For many years, God has been stirring a vision at Oak Hills of a community of Christ followers who are experiencing the transforming power of the Spirit of God and sharing that power with the world around us. To this end, our mission is to help people experience the reality of the Kingdom of God in their lives. We believe that this was the core message of Jesus. Jesus wanted us to know that the actual experience of His gracious rule is available to anyone who follows Him.

We’re passionate about seeing people be transformed by the power of God. Everything we do at Oak Hills is seen against the backdrop of this singular vision. If you find this to be the cry of your own heart, you may find the community of Oak Hills to be just the thing your heart is longing for. We invite you to join us.

For a short summary of our beliefs, please hit the link below on the left.  For a listing of our church staff and elders, please hit the link on the right. Oak Hills Church is affiliated with the North American Baptist Conference.

Formation, Worship, Community, and Mission—represent four roads we must travel to experience life in God's Kingdom. The particulars under each of these words were established through a church-wide process in 2022. We also have a set of values which permeates the way we travel these four roads. Together, these roads and these values serve as a guide to how we believe we can live together as Christ followers at Oak Hills Church. And they also represent—at the core of our being—who we are and who we aspire to be as a community of believers.

We invite you to click the link for an interactive look into each of these practices, or read below for the details of the "Four Words on the Wall" as well as our Values.

Who we are becoming in Christ is inseparable from living the Gospel. Ministries, practices, relationships, and experiences all train us to gradually become more like Him. This training has both individual facets—like solitude and prayer—and communal facets—like worship, study, serving, and eating. It takes time and effort and is inherently inefficient, yet when done in cooperation with the Spirit, formation promises rich depth and joy as we come to know God, ourselves, and our role in bringing God’s Kingdom into every element of life. The following are landmarks which characterize who we are regarding formation.

ACCEPT OUR IDENTITY AS THE BELOVED  |  God’s relentless love is the foundation of formation in Christ. We confess our sins and admit our sinfulness. We step into the ongoing inner-life work of naming our wounds, facing our false selves, surrendering control, and trusting Jesus.

CHILD-LIKE CURIOSITY  |  Authentic growth in Christ-likeness stretches us beyond the comfortable and controllable. Openness, intrigue, willingness, and wonder enable us to embrace God’s beautiful disruptions and disorienting invitations.

INTERACT WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT  |  We cultivate an ever-deepening relationship with the Holy Spirit, partnering with him in what He is doing in and through us. We listