Portico Church is guided by biblical values. These values are not merely expressed in the things we do; instead, they define who we are. When the gospel collides with the soul it produces a response and transformation. In beholding the glory of the Lord, we are transformed into the likeness of Christ (II Corinthians 3:18). We worship our new Lord; we are welcomed into a new community and family; we become learners and disciples; we serve one another; and we become a people sent, as Christ was sent on the mission of God to seek and save the lost.
The gospel changes everything. We should never be the same. At Portico, our values are communicated through these five important terms: Inspire, Involve, Instruct, Invest, and Initiate.
To practically put flesh and method on these godly principles, we seek to worship holistically by living out the values we profess. This manifests itself through corporate worship, embodying missional community, and taking ownership as a part of God’s church.
→ INSPIRE. The gospel creates worshippers.
At the core of the human experience is awe and worship, which points to the image of God written on every human heart. Everyone worships. We are all drawn to greatness and respond with heralding and proclamation. We were created to be inspired, to worship, and to stand in awe of that which is ultimately great, namely God.
At Portico, we want to take the worship of Jesus seriously and point people to God as the greatest object of their worship and affection. It is in beholding the glory of God, in the person and work of Jesus, that we find our greatest joy and are transformed more into His likeness. Inspire means to stir, move, urge, or encourage. We want to inspire and move people to a positive response to Jesus the King.
→ INVOLVE. The gospel creates community.
God made us to be connected to one another in community. Our spiritual maturity and growth always happen in the context of togetherness. Community is a means of grace, appointed by God, to help us mature in our faith.
At Portico, we live out this value primarily through our Community Groups. As our church grows, we want to continue to offer places of belonging to people where they can know others and be known.
→ INSTRUCT. The gospel creates learners.
The church’s primary role is to create disciples, which adds an educational component to our life together as the body of Christ. In the Great Commission in Matthew 28, Christ commands us to be “teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” The Scriptures continually point to the value of teaching, instruction, doctrine, and growth into maturity.
While this value is expressed through the preaching and teaching of pastors, we believe instruction is not just a value to be lived out by clergy and ministry leaders. Every member of Portico should live the value of instruction. We want to develop a culture of spiritual learning and coaching where every person is being discipled and they, in turn, are instructing others.
→ INVEST. The gospel creates servants.
Investing our lives is living to give. Our lives are not our own; they are God’s. To live out this value is to see ourselves as God’s workmanship, living a life of mission and ministry for His glory.
As the truth of the gospel penetrates our souls, we realize that other people do not exist to serve us and advance our own personal agenda. Instead, we begin to see that we exist to serve others through our time, talents, and treasure. We model the life of Christ, living to serve, not to be served (Mark 10; Philippians 2). We are freed to live a life of Christlike humility, thinking of others as better than ourselves.
→ INITIATE. The gospel creates missionaries.
The gospel of free and sovereign grace extended to us through Christ gives us great hope for those who do not yet know Jesus. We are called to initiate redemptive relationships with friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers. These friendships are not motivated by duty, but by the love we have received in Christ which overflows to share Christ with those who do not yet believe.
At Portico, this means we want to have an outward face in all of our ministries. We exist as a church not just for ourselves, but also for our neighbors, our coworkers, and our friends who do not know Christ as their Savior. We always want to be conscious of nonbelievers in our midst, contextualizing, speaking, teaching, and communicating in ways they can receive and understand. We want to create a culture where spiritual dialogue and questions are welcomed and where anyone can belong before they believe.
In addition, this value drives us to be a church-planting church. We are not here to build a church, ministries, or a monument to ourselves, but to grow and expand the Kingdom through strategic church planting throughout Arlington, Northern Virginia, the DC Metro area, and the world.
