C3 Vision
Our vision is to develop a community of followers of Jesus who commit their lives to practice His way (Matthew 28:18-20), so that we see the fame and deeds of God repeated in our time (Habakkuk 3:2).
Polity, Membership, Beliefs, and Women in Leadership
C3 POLITY
Elder: C3 is an Elder-led church. This Elder team comprised of six to eight ruling elders and one teaching elder. They are responsible for the care, welfare, decisions, and direction regarding the regular ongoing life of C3. Elders require a minimum of two year C3 membership. C3 elders and members nominate new elder candidates. Selection based on 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1 qualifications. Present Elders interview and select from nominees. Required monthly elder meetings. Elders serve three-years on a staggered rotation basis.
Deacons: Deacons will give direction to specific areas of ministry in the life of C3. Deacons will be selected from the C3 family. Selection based on 1 Timothy 3 qualifications.
Decision-making and direction at C3 is entrusted to the elders and staff of C3, but the C3 congregation will be brought into discussion opportunities with the elders before important/special church decisions such as budget approvals, the buying or selling of property, changes to the church constitution and beliefs, and the dismissal of pastor/staff/elders.
JOINING THE C3 COMMUNITY
Committing to a church community requires service, sacrifice, investment, involvement, and faithfulness and should be reserved for those who:
Are able to give a clear salvation testimony and are committed to practicing the way of Jesus
Attend welcome to C3 night with C3’s pastors and elders.
Have an understanding of and are in agreement with and support of C3 vision, beliefs, values, and polity.
Committed to and involved in the ministry of C3, expressed in regular and faithful attendance, service, and investment with their time and financial resources.
WHAT C3 BELIEVES
A. About God: God is the Creator and Ruler of all things. He has eternally existed in three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These three are co-equal and are one God.
Genesis 1:1,26-27 and 3:22; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Psalms 90:2; Matthew 28:19; 1 Peter 1:2; 2 Corinthians 13:14
B. About Men and Women: Both man and woman were created equally in God’s image and given the shared responsibility of ruling over the created order (Gen. 1:26-28). Moreover, God’s design for the relationship between women and men is a full and equal partnership (Gen. 2:18, 21-23). God created woman to be a “suitable helper,” a Hebrew phrase which means that she both corresponds to man and complements him, while leading right alongside him. However, when the woman and the man together disobeyed God, their relationship of partnership, mutuality, and equality was tragically ruined by sin. The rulership of man over woman resulted from the Fall and was not part of God’s original design (Gen. 3:16).
Genesis 1:27; Psalms 8:3-6; Isaiah 53:6, 59:1-2; Romans 3:23
C. About Eternity: Man was created to exist forever. He will live eternally separated from God by sin, or in union with God through forgiveness and restoration. The Bible calls the place of separation from God hell and the place of union with God heaven.
John 2:25; 3:16; 5:11-13; Romans 6:23; Revelation 20:15; 1 John 5:11-12; Matthew 25:31-46
D. About Christ: Jesus Christ is God the Son and is co-equal with the Father. Jesus lived a sinless human life and offered Himself as the Perfect Sacrifice for the sins of all men by dying on a cross. He arose from the grave after three days to demonstrate His power over sin and death. He ascended to Heaven and will return again to earth to reign as King and Lord of all.
Matthew 1:22,23; Isaiah 9:6; John 1:1-5, 14:10-30; Hebrews 4:14,15;
1 Corinthians 15:3,4; Romans 1:3,4; Acts 1:9-11; 1 Timothy 6:14,15; Titus 2:13
E. About Salvation: Salvation is a gift from God to man. Man can never make up for his sin by self-improvement or good works. Only by trusting in Jesus Christ as God's Son and his offer of forgiveness can man be saved from sin’s penalty. Eternal life begins the moment one receives Jesus Christ into his life by faith.
Romans 5:1, 6:23; Ephesians 2:8,9; John 14:6, 1:12; Titus 3:5; Galatians 3:26
F. About Eternal Security: Because man receives eternal life through Jesus Christ as a gift, the believer is secure in salvation for eternity. This salvation is maintained by the grace and power of God, not by the self-effort of the Christian.
John 10:29; 2 Timothy 1:12; Hebrews 7:25, 10:10,14; 1 Peter 1:3-5
G. About the Holy Spirit: The Holy Spirit is equal with the Father and the Son as God. He is present in the world making men aware of their need for Christ and giving them an understanding of who Christ is. He also lives in every Christian from the moment of salvation. He provides the Christian with power for living, understanding of spiritual truth, and guidance in doing what is right.
2 Corinthians 3:17; John 16:7-13, 14:16,17; Acts 1:8; 1 Corinthians 2:12, 3:16; Ephesians 1:13, 5:1; Galatians 5:25
H. About the Bible: The Bible is God’s Word to all people and is truth without error. It was written by human authors under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is the final authority for Christian beliefs and living.
2 Timothy 1:13, 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20,21; Psalms 119:105,160, 12:6; Proverbs 30:5
I. God’s Design for Sexuality and Marriage: We see the scriptures as authoritative in the life of the church and those who claim to be followers of Jesus. Therefore, we hold to a biblical sexual ethic. God created human sexuality and marriage for our good. We believe that marriage as outlined in the scriptures is the uniting of a man and a woman in covenant relationship for a lifetime. We view sexual activity outside of marriage as sin. We also believe that all people struggle with sin, often in our sexuality. We believe that forgiveness for sin is available to those who want it through the shed blood of Jesus on the cross. Regardless of your personal sin struggles you are welcome at our church.
(Genesis 2:24, Galatians 5:19, Ephesians 5:3, 1 Timothy 3:2, 12).
WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP
Our Position
We believe that women and men ministering and leading together is both God’s original and His redeemed design. We believe the Bible teaches the full equality of men and women in status, giftedness, and opportunity for ministry. It is our conviction that God intends for women and men to teach, lead, and serve together in a full partnership. This kind of partnership involves complete participation, collaboration, mutual support, and unity of purpose. In this partnership, each person has a voice and a valued perspective in the work of ministry. Accordingly, at C3, women are fully included in the life of the church, and both men and women are free to participate in all ministries and positions, including the roles of elder and deacon.
Women Leading and Teaching in the Church | 1 Timothy 2:11-15
N.T. Wright, in his commentary on Timothy and Titus gives us this insight,
“The key to the present passage (1 Timothy 2:11-15), then, is to recognize that it is commanding that women, too, should be allowed to study and learn, and should not be restrained from doing so (verse 11). They are to be ‘in full submission’; this is often taken to mean ‘to the men’, or ‘to their husbands’, but it is equally likely that it refers to their attitude, as learners, of submission to God – which of course would be true for men as well. Then the crucial verse 12 need not be read as ‘I do not allow a woman to teach or hold authority over a man’ (the translation which has caused so much difficulty in recent years). It can equally mean: ‘I don’t mean to imply that I’m now setting up women as the new authority over men in the same way that previously men held authority over women.’
Why might Paul need to say this? There are some signs in the letter that it was originally sent to Timothy while he was in Ephesus. And one of the main things we know about religion in Ephesus is that the main religion – the biggest temple, the most famous shrine – was a female-only cult. The Temple of Artemis was a massive structure which dominated the area. As befitted worshippers of a female deity, the priests were all women. They ruled the show and kept the men in their place.
Now if you were writing a letter to someone in a small, new religious movement with a base in Ephesus, and wanted to say that because of the gospel of Jesus the old ways of organizing male and female roles had to be rethought from top to bottom, with one feature of that being that the women were to be encouraged to study and learn and take a leadership role, you might well want to avoid giving the wrong impression. Was the apostle saying that women should be trained up so that Christianity would gradually become a cult like that of Artemis, where women did the leading and kept the men in line? That, is what verse 12 is denying. The word I’ve translated ‘try to dictate to them’ is unusual, but seems to have the overtones of ‘being bossy’ or ‘seizing control’. Paul is saying, like Jesus in Luke 10, that women must have the space and leisure to study and learn in their own way, not in order that they may muscle in and take over the leadership as in the Artemis cult, but so that men and women alike can develop whatever gifts of learning, teaching and leadership God is giving them.
Why then does Paul finish off with the explanation about Adam and Eve? Remember that his basic point is to insist that women, too, must be allowed to learn and study as Christians, and not be kept in unlettered, uneducated boredom and drudgery. Well, the story of Adam and Eve makes the point: look what happened when Eve was deceived. Women need to learn just as much as men do. Adam, after all, sinned deliberately; he knew what he was doing, he knew that it was wrong, and he deliberately went ahead. The Old Testament is very stern about that kind of action.
What about the bit about childbirth? Paul doesn’t see it as a punishment. Rather, he offers an assurance that, though childbirth is indeed difficult, painful and dangerous, often the most testing moment in a woman’s life, this is not a curse which must be taken as a sign of God’s displeasure. God’s salvation is promised to all, women and men alike, who follow Jesus in faith, love, holiness and prudence. And that includes those who contribute to God’s creation through childbearing. Becoming a mother is hard enough, God knows, without pretending it’s somehow an evil thing.”
Women Serving as Elders and Deacons | 1 Timothy 3:1-13
N.T. Wright again sheds some light on this passage:
“Paul refers to the bishop throughout as a man. My reading of the rest of the New Testament inclines me to think that this is more because that’s how Greek grammar normally refers to both genders together, and because in the very early days of the church the leaders of most communities were probably men. I don’t see it as debarring women from this particular ministry and vocation.”
Other Helpful Resources
Keener, Craig S. “Women in Ministry: Another Egalitarian Perspective.” Chapter 3 in Two Views on Women in Ministry, Revised Edition.
Wright, N. T. “The Biblical Case for Ordaining Women.” Chapter 4 of Surprised by Scripture: Engaging Contemporary Issues.
Wright, N. T. “1 & 2 Timothy and Titus for Everyone.” (Above, Italicized Quotations)
Nobody's Mother –Artemis of the Ephesians in Antiquity and the New Testament
by Sandra L. Glahn | Professor of media arts & worship at Dallas Theological Seminary
Silk, Suzy. “Jesus, Women, and Leadership.” Online sermon.
Staton, Tyler. “Women and Eldership.” Online Lecture.