to the sin problem we all face.
ABOUT US
OUR MISSION
At Harvest, we believe that Jesus provides us with the only workable solution to these problems. The Bible describes these problems as sin and demonstrates how Jesus uniquely provides the solution to the sin problem we all face.
This is the reason for our mission. The way we like to put it is that we are people helping people know and follow Jesus.
We're working to establish communities of people who follow Jesus together and strive to get back to our purpose of loving God and people while making a positive impact on our world!
ABOUT US
OUR VISION
We desire to multiply leaders to help Central Florida know and follow Jesus. We're working to fuel a movement of passionate, outsider-seeking churches that are built with a multiplication DNA to reach Central Florida. We will accomplish this through a combination of two strategies:
Start More Harvest Congregations. As Harvest grows, we will pursue opportunities to extend the church to new communities around us.
Start New Churches. We will deliberately build up pastors and leaders who will launch new churches in new locations through our partnership with United Church Planting Network.
ABOUT US
CORE VALUES
Knowing and following Jesus means that we are becoming more like him in character and action. We value the following practices, worded as questions, to help us become more and more like Jesus:
ABOUT US
LEADERSHIP DISTINCTIVES
The following leadership values will tell you something about the unique culture of our movement:
We don't play it safe, we follow Jesus. We believe big, pray big, but start small. We choose to think outside of the box but we purposefully do less to accomplish more.
Jesus is our message. We are Jesus people, not religious people. Methods will come and go, yet our message will remain the same. Furthermore, our mission to connect Jesus to outsiders trumps preferences for insiders.
We don't lead to maintain, but to multiply. We believe the leader wins by growing fruit on other people's trees. We lead toward a movement that multiplies outward not to protect what we've built.
We choose to take the hill and to take it together. The church is a multi-generational, ethnically diverse, team on a mission to help others know and follow Jesus. We are extremely dedicated to this mission and we are highly dedicated to each other.
We cherish and develop wisdom. We love wisdom more than policy, so we’re committed to growing in and leading with wisdom.
WHAT WE BELIEVE
HARVEST IS A NON-DENOMINATIONAL, BIBLE-TEACHING CHURCH.
OUR BASIC BELIEFS ON THE BIBLE, GOD, JESUS, AND THE CHURCH ARE:
GOD WROTE
A BOOK
The Bible is God's Word to all people, written by human authors under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit. Because of its divine inspiration, the Bible is truth without any mixture of error and is completely relevant to our daily lives.
Deuteronomy 4:1-2; Psalms 119:11, 89, 105; Isaiah 40:8; Matthew 22:29; John 5:39; 16:13-15; 17:17; Romans 15:4; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; Hebrews 1:1-2; 4:12; 1 Peter 1:25; 2 Peter 3:16
THE TRINITY: GOD EXISTS AS 1 AND YET 3
We believe that there is one living and true God, eternally existing in three persons, that these are equal in every divine perfection, and that they execute distinct but harmonious offices in the work of creation, providence and redemption.
Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 61:1; Matthew 28:19; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 1:35; John 5:21-23; 14:10, 16; Romans 8:9-11; 1 Corinthians 8:6; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Hebrews 1:8-10; James 2:19
WHO IS
JESUS?
Jesus Christ is completely human and at the same time completely God. He is the only way to bring people who are enemies of God back into a right relationship with God. He lived a perfect life demonstrating to mankind how to live, so that He could be a substitution for us in satisfying God's demands for perfection. He defeated death in His resurrection so that we could have and experience true life.
Isaiah 7:14; 53; Matthew 1:18-23; 3:17; 8:29; 14:33; 16:16; 28:5-6; Luke 22:70; 24:46-47; John 1:1, 14; 10:30; 11:25-27; 17:1-5; Acts 1:9; 2:22-24; 7:55-56; Romans 1:3-4; 3:23-26; 8:1-3; 10:4; 1 Corinthians 8:6; 2 Corinthians 5:19-21; Gal 4:4-5; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 1:15; 2:9; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; 3:16
SALVATION
The blood of Jesus Christ, shed on the cross, provides the only way of salvation through the forgiveness of sin. Salvation only occurs when people place their faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus as the substitute and sufficient payment for their sin. Salvation is a gift of God’s grace and it cannot be earned through our own efforts.
Isaiah 1:18; 53:5-6; 55:7; Matthew 1:21; 27:22-28:6; Luke 1:68-69; 2:28-32; John 1:12; 3:16, 36; 5:24;Acts 2:21; 4:12; 16:30-31; Romans 1:16-18;3:23-25; 5:8-10; 6; 1 Corinthians 1:18; 2 Corinthians 5:17-20; Galatians 2:20; 3:13; Ephesians 2:8-10; Philippians 2:12-13; Hebrews 9:24-28; Revelation 3:20
THE CHURCH
The church is a local community of believers unified through their faith in Jesus Christ. It is committed to the teachings of Christ, to obeying all of His commands, and it seeks to bring the good news of Jesus to the world. The Church works together in love and unity, intent on the ultimate purpose of glorifying Christ.
Matthew 16:18-19; 18:15-20; Acts 2:41-47; 5:11-14; 13:1-3; 14:23; 16:5; 20:28; 1 Corinthians 7:17; 9:13-14; 12; Ephesians 1:22-23; 2:19-22; 3:10-12; 5:22-32; Colossians 1:18; 3:15; 1 Timothy 4:14; 1 Peter 5:1-4; Revelation 21:2-3
STATEMENT OF FAITH
For a more comprehensive look at our doctrinal beliefs, download our Statement of Faith. If you'd like to learn more about our mission, values—attend Starting Point.