This is the core of Horizon. About 20 years ago, the whole Horizon thing started in a living room and grew from there. And to this day, most every new thing we do starts from a conversation in someone’s living room. Link Groups are small groups of people that meet in homes throughout the week to eat, pray, play, read the Bible, worship and unwind. We all need a place where people accept us and encourage us to be better people and move forward in life. Link Groups have been that place for a lot of us. As a matter of fact, almost everyone who is a part of Horizon is also part of a Link Group.
We don’t segregate by age, marital status or whether or not you have children; we like being all blended up. It’s been great to see people at different stages of life value each other’s experiences. Our groups are more like extended families with cousins and aunts and uncles rather than age-graded church programs.
When a group gets too large to comfortably chat in a living room, that means it’s time to multiply. Basically, the one large group ends up becoming two smaller groups that again have room to include more people. This is a bittersweet time for link groups: we’ve grown to love and care for one another, and it’s hard to say goodbye to the built-in weekly time spent together. BUT, the connections are still there, and now we can include even more people in the link group life that has been so good for us.
More than anything else, we value family. A church is a family; if it’s not a family, it’s not church. We’re committed to keeping Horizon from becoming an institution. We want to live as a church that genuinely sees God as our father and each other as brothers and sisters because trust, mutual submission, and mutual care are all we have.
Jesus made the mission of the church very clear: As we go, Jesus tells us to: be apprentices, help other people become apprentices to Jesus, include these apprentices in community life, and teach them the lifestyle necessary to thrive in this new community of faith in Jesus. This is often called the Great Commission because this is the Mission the church is participating in with Jesus. Horizon isn’t special. The mission of the church is the mission of Horizon.
The leaders of the church are the Link Group Leaders. Each and every Link Group leader has been affirmed by their Link Group as a person who has humbly and practically committed their lives to helping other people follow Christ. It’s kind of like we have a network of unpaid pastors. They are friends with the people in their Link Groups, and they are friends with the other Link Group leaders. They are the glue that binds the Church.
There is no hierarchy in Horizon beyond our Link Group leaders. Our two paid staff (Clay & Leslie) are a part of the leadership team because they are Link Group leaders. The Link Group leaders help make decisions for the church, and we make those decisions unanimously. If just one Leader feels uncomfortable with a direction we’re going, we’ll all take time to pray about that decision earnestly and come back together to see what God is telling us. We move forward together.
This is not an efficient leadership model and we’re ok with that. We treat resources efficiently, but leaders aren’t resources.
They’re people…they’re family. And it’s never a good idea to treat people efficiently.
We come from many different Christian faith traditions, and we are eager to learn from each other. We believe wisdom is found when there is agreement between scripture, reason, experience and the person of Jesus Christ. We make every effort to be generous with each other as we work out what life with Jesus looks like.
All Christians everywhere agree that the core of Christian theology can be found in the Nicene Creed. This early affirmation of the faith was composed to combat a wide range of heresies and provide the church with a brief statement of essential Christian understanding.
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.
And I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds;
God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.
Who, for us men for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the living and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.
And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spoke through the prophets.
And I believe in one holy, catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.