At Liberti Church one of our values is that we are Gospel Centered. We are all about the Gospel which is focused on who Jesus is and what he said and did. Jesus is the hero of history and the centerpiece of the entire Bible.

God made us to worship Him. He was our Father, living and walking among us, giving us everything we needed to live, and yet we chose to sin against Him - a cosmic act of treason punishable by death (Gen 2:17; Rm 6:23). As a result, we were separated from God, and we try to be our own gods, declaring what is right and wrong, and living life by our own standards.

JESUS LIVED A LIFE WE COULD NOT

Despite our pride and ignorance, Jesus, who created the world and is God, lovingly came into human history as a man (John 1:14; Rm 1:3; 8:3; Gal 4:4; Philemon 2:7, 8; Col 1:22; 1 Tim 3:16; Heb 2:14; 1 Jn 4:2; 2 Jn 7). He was born of a virgin, (Mt 1:23; Is 7:14) and He lived a life without sin, (Heb 4:15; 1 Pt 2:22; 1 Jn 3:5) though He was tempted in every way as we are.

Because of His great love for us, He went to the cross and took on the punishment of death that we justly deserved (Rm 3:25; 1 Jn 2:2). Before His death and after His resurrection, Jesus preached that the good news of God’s kingdom, love, promise, forgiveness, and acceptance was fulfilled in Him, in both His life and death.

JESUS DIED A DEATH WE COULD NOT

Adam and Eve in the garden substituted themselves for God, like we do, choose to trust in ourselves and be our own god rather than trusting in God himself and, at the cross, Jesus reversed that substitution, substituting Himself for sinners (1 Cor 15:45–48). When Jesus went to the cross, He willingly took upon Himself the sin of those who would come to trust in Him. That means that if you trust Him as your Lord and Savior, Jesus went to the cross and took upon Himself all your sin; past, present, and future, and that He died in your place, paying your debt to God and purchasing your salvation (Rm 10:9; Mt 10:32; Lk 12:8).

THE GREAT EXCHANGE

Jesus not only took the punishment for your sin, but He also lived a perfectly righteous life. When you trust in Christ, your sins are forgiven and you are declared righteous by God, the ultimate judge. The righteousness of Christ is attributed to you as if you lived a perfect life. 2 Cor 5:21 tells us this: “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Martin Luther called this the Great Exchange: “Lord Jesus, you are my righteousness, just as I am your sin. You have taken upon yourself what is mine and have given me what is yours. You have taken upon yourself what you were not and have given to me what I was not.”

JESUS ROSE FROM THE GRAVE

Jesus’ dead body was then laid in a tomb, where He lay buried for three days. On the third day, Jesus rose in victory over Satan, sin, death, demons, and hell (Lk 42:1; Mt 28:1–8; Mk 16:1–8; Jn 20:1). Jesus spent more time eating, drinking, laughing, and teaching with his closest friends (Jn 20-21).

JESUS ASCENDED

He ascended into heaven, and today is alive and reigning (Acts 1:6–11). He is seated on a throne, and he is ruling over all nations, cultures, philosophies, races, and periods of time. Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead, and those who trust in Him will enjoy eternity in His kingdom of heaven forever. Those who do not will suffer apart from Him in the conscious, eternal torments of hell (Rev 21).

He is King of kings and He is Lord of lords (Rev 17:14), and He is ruling and reigning over all people, commanding everyone everywhere to repent. And now He commissions us with the Holy Spirit to be missionaries, telling this amazing news that there is a God who passionately, lovingly, continually, and relentlessly pursues us.

WHAT IS YOUR RESPONSE?

Because of the amazing and radical message of the gospel, it’s important that we don’t confuse the Gospel with religion. We intentionally talk about Jesus, who He is and what He has done, all the time. We worship Jesus, not religion. As such we desire to talk more about what Jesus has done rather than what people should do (Gal 1:6–9).

The beauty of the Gospel is that once you truly understand what Jesus has done for you, you desire to do what He calls you to do. Trying to do it the other way around is futile.

The message of Jesus was, “Repent!”, not “Be better!” As Martin Luther said in the first of his 95 Theses: “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said ‘Repent', He intended that the entire life of believers should be one of repentance.” So, echoing Luther, we affirm that all of the Christian life is one of repentance. Turning from sin and trusting in the good news that Jesus saves sinners isn’t merely a one-time inaugural experience but instead the daily substance of Christianity. The Gospel is for everyone, every day, every moment.

God

There is one God, who exists eternally in three distinct but equal persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. God is unchangeable in His holiness, justice, wisdom and love. He is the almighty Creator, Saviour and Judge who sustains and governs all things according to His sovereign will for His own glory.

The Bible

God has revealed Himself in the Bible, which consists of the Old and New Testaments alone. Every word was inspired by God through human authors, so that the Bible as originally given is in its entirety the Word of God, without error and fully reliable in fact and doctrine. The Bible alone speaks with final authority and is always sufficient for all matters of belief and practice.

