The vision of Keystone Bible Church is to be a God-centered, healthy community of faith.
The mission of Keystone Bible Church is to honor God by making and maturing disciples who are becoming like Jesus Christ.
As stated in our Vision Statement, we have two goals at Keystone. We desire to be: God-centered and Healthy. We believe that God-centeredness will be the result of pursuing the three aspects of our Mission Statement: Honor God (Purpose), Make and Mature Disciples (Process), and Become Like Jesus Christ (Product).
That discipleship process is deeply imprinted in the fabric of who we are as a body of believers. It is our desire that everyone at Keystone would take seriously their responsibility to “be one, and make one.” We are all working to make and mature disciples as Jesus commanded in Matthew 28:19-20. Matthew 4:19 guides the way that we view discipleship at Keystone which contains Three Dimensions of a God-centered Discipleship Process.
Three Core Values:
- We believe in God-centered ministry vs. man-centered ministry.
- We believe in people-oriented ministry vs. program-oriented ministry.
- We believe in process-focused ministry vs. event-focused ministry.
Furthermore, we strive for church health by structuring our ministry forms to facilitate the following functions from Acts 2:41-47:
Four Pillars for Ministry Function:
- Learning experiences with the Word of God (“the apostles’ teaching”)
- Worship experiences as a lifestyle in private and public (“with glad and generous hearts, praising God”)
- Relational experiences with other believers (“fellowship” including the elements of praying, eating, sharing, and praising)
- Witnessing experiences with the world (“enjoying the favor of all the people”)
The Four Rooms of Our House:
We Intentionally Gather to:
- Worship in Services (Odessa / Wesley Chapel)
- Live in Groups
- Grow in Studies
- Serve on Teams (Odessa / Wesley Chapel)
Then, we intentionally scatter on mission for Jesus.
Gathering and Scattering AS the Church:
The Acts 2 healthy church model also informs us that living life in the center of a local church family is a critical part of following Jesus. As such, relationship with His Church is first and foremost something that He calls us to BE long before it is a list of things that we must DO. So, when we gather as international disciples of Jesus at Keystone, we do so intentionally AS His church, but then we also scatter just as intentionally as His church, to live for His mission. That means that relationship with the church family is not defined solely by the start and end of a service order for a worship gathering. Members of a healthy, connected, church family must be all-in to live life together as the family of God, and likewise be all-in to live life for the mission of Christ. That’s why we strive to faithfully live life as a church family within the following four rooms of our house at Keystone.
The objective of Keystone Bible is church health, not church growth. However, a vital or healthy church is marked by spiritual vitality, functional effectiveness, and statistical growth in its life and ministry. Therefore, we will seek to be a healthy church and will expect to grow as a result.
With these objectives in mind, we purpose to be in a constant state of evaluation as we strive to be a healthy church that glorifies God. It is our belief that the following are vital signs of a healthy church and serve as helpful evaluation points for our leadership:
Vital signs of a healthy church:
- Gospel Focused
- Dynamic Discipleship
- Word Saturated
- Vision Motivated
- Authentic Worship
- Expositional Preaching
- Servant Leadership
- Missional Evangelism
- Intercessory Prayer
- Loving Community
- Mercy and Compassion
- Accountable Church Membership
- Intentional Multiplication
We also believe that there are obstacles to church health and we purpose to guard against them. Some of these include:
- Reaction to the abuses of numerical growth
- Defending the status quo
- Traditionalism
- Legalism
- Consumerism
- Mixed agendas
- Irresponsibility
- Unnecessary barriers
- Confusing form and function
- Imbalance
Learn more by listening to Pastor John Tracy teach this Healthy Church Philosophy in the following sermon:
