Our Mission

We have a clear mission that comes from the Great Commission of Jesus (Co-Mission: Christ's mission that we accomplish together) in Matthew 28:19, "Go therefore and make disciples...."  A disciple is one who is learning to become like their master. Our Master is Jesus Christ. Therefore, our mission is to produce spiritually mature followers of Jesus Christ.  At COD we put it like this:

"Leading People in the Adventure of Becoming Like Christ"

Because our mission is to Lead People in the Adventure of Becoming Like Christ, the next question we want to ask is "what specifically does being 'like Christ' look like?"

We have studied the Scriptures for the core characteristics of Christ's earthly life and we have summarized these core characteristics under six distinctives. Together, they form the acronym C.H.R.I.S.T. and help us clarify what it means to live "like Christ."

Furthermore, each of the six characteristics of C.H.R.I.S.T. has an inter-relatedness to each other that reveals a pattern that we can see by grouping them by twos. This grouping and pattern actually make it much easier and simpler to remember. The first two letters/characteristics, "C" and "H," have primarily to do with Christ's relationship with the Father. These can be summarized by the phrase: Loving God and reflect the Great Commandment as the first priority of our lives.

The second pair of letters/characteristics, "R" and "I," have primarily to do with Christ's relationship with others. These can be summarized by the phrase: Loving People and reflect the second half of the Great Commandment.

The third pair of letters/characteristics, "S" and "T," have primarily to do with how we Love God and Love People as trustworthy stewards of the resources He has given us. These can be summarized by the phrase: Living Surrendered.

All the descriptive language of Christlikeness that is captured and represented in the acronym C.H.R.I.S.T. can be summarized in these three phrases: Loving God, Loving People, and Living Surrendered.

These three phrases could be pictured as three circles or spheres that overlap in our lives. As we cooperate with God's Spirit and work of grace in our lives and take intentional steps towards Christlikeness through life and the curriculum described below, we become more like Christ. As we mature in Christ these three circles will overlap more and more until they form one circle. There will be the wholeness and the unity in our lives of Loving God, Loving Others and Living Surrendered. We will become more and more like Christ as the fragmentation of our lives gives way to wholeness, the wholeness and holiness of Christlikeness.

In order to help people in this adventure of a lifetime, we have designed three foundational courses:

  Loving God 101, (LG101)
  Loving People 101, (LP101)
  Living Surrendered 101, (LS101)

These are 3 hour classes full of engaging interactive learning involving instruction of knowledge, beliefs and skills utilizing teaching times, videos, discussion and hands on application.

Here is the schedule of upcoming 101:

Event	Date	Day	Time	Place
Loving People 101	March 12 & 19, 2008 (Part 1 & 2)	Wed.	6:30pm - 8pm	RNC
Living Surrendered 101	June 21, 2008	Sat.	9:00am - 12pm	RNC

If you have never been to one of our OPEN HOUSES, it's a great place for you to get started or restarted. It help orient you to who we are and how we can help you and your family begin to fulfill all God has envisioned for you!

Here is the schedule of upcoming Open Houses:

Event	Date	Day	Time	Place
Open House	March 30, 2008	Sun.	1:00 pm - 2pm	RNC