OUR APPROACH

Mission and Doctrine

OUR MISSION

Our mission is to band together churches to, for the sake of Jesus and the gospel, plant cross-cultural neighborhood churches in Rochester, NY. This work is done in obedience to the great commission (Matt. 28:18-20), with the goal of seeing lives changed by the power of the good news of Jesus Christ.

OUR APPROACH

Our approach will be to find, assess, and resource qualified lead church planters. We will then seek to support them in their efforts and the efforts of their teams. While we will screen and monitor for biblical doctrine and character, we will trust a qualified leader to determine the best methods, timelines, and approaches for planting in his neighborhood. Our hope is that the end result will be a Gospel-centered, Bible-teaching church that reaches primarily a socio-economically and culturally diverse urban neighborhood demographic.

OUR ASSESSMENT

Through a process of paperwork, interviews, and conversations with references, we will seek to assess the life and doctrine of the prospective planters. We will use the following criteria as a guide.

The Planter’s Doctrine

The churches that band together stand in the tradition of historic evangelical confessionalism. While we believe it is vital that the Elders of this new church determine where they stand on doctrines of second importance, we do wish to make make sure they share the following convictions:

1. GOSPEL CENTRALITY

We believe the gospel is the good news of what God has graciously accomplished for sinners through the sinless life, sacrificial death, and bodily resurrection of his Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, namely our forgiveness from sin and complete justification before God; this gospel is also the foundation for our confidence in the ultimate triumph of God’s kingdom, and the consummation of his purpose for all creation in the new heavens and new earth. This gospel is centered in Christ, is the foundation for the life of the Church, and is our only hope for eternal life; this gospel is not proclaimed if Christ’s penal substitutionary death and bodily resurrection are not central to our message. This Gospel is not only the means by which people are saved, but also the truth and power by which people are sanctified; it is the truth of the Gospel that enables us to genuinely and joyfully do what is pleasing to God and to grow in progressive conformity to the image of Christ.  The salvation offered in this gospel message is received by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone; no ordinance, ritual, work, or any other activity on the part of man is required in order to be saved. (Mark 1:1; Luke 24:46-47; John 3:16-18; Romans 1:16-17; Romans 1:18-25; 1 Corinthians 1:18-25; 2:2; 15:14; 2 Corinthians 4:16; 9:13; Galatians 1:6-9; Ephesians 1: 7-10; Colossians 1: 19-20; 2 Timothy 1:8-14; 2 Peter 3: 11-13; Jude 34; Revelation 21,22)

2. SALVATION BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH

We affirm that salvation of sinners was accomplished on the cross of Christ and is applied by grace alone through faith alone, and not by works performed by the sinner. We affirm that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, according to his sovereign good pleasure and will.  We believe that God’s sovereignty in this salvation neither diminishes the responsibility of people to believe in Christ nor marginalizes the necessity and power of prayer and evangelism, but rather reinforces and establishes them as the ordained means by which God accomplishes his ordained ends. (John 1:12-13; 6:37-44; 10:25-30; Acts 13:48; 16:30-31; Romans 3, 4; 8:1-17, 31-39; 9:1-23; 10:8-10; Ephesians 1:45; 2:8-10; Philippians 2:12-13; Titus 3:37; 1 John 1:7,9)

3. COMPLEMENTARIANISM

Both men and women are together created in the divine image and are therefore equal before God as persons, possessing the same moral dignity and value, and have equal access to God through faith in Christ. Men and women are together the recipients of spiritual gifts designed to empower them for ministry in the local church and beyond. Therefore, women are to be encouraged, equipped, and empowered to use their gifting in ministry, in service to the body of Christ, and through teaching in ways that are consistent with the Word of God. Both husbands and wives are responsible to God for spiritual nurture and vitality in the home, but God has given to the man primary responsibility to lead his wife and family in accordance with the servant leadership and sacrificial love characterized by Jesus Christ. This principle of male headship should not be confused with, nor give any hint of, domineering control. Rather, it is to be the loving, tender and nurturing care of a godly man who is himself under the kind and gentle authority of Jesus Christ. The Elders/Pastors of each local church have been granted authority under the headship of Jesus Christ to provide oversight and to teach/preach the Word of God in corporate assembly for the building up of the body. The office of Elder/Pastor is restricted to men. (Genesis 1:26-27; 2:18; Acts 18:24-26; 1 Corinthians 11:216; Galatians 3:28; Ephesians 5:22-33; Colossians 3:18-19; 1 Timothy 2:11-15; 3:17; Titus 2:3-5; 1 Peter 3:17)

4. LOCAL CHURCH

The church has a clear biblical mandate to look beyond its own community to the neighborhood, the nation, and the world as a whole; thus mission is not an optional program in the church but an essential element in the identity of the church. (Isaiah 52:7; Matthew 10:5-25; 28:18-20; Luke 4:18-19; 24:46-47; Acts 28:31; Romans 10:14-15; 2 Corinthians 10:45; Galatians 2:10; Ephesians 3:10; 4:11-16; 2 Timothy 4:15; Hebrews 10:23-25; 1 Peter 2:4-5, 9-10)

CORNERSTONE MISSION CHURCH PROFILE

The Cornerstone Mission aims to support healthy church plants engaged in cross-cultural gospel ministry in city neighborhoods. To that end, participating churches should fit this profile.

1.    Elder-led governance

Churches in the Cornerstone Mission should be governed by elders duly ordained and appointed to shepherd the local church. The elders should be men who meet the qualifications laid out in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:6-9. The primary tasks of elders are prayer and the ministry of the word (Acts 6:4). They should cultivate direct involvement in the lives of their church members, seeking to shepherd them towards greater conformity to Christ (Ephesians 4:11-16, 1 Peter 5:1-3). The office of elder and the task of public preaching in the assembly are restricted to qualified men (1 Tim. 2:12-14).

The lead pastor of the church plant will serve as one of these elders and thus should be elder-qualified, Reformed in doctrine, obedient to the Great Commission, and committed to cross-cultural ministry in a city neighborhood. In many cases, the lead pastor may be the first and only elder for an extended period. Due to the unique challenges of this kind of ministry, pastors must maintain a high degree of integrity and resilience to minister effectively.

2.    Neighborhood focus

Churches in the Cornerstone Mission focus primarily on engaging the community within a particular neighborhood in the city. The pastor will live within that neighborhood, and the members of that church will seek to engage that neighborhood with the gospel. Given the socioeconomic conditions of many city neighborhoods, the church will in most cases require continual financial support from external partners.

3.    Cross-cultural approach

Given the cultural diversity of city neighborhoods in Rochester, churches in the Cornerstone Mission will pursue cross-cultural engagement to engage their neighborhoods with the gospel. Pastors should seek to cultivate a local church culture that is both biblically robust and contextually appropriate. Cross-cultural engagement will require a high degree of wisdom, flexibility, and sacrifice for the good of the neighborhood.

4.    Church accountability

Participating pastors should cultivate accountability with Cornerstone leadership and another independent body (i.e. church authority, network, board of elders, etc.). Though the Cornerstone Mission is a parachurch organization and thus claims no ecclesiastical authority, continued support from Cornerstone is contingent on alignment with Cornerstone’s mission and beliefs. Therefore, participating pastors will regularly meet with Cornerstone leadership to give updates on their church’s progress.