mission
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:19-20
vision
To build a vibrant, reproducing community unified in Christ that embraces and transforms people of all nations to impact their cities, their nations, and the world for Christ.
values
The church prayerfully seeks to cultivate within its fellowship the following Biblical values, evident in healthy, maturing churches worldwide.
God-centered, Passionate Spirituality, Word-Based – The chief end of man is to glory God and to enjoy Him forever. Only God can satisfy. We therefore seek to be God- centered, not man-centered, consistently seeking through all its programs to gain a deeper understanding of God, love for God and experience of God. We believe God is most glorified in us when we are most deeply satisfied in Him (Mark 12:29-31). We are committed to regular, systematic, expositional preaching of the whole of Scripture to keep us grounded in and shaped by God’s unchanging Word. This commitment to how we are nurtured by the Bible keeps God and his Word at the center of our worship and discipleship.
Relationship Oriented – We seek to cultivate a culture of genuine Christian love among its members, through providing instruction in methods of demonstrating love, and facilitating ministries that achieve this.
Unified in Christ – We seek to be a visible expression of the multicultural diversity in God’s Kingdom. We therefore seek unity in our multicultural diversity, appointing spiritually mature, gifted individuals from many cultures to visible positions of service and ministry leadership. We recognize the biblical validity of both infant and believer baptism and welcome diverse views and practice as an expression of our unity in Christ.
Mission Focused – It is the responsibility of every individual follower of Jesus Christ and of the body of Christ that makes up a local church to share the truth and love of Jesus Christ with those in our families, neighborhoods, cities, countries and to those in every nation in the world. We seek to embrace, instruct and transform individuals from all nations who are in its fellowship to be equipped to teach, train and make disciples in their own nations. We also seek to teach, train, send out and support those who are called to make disciples in nations other than their own (Acts 1:8).
Reproducing – Every follower of Jesus Christ has a unique, God-given calling and gifting and each person is responsible to discern their calling and use their gifts in obedience in the building up of the body of Christ for the expansion of the Kingdom of God. We further believe that all followers of Jesus Christ are called to make disciples and bear fruit. We therefore seek to provide an environment and a culture whereby believers are given opportunities to use the resources of the church to fulfill their calling, express their gifts and exercise their passions for ministry and to build up and train others who will do the same (Matthew 28:18-20, 2 Timothy 2:2).
Catalytic – Due to its location and external restrictions the church is uniquely situated to cope with its composition of believers from dozens of cultures, countries and denominational backgrounds. We therefore seek to create and/or provide opportunities
for ministry for individuals and/or organizations that could not normally occur outside the networking of the BICF (Matthew 5:14). We are committed to a focus on reaching and discipling international students, academics and teachers of the universities of Beijing. This preserves the historical reasons why BICF-ZGC was planted in Haidian.