Who We Are

EPIC is a gathering of people who belong to Beavercreek Church of the Nazarene in Dayton, OH.  While BCN’s website lists our community’s core values, we also recognize that EPIC is a unique worship gathering.  These are what we value that set us apart from other worship experiences in which you might have participated.

Excellence

Participation, not perfection. (or possibly Input not Output) Our worship should be characterized by a giving of everything we are – 100% of our selves to God (Mark 12:28-31).  The goal is not a show, or even excellent showmanship – clearly God is not interested in being entertained by His creations (Isaiah 1).  Rather, we understand that excellence will look different for each person.  We are not concerned with the product of worship, but with the act of worship, the effort each person gives (1 Samuel 16:7).  The world defines excellence as perfection; we understand excellence to be God’s people offering themselves as sacrifices that are holy and pleasing to Him (Romans 12:1-2).  We offer Him our best, and He is pleased with our offerings (Matthew 25:14-30).

Participation

Follow is an action verb.  A person who follows Jesus does not merely sit as a passive observer in a religious gathering for an hour once per week.  Rather, that person is active in the worship gathering and also throughout the week in service and active expressions of love to others (Mark 12:28-31).  We are not saved by what we do, but love and service are the fruit of a life in the Spirit (James 2:17; Galatians 5:22-23).  In keeping with the historic roots of the Nazarene denomination, we also recognize that we are called by Jesus to solidarity with the poor, and we give ourselves especially to those on the margins, those who slip through the cracks in the system (James 1:27; Matthew 25:31-46).

Inclusion

Are we engaging Christians or Humans? The Gospel is for all persons and all peoples.  As God’s chosen people, we are to be a gathering of priests, who tell Jesus’ story to the world (Exodus 19:5-6).  Our worship gatherings should be faithful proclamations of the Gospel that God has welcomed us even while we were His enemies, called us friends even when we were strangers (Romans 5:10; John 15:15).  Our worship – the music, the prayers, the teachings, the creative elements – should be formed to communicate at the human level.  Whether we’re sinners, saved or sanctified, we’re all humans in need of the same grace, the same Gospel (Romans 3:20-30).  We do not seek to oversimplify or water-down the Gospel; rather, our goal is to creatively pursue a presentation of the Gospel that is faithful to the Biblical witness and to the Spirit’s work in our own lives such that anyone who chooses to gather with us can understand and engage in our gathering.

Creativity

Creativity flows from a Spirit-filled life.  Solomon said that there was nothing new under the sun, but God told Isaiah He was doing something new and fresh (Isaiah 43:19).  We first meet God as a creator, and God’s Spirit is endlessly creative and unpredictable; so too should we who live lives in the Spirit be (John 3:8).  Those who follow Jesus should be on the bleeding edge of creating culture.  Because we worship the author of all creativity, our community should be a source of new, fresh incarnations of the unchanging Gospel message (Matthew 9:16-17).  We do not change for the sake of change, but rather respond and create according to the Spirit that lives in us.  Both our corporate worship and individual lives ought to be characterized by risk and creative energy, daring to step out in faith that God is doing more than we can possibly imagine (Matthew 14:22-33; 19:26; John 14:12; Ephesians 1:17-19; 3:20-21).

Authenticity

Real people make real community.  Above all, we value authenticity.  Our worship should be in Spirit and Truth (John 4:23-24), so we refuse to be a community that hides our lives from each other or is disingenuous about our struggles (John 3:19-21).  We will celebrate our victories together, but we will also confess our sin to each other that we might find healing (James 5:16).  We laugh together and mourn together.  We recognize that God created us to be strong not alone, but together (Ecclesiastes 4:12).  We give to God everything we have to give, recognizing that sometimes that will be more than others.  We give and serve not out of obligation or form but as we are led by the Spirit to live fruitful lives.  We invite everyone into our midst without demanding that they conform to our standards first.  And we chase after the Spirit, seeking to discern what new thing He is working in our midst, in our town and in our world.  Our mouths speak out of the overflow of our hearts and we do what we have seen Jesus doing (Matthew 12:34; John 15:1-17).