Our Vision and Values

Our Vision: We believe that the love of God in Jesus changes everything.

Here at Sonoma Avenue, all of us are being changed.  We are not being changed to be like one another, and we certainly don’t want you to change to become like us.  That would be a disaster.  Instead we are all being changed by God to be more like Jesus.  Because we are becoming more like Jesus, this means that there is a lot to be changed in each of us.   As a church we have identified four different ways that we believe God wants us to change both as individuals and as a community.  We call them our values.   

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Jesus changes the way we experience community.

We are a family that accepts people as they are.  Our family looks out for one another and encourages each other to be more like Jesus every day.  We take responsibility for one another and strive to help each other know the love of Jesus in all of life’s ups and downs.

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Jesus changes the way we see ourselves.

Who are we?   We are imperfect people.  In every moment, in everything we do, we need the love and grace of God that is found in Jesus.  This need defines us but it does not discourage us.  There is always something better in Jesus and we want to continually grow into that something.

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Jesus Changes the way we respond to others.

Jesus saw people and loved them in a dynamic and passionate way, no matter who they were, no matter where they were.  He responded to what he saw.  We want our eyes to be open so that we can love people in the same way. 

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Jesus changes our understanding of what others need.

We believe that Jesus matters.  He matters not only to those who believe in Him but also to those who don’t.  The world is lost without Jesus and as those who know His life changing love, we must go and tell others about His love for them.