Our Distinctives
While all churches have the same basic disciple-making calling, each church has its own individual personality - its own way of “doing church.”
What makes FBCLS unique?
We welcome all ages and stages.
Jesus showed love to people of all ages. He embraced those who were well along in years, and he invited little children to come to him. Likewise, FBCLS is intentionally multi-generational in our approach to ministry. If you look around on a Sunday, you’ll see 6-year-olds and 96-year-olds worshiping on the same row, and you’ll see students and adults serving alongside one another. Jesus also connected with people of all different spiritual stages. He reached out to deeply religious people and to people who were profoundly skeptical. Similarly, FBCLS is a spiritual home for people who are newly exploring faith, people who have been following Christ for years, and people from everywhere in between.
We create belonging.
Nobody was an outsider with Jesus. He consistently obliterated the barriers that separated people from him and from one another, and he welcomed them into the family of God. At FBCLS, we strive to reflect that radical hospitality. We are a church where people are welcomed and known and loved and cared for. We aren’t an event where you attend – we are a family where you belong.
We take
next steps.
Faith must lead to action. The primary call of Jesus is “follow me,” and life with him is a journey. None of us have arrived spiritually. Every day is a new chance to receive his grace. Every decision is a new opportunity to say “yes” to him. At FBCLS, we encourage one another to take practical next steps of trust, obedience, service, and surrender as we live out our faith in the real world.
We refuse to be divided by politics.
You could probably find a church where everybody votes like you. FBCLS is not that kind of church. Jesus surrounded himself with disciples who held drastically different political convictions from one another. We are convinced that a shared connection to Jesus can unite people with different political opinions, even in our deeply divided world. We are determined to keep Jesus central instead of making an idol of a politician or political party, recognizing that no human political system perfectly embodies the way of Jesus. Jesus saves, not Jesus plus some earthly politician.
We believe God expects both men and women to serve and lead.
Many churches exclude women from positions of significant authority. However, the Bible is full of women who are empowered by God to lead in a variety of ways. So is FBCLS. At our church, you’ll see women preaching the Gospel like Mary Magdalene did, serving as deacons like Phoebe did, leading worship like Miriam did, teaching like Priscilla did, and providing leadership like Deborah did. Qualification for ministry is a matter of gifts, calling, and character, not a matter of gender. Together, men and women reflect the full image of God as we serve and lead side by side.
