Why Another Church In Dallas?

Why another church in Dallas? Aren’t there enough already? Those are great questions. You probably ask those questions because you can’t figure out how the world would be different if some of those churches suddenly disappeared. You feel like once you have seen one Christian, you’ve seen them all. And you don’t connect with what you’ve seen. We follow the legacy of a man who connected with the misfits, marginalized and prodigal. He ate with those that people spat on. He lived with people who never seemed to be able to get anything right. He confronted hypocrisy, arrogance and injustice. He sought out, touched and healed the last, the least and the lost of the world. He died at the hands of people who thought they were perfect, and was loved by those who knew they were flawed. We hope that you will join our community in our journey to follow the legacy of Christ.

Misfit Marginalized Prodigal

Someone who thinks they are a perfect Christian is in denial. This means that there are lots of churches filled with people who don’t really get it. This also means that you have probably gone to a church where you felt like a misfit because you were not in that state of perfection. Welcome home. We are not a perfect church, and none of us are perfect. Christ spent a lot of his time pointing out the flaws of people who were in deep denial. We want to be home to the misfit. We want the marginalized to feel that they can be part of a community. We hope to be the father of the prodigal son. For those who are suffering and want to recover, we hope to be a safe place for them to find shelter from cruel judgment and begin their journey of reconciliation.

Last Lost Least

One of the scariest prayers goes like this: Dear God, break my heart with what breaks your heart. This prayer will lead you through the suffering of our community, friends and family, and into the darkness where you find the last, the least and the lost of our world. Christ touched the lepers and the mysteriously ill. Christ healed the demon-possessed. Christ embraced the prostitutes. We hope that everyone in our community gets to where they will say that prayer and join our community in helping African refugees, the homeless, the mentally-ill, and victims of abuse and human trafficking. As more of us say that prayer, the more we can do.

Reconciliation

Conflict is natural, but reconciliation is intentional. Pride, ego, selfishness, ignorance, the need for revenge, hurt, shame, and the judgment of our past, are weaknesses of our human nature that shun reconciliation. But reconciliation is what Christ brought to the world. His death on the cross was not the product of circumstance. That sacrifice was meant from the beginning of time to be God’s intentional act of reconciliation between Him and his creation. We seek reconciliation between husbands and wives, parents and their children, friends, and foes. We hope to be a place where race, class and culture are not what define us. We see art and creativity as God’s gift to the artists, so that the world can see God through their eyes and hearts.

Third Culture

Third culture is the mindset and will to love, learn, and serve in any culture, even in the midst of pain and discomfort. 

There are many varying definitions of multi-ethnic, but what does it really mean to be multi-ethnic? We see multi-ethnicity very differently from most churches. First culture is the main culture that surrounds us. Second culture is our own ethic origins. Most churches are either first or second culture. Most people think that being multi-ethnic means a hybrid culture where we become the same.

We are a third culture community. The Apostle Paul was third culture. He was a Jew, but he lived among the Greeks, Romans and other races of his time. In fact, he craved it. We want to be a church filled with people who see culture like Paul did, where each person’s background is not whitewashed, but expressed, appreciated and embraced, no matter of differences of ethnic, social, or cultural backgrounds.