The Human Race

All men and women, being created in the image of God, have inherent and equal dignity and worth. Their greatest purpose is to obey, worship and love God. As a result of sin entering our world, every aspect of human nature has been corrupted and all men and women are without spiritual life, guilty sinners and hostile to God. Every person is therefore under the just condemnation of God and needs to be born again, forgiven and reconciled to God in order to know and please Him.

The Lord Jesus Christ

The Lord Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, and lived a sinless life in obedience to the Father. He taught with authority and all His words are true. On the cross He died in the place of sinners, bearing God’s punishment for their sin, redeeming them by His blood. He rose from the dead and in His resurrection body ascended into heaven where He is exalted as Lord of all. He intercedes for His people in the presence of the Father.

Salvation

Salvation is entirely a work of God’s grace and cannot be earned or deserved. It has been accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ and is offered to all in the gospel. God in His love forgives sinners, whom He calls, granting them repentance and faith. All who believe in Christ are justified by faith alone, adopted into the family of God and receive eternal life.

The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit has been sent from heaven to glorify Christ and to apply His work of salvation. He convicts sinners, imparts spiritual life and gives a true understanding of the Scriptures. He indwells all believers, brings assurance of salvation and produces increasing likeness to Christ. He builds up the Church and empowers its members with gifts for worship, service and mission.

The Church

The universal Church is the body of which Christ is the Head and to which all who are saved belong. It is made visible in local churches, which are congregations of believers who are committed to each other for the worship of God, the preaching of the Word, the administering of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, for pastoral care and discipline, and for evangelism. The unity of the body of Christ is expressed within and between churches by mutual love, care and encouragement. True fellowship between churches exists only where they are faithful to the teaching of the Bible.

Baptism

Baptism has been given to the Church by Christ as a visible sign of obedience to Him. Baptism is a symbol of union with Christ and entry into His Church but does not impart spiritual life.

The Lord's Supper

The Lord's Supper has been given to the Church by Christ as a visible reminder of His death. The Lord's Supper is a commemoration of Christ's sacrifice offered once for all and involves no change in the bread and wine. All its blessings are received by faith.

The Future

The Lord Jesus Christ will return in glory. He will raise the dead and judge the world in righteousness. The wicked will be sent to eternal punishment and the righteous will be welcomed into a life of eternal joy in fellowship with God. God will make all things new and will be glorified forever.

We’re a church community in Lark Lane, Liverpool with a vision to make much of Jesus from this place to the nations. It’s our desire to hold out and hold onto truth, as we pursue transformation in our lives and others practicing a tangible presence as we go.

We're seeking to live out our values of truth, transformation and presence in these ways:

Truth: We will proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ as the truth our world needs to hear

Transformation: We will pursue transformation in our lives and others through the formation and multiplication of discipling communities.

Presence: We will enjoy and practice a tangible presence in our community through Word and deed

!

TRUTH

To be hold onto truth means that we focus on Jesus, who He is and what He has done, not on who we are and what we have done or will do for God. The Gospel is the good news about Jesus Christ (Mark 1:1) who came “to seek and save the lost" (Luke 19:12).

As a church that values Truth church we are committed to:

- Reading the whole Bible as the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Luke 24).

- Preaching and teaching the Gospel to all, both believers and unbelievers.

- Preaching and teaching the Gospel in every sermon and every lesson.

- Studying theology/doctrine to better understand the Gospel, not simply as an academic exercise.

- Viewing the world, the Church, and ourselves through the lens of the Gospel.

TRANSFORMATION

To value transformation means we want to see the grace of God at work in every area of your life. Knowing that it is only by the grace of God (Ephesians 2:8) that we have a restored relationship with Him (1 John 4:10), we seek to show grace to each other and to all those we come into contact with.

As a church that is values authentic transformation we are committed to:

- Being renewed by grace every moment; becoming 'new' people, not just 'nice' people.

- Believing the Gospel can change anyone, including ourselves.

- Motivating others with grace, not guilt.

- Dealing with all problems (personal, family, church, social) with the Gospel.

- Learning how the Gospel changes us and others.

- Loving others through the Gospel, living in community that seeks to 'Gospel' one another in love.

PRESENCE

To be tangibly present means to the see the calling of individual believers, local churches and the global Church to enter into the great commission of Jesus (Matthew 28:18-20). It sees every aspect of our lives and activities as being impacted by a desire to enter into God's purposes for His world.

As a church that values tangible presence we are committed to:

- Living on mission in Lark Lane, where God has sovereignly placed us.

- Loving the city of Liverpool.

- Learning to speak the language of our culture to make the Gospel as clear as possible.

- Listening to people and their 'stories'.

- Being a community that is counter-cultural rather than merely a Christian sub-culture.

- Working in such a way that we live out the Gospel in our work and recreation.

- Demonstrating the unity of the church in our city.

- Showing off the beauty of the Gospel by helping others in need through acts of mercy and generosity.

- Seeing every believer in Christ as a missionary.

- Understanding the flow of history is the activity of our missional God at work restoring all things to Himself by His Gospel (Luke 24).

- Structuring every ministry and encouraging every member to have a missional heart and Gospel intentionality for and towards the world for the sake of the lost (Luke 19:10).