Our Mission, Vision & Goals

Mission Statement

UBC exists to embody and communicate a refreshing hope discovered through following God in the way of Christ. God has not abandoned us to live life on our own but is dynamically working out His story of redemption among us within relationships of integrity.

Our Vision : Challenging People to Know God

"Mission is to the church as fire is to burning."-Emil Brunner
The essence of the church is that it is a community of people empowered by God on a mission striving to establish the reign of God on this earth. We must not be confused with local businesses in our area whose goal is to meet the needs of individual consumers. We do not exist to market a product or provide a service amidst a free market. Instead, our efforts focus on engaging the culture in which we live and transforming it by lives incarnating the person of Jesus Christ. We are grounded in a specific place, Waco, Texas, where we can be a community who critiques and affirms both the culture and the church.

Challenging...

In our quest of knowing God, at times this could mean Encouraging, Inspiring, Helping, Inviting, Questioning, Reassuring, Fortifying, Disputing, Empowering, Struggling.

People...

We desire to be a bridge in which the gospel continues to be passed on from older to younger generations in the Waco area. However, we not only desire to be an impact locally, but globally as well as we strive to connect the gospel with other communities outside Western culture. By "people" we are not only referring to those in need of redemption, but also that those redeemed might be pressed on in the journey of knowing Christ.

Know God...

In this phrase lies the whole of Christianity - the means, the end, the goal, the meaning of life itself - as the apostle Paul said "that I may know Him." We would differentiate between a knowledge of God and "to know God," for the mission and goal of our lives is not found in a knowledge but in a knowing - an ongoing relationship with Christ that lives and breathes. We realize that the only lasting satisfaction in life comes from a life that has centered its entire reality around Jesus Christ.

Our Goals

We desire to

REACH younger generations in today's post-Christian culture with the hope of providing a safe place for the exploration of a radical message.

reflect a MISSIONAL worldview that incarnates Christ in our present culture, accepting the call of Christ to live immersed in the world without becoming a product of it.

INTEGRATE the Christian faith into all areas of life, rather than separating the spiritual life (sacred) from everyday living (secular). utilize and value ART, BEAUTY, CREATIVITY, and DIVERSITY as coming from our Creator.

be REAL before God and others.

embrace TRUTH as summed up in the person of Jesus Christ and His story that has been accurately revealed to us in scripture.

approach God as people rooted in an authentic Christian COMMUNITY where honesty, trust, and responsibility are encouraged through accountability.

look to and learn from the pitfalls and windfalls of the HISTORICAL Christian community where the saints and traditions of the past give us direction and vision for the future.

engage the whole person with all of his/her senses in a balanced EXPERIENCE of God that shields itself from emotionalism or intellectualism.

(Scripture ref: Philippians 3, John 1, Romans 9, Psalm 139, John 14, John 8, II Timothy 2, Ephesians 4, Romans 12, I Corinthians 11, Proverbs 1, Ecclesiastes 1-3, I Corinthians 3:18-23, I Thessalonians 5:21-23, Matthew 22:37-39, I Samuel 16:7)