We Value Souls
The Scripture teaches that every person, past, present, and future, has a soul. Our souls are the part of us that will live forever. Our bodies will return to the earth, but our souls have eternal life. Every soul needs a spiritual birth-to be born-again.
We were all born the first time by natural birth from our mothers, but each person needs to be born again by a spiritual birth. To repent, and to be baptized in water acknowledging the name of Jesus, and to be filled with his Spirit. That spiritual life begins when we repent of our sins and confess that Jesus Christ is lord of all. Repentance and confession are paramount to serving God. We must make him the Lord of our lives and accept the great sacrifice He made on Calvary when He died to free us from the bondage of sin. When we ask Jesus Christ to save us, to enter our heart and to rule and reign, we begin our spiritual life.
At CTEC we value every soul on this continent and beyond, every race, every nationality, and each gender. Our ministry desire is to be a Spirit-led, Spirit-filled, multi-cultural place of worship. Because we want every soul to be saved, we place supreme value on every soul.
We Value The One
Everyone matters to God. In Luke 15, Jesus teaches the value of one using three different parables- the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son.
Jesus said in Luke 15:10,”there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
We are reaching for and celebrating the one. when we gather, connect with one another, and serve our community. In our services we regularly give a call for the ones who need repentance, those who have recently accepted Christ, those desiring to be filled with the Holy Ghost, as well as those with other prayer needs.
We Value Families
We are a family ministering to families. It is the culture of church leadership that we are family, and we do life together. When one hurts, we all hurt. When one wins, we all win! It is said that “The anointing on all of us is greater than the anointing on one of us.”
A connected family is a strong family, and it is our desire to see every member of your family connected to the ministry in a place of preparation and or service. Our children and youth ministries are committed to reaching your children on their level. Couples are encouraged to grow not only closer to God but to each other.
We are a family of believers growing together in Christ, and we are committed to helping you see your family grow together in their faith and love for God.
We Value Discipleship
The bible speaks clearly that people perish for lack of knowledge. We work diligently to never allow that statement to have credence at CTEC. From the youngest child teaching to the eldest adult, we desire to see the Word of God disseminated, studied, and learned by everyone.
1Peter 3:15 NLT– “Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone ask you about your Christian hope, always be ready to explain it.”
We want all members of CTEC to be knowledgeable about their faith, and to be able to teach the gospel to unbelievers. By fulfilling Scripture that teaches us to “make disciples of men” and to teach them the ways of God, we reach our value of edification and discipleship through bible-based teaching. It is our focus in every gathering to make disciples of God’s people.
It is clear in the scripture that discipleship is a continual process and living a disciplined life is the evidence of true discipleship, which requires time, commitment, and involvement. We know that healthy people help people.
We Value Modesty in Dress Code
I Cor.6:11-12- And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God. All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient (profitable)…I Tim 2:9-10 …women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls or costly array; But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works. I Samuel 16:7
Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. Our emphasis is on the inward man of the heart.
We Value The Holy Ghost
We are a Spirit –led, Spirit-filled ministry. We value the gifts of the Holy Spirit (1Corinthians12:1-11) which unify the body of Christ. We recognize the baptism of the Holy Spirit as found in the book of Acts19:6, “And when Paul laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied”.
While salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord, from scripture it is clear, there are greater depths to the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Jesus taught in John 14:26, But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Later in the scripture, the believers, who were gathered in Jerusalem, received the Holy Ghost.
As a member of CTEC, you can expect to hear teaching on the power of the Holy Spirit in your lives. We do recognize the baptism of the Holy Ghost as a gift, and from scripture there are many gifts of the Spirit. There is power for the life of the believer through practicing the gifts of the Holy Spirit and allowing Him to fill and lead our ministry is of utmost importance.
We Value Service
Serving others is a kingdom principle, and service to CTEC is vital to the spiritual health of every member. Throughout His ministry, Jesus not only taught the value of serving, but He was the ultimate example of serving. In fact, Matthew 20:28 says that Christ, came to serve, not to be served.
We value service and we not only encourage, but we expect members to serve on a ministry team. “Servant leadership” leadership is a part of our culture, which is the model that Jesus exemplified. To become involved in the leadership of CTEC, you must be willing to serve first.
Romans 15:1-2 MSG-…Strength is for service not for status. Each one of us need to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, “How can I help?”
We Value Generosity
We believe generosity changes everything. Generosity is one of our core values because we know that it is one of God’s core values. The deep love of God produced a generosity that cannot be repaid individually or collectively. Any of us or all of us together cannot repay God’s generosity. When God’s love was distilled, He gave. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life”. (John 3:16 NKJV). Since God is our model, we value generosity to our core.
The scripture teaches us that God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:7) From the beginning and throughout the entire biblical text, God’s word teaches the power of giving. At CTEC we believe generous giving is a vital key to living a blessed life. Our giving should include our time, our intellectual properties, and our financial resources.
Time-We should be generous with our time by pouring what God has lavishly given to us into people we meet and live with. Our volunteer opportunities at CTEC allow a great outlet of generously giving your time.
Minds-We should generously share the knowledge that God has given us with people who know little about following Christ. We are taught in the scripture that we should have the “mind of Christ”, so we should think as He thought and give as He gave. This changes us from our former values to the core values of Jesus.
Resources- We should be generous with our resources. God has richly blessed to generously bless others and to establish His kingdom in the earth, by paying our tithe and giving our offerings we set ourselves in covenant with God to receive His best…which helps us generously give our best.
Deuteronomy 8:18 NTL
“Remember the Lord your God. He is the one who gives you power to be successful, to fulfill the covenant, he confirmed to your ancestors with an oath.”
Malachi 3:10 NKJV
“Bring all the tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this, says the Lord of host,” If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessings that there will not be room enough to receive it.”
Luke 6:38 NLT
“Give and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full- pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”