WHY WE EXIST

All things exist and are being worked according to the triune God’s desire, pleasure and plan (Ephesians 1:11), which is the demonstration of His own glory. God creates, calls, rescues, redeems, saves, restores, restrains and grants all to the end that He might be praised. His desire, which He will surely fulfill, is that the knowledge of His glory would cover the earth as the waters do the sea (Habakkuk 2:14). God’s mission is the manifestation of His magnificence. His mission is glory.

The glory of God is the gravity that keeps those who see and savor it from spinning off into the unmarked depth of sin. God’s desire is that He might be known and enjoyed for His nature and character. He seeks to be recognized as supremely valuable, supremely worthy and supremely splendid. God’s glory is sensed when we feel the reality of His presence, goodness, superiority and love.

The mission of the church is to glorify him and make disciples through the proclamation and display of the grace of his gospel. God’s mission and the church’s mission cannot be separated. If God’s plan is to bring glory through the redemption of his people, the church must also pursue the glory of God through the redemption of his people.

Briarcliff Church is a community that seeks to GLORIFY GOD by authentically living out our mission of:  
SHARING THE GOSPEL to make disciples 
GROWING IN COMMUNITY of discipleship 
SERVING all people for God’s glory

Our vision is to see a redemptive movement for ALL people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ. 

The gospel is the message of what God has accomplished through Jesus Christ. The gospel message is freedom — freedom through reconciliation and redemption. We are free in Jesus Christ because of the triune God orchestrating the redemption of a broken creation and fallen creatures. The perfect life, substitutionary death, liberating resurrection and promised return is the reason his church continues and his gospel advances.

In a sense, growth in becoming more like Jesus is reflected by how familiar, accustomed and dependent we are on what Jesus has done for us. We are made to live in community with one another — community that constantly reorients each other to Jesus as the source of our joy and the salvation from our sorrow. Relationships we have with one another that are bound in Jesus result in discipleship. A disciple is anyone who God has reconciled to himself, in grace, through Jesus Christ. Being a Christian and being a disciple are inextricable. Discipling relationships are characterized by a desire to glorify God, advance his gospel and deepen our knowledge and love for him.