Gateway is committed to embracing the gospel (both individually and corporately), growing together in biblical community, and engaging our city and the world on mission through the use of our God-given gifts, resources, and time. We desire to see God glorified in our lives, church, city, and the world.

Our mission statement is simple: "Loving God, Loving people to the ends of the earth."

GOSPEL

Gateway is a church committed to the gospel, both in our individual lives and collectively as a church family. What do we mean by the gospel? The word gospel is a word that simply means "good news." Though all of Scripture is the message of the gospel, it is a message summarized for us in 1 Corinthians 15:1-5:

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you-- unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.

We believe the gospel is not primarily about us or our need, but primarily is about God and His glory. In the words of Matt Chandler in his book The Explicit Gospel, "The Bible is for us, but it's not about us. From beginning to end, the Scriptures reveal that the foremost desire of God's heart is not our salvation but rather the glory of his own name. God's glory is what drives the universe; it is why everything exists." 

At Gateway, we understand the Gospel to be the message that God created us for His glory. However, we all have rebelled and sinned against God. While He would be just to condemn us for our sin, in His great grace and mercy He has rescued us (saved us) from our sin, not by overlooking it, but by coming Himself in human flesh, living a perfect life to fulfill the law we could not fulfill, then going to the cross to die as our substitute, taking the holy wrath of God that we deserve for our sin. It is a glorious message of how "the wisdom of God devised a way for the love of God to deliver sinners from the wrath of God while not compromising the righteousness of God”(John Piper in Desiring God).

It is God's grace that saves us, and we receive it through faith alone in Christ alone. Our response is to live lives of worship before Him, loving Him because He first loved us. 

COMMUNITY

God does not rescue us for us to be individuals living our own lives. He calls us to be part of His people. The language to describe God's people in Scripture is plural: We are believers, a community, saints, and a people, just to name a a few. In the words of Ephesians2:19-22:

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

As believers together in Christ, Gateway places a strong emphasis on biblical community. Through Life Groups in homes, Sunday Bible Study Groups, and other Bible studies, you have many opportunities to grow deeper in relationship with one another. Gateway also provides regular church wide fellowships.

MISSION

God has given to us, His people, an amazing mission to glorify Him with our lives and to make Him known to others. 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 gives us a good glimpse of this mission He has given to us:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

We believe that God in His sovereign plan has put us in Montgomery for a reason. We desire to be a blessing to this community and a light to those around us here. We also know that God's heart is for all the nations (people groups) to worship Him. Therefore, we are intentional in taking the Gospel to peoples around the world who have never heard.

To learn more about our specific beliefs, see Our Beliefs page.