The Mission of Immanuel Baptist Church is to be a multiplying community that enjoys and proclaims the Good News of Christ in the great city of Chicago.
Our Vision comes from TWO PICTURES in the Bible of God's people living in major global cities:
PICTURE #1 - The Church in Antioch (Acts 11, 13)
Antioch was the Chicago of the first century Roman world, just behind Rome and Alexandria in size and strategic influence. It was a cosmopolitan city, densely populated while highly segregated. Into this setting the good news about the Lord Jesus was boldly spoken and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. The watching world had to come up with a brand new name for this phenomenon because for the first time ever people were crossing ethnic/social barriers to worship the same God – the disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.
Just like the church in Antioch, we want Immanuel to be a community called together by the gospel, constantly seeing a great number of people brought to the Lord, and consistently encouraged to remain true to the Lord with all our hearts by a team of teachers. We desire the evidence of the grace of God to be unmistakable among us, making people genuinely glad. We expect multi-ethnicity and diversity. As seen with the church in Antioch, we will also foster relationships of interdependence with other churches. We seek to be a people open to the Holy Spirit and found regularly worshipping the Lord. And, just as the Antioch church did, our dream is to constantly be sending people off to start new churches. We know nothing will happen unless the Lord’s hand is with us, but we will fast and pray and take risks to be part of a movement of the gospel.
PICTURE #2 - The Israelites in Babylon (Jeremiah 29)
Babylon was another big and powerful city in ancient times. As the seat of the Babylonian Empire it represented all that was against God. It was in many ways a dark place, synonymous with sin, and full of idolatries. The Babylonians, under Nebuchadnezzar, attacked the people of God in 597 B.C. and carried off many of them to live in exile there. But God encouraged his people through the prophet Jeremiah not to form a ghetto hoping for a quick return to Jerusalem. They were to recognize that God carried them there and had good plans for them. He told them: Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for their sons and give their daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospered, they too would prosper.
…the BIBLE as inerrant, authoritative, and fully sufficient for life and ministry.
…the GOSPEL as the main thrust of the whole Bible.
…JUSTIFICATION by faith alone, through grace alone, on the basis of Christ alone as central to the Gospel.
…local CHURCHES as the necessary entailment of the Gospel.
…DIVERSITY as the demonstration of the power of the Gospel.
…expository, Christ-centered PREACHING as the backbone of every church.
…BAPTISM, the LORD’S TABLE, and CHURCH DISCIPLINE as necessary marks of each church.
…plural ELDERSHIP as the method of leading individual churches.
…personal DISCIPLESHIP as an integral part of the culture of a church.
…PRAYER as the appropriate posture of a church.
…CHURCH PLANTING as the constant priority of all churches.
…the CITY as an exciting and strategic place for church planting.
…GLOBAL MISSIONS as the responsibility of every church, not to be ignored in the pursuit of local church planting.
…the GLORY OF GOD as the end goal of everything.