What We Believe
You may have landed on this page because you want to determine if M2M Charlotte has a “right set” of beliefs; or you want to determine if our beliefs about life and God align with your beliefs about such things. As you read through this page, consider that faith at its best is not a set of correct beliefs, rather faith at its best is an attempt to orient ourselves differently in the world. It’s never been about getting the right thoughts in your head or checking off the right answers on an exam. The truth is found, not in what we think, but rather in what we do. The Gospels are populated with Jesus’ request to “follow him.” He never said, “Here is a list of correct orthodoxy—believe these things and you’ll find life.” Rather he said, “I’ve come to show you how to have life and have it to its fullest.” (John 10:10) At M2M Charlotte, we’re convinced it’s the following that leads to a different way of life and a different mode of being in this world.
Knowing that John 3:16 expresses the glorious mystery that divine eternity entered human temporality and brought with it the possibility of a new kind of life; we claim that Jesus Christ came so that we might have life and have it more abundantly. Further, in communion with Jesus Christ we believe we are healed of life’s fragmentation such that our lives become more nearly meaningful wholes. Therefore, as a spiritual community of sojourners responding to God’s gift of new life and wholeness, we joyfully participate in God’s mission on earth.
We envision a community that is connectional; where all lives are valued and respected and given the joyous opportunity to respond and participate as God has gifted them.
We envision a community where the fruit of the Spirit is evidenced and the gifts of the Spirit are alive, at work and enlivening and healing the jaggedness of humanity. We envision a community where life together will be affirming and experiential, engaging and challenging, expanding and evolving.
We envision a community where dreamers and discerners harmonize as we stand for justice, work for peace and endeavor for the common good; striving at all times to be life-giving and transforming as we ourselves are given life through and transformed by Jesus Christ.
We envision a community where God’s most important directives to love God, to love our neighbor and to the love the stranger are nurtured and manifest in word and deed.
We envision a community that does not neglect the Great Commission but unashamedly proclaims the good news of the gospel while accepting and promoting the paradoxical nature of following Christ; crushed yet empowered, tried yet refined, challenged yet hopeful, broken yet redeemed, poured out yet filled.
While home for some and outpost for others, the M2M Charlotte community will in all ways be welcoming and affirming to whosoever God chooses to sojourn alongside us.
In all aspects of our responding and participating, we will be embracing and engaging, innovative and creative, giving and loving.
This, then, is abundant life and this, then, is the community that we envision; a community that is not static but lively and living and ever moving toward God’s Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven
For more on what we believe visit Presbyterian Mission Agency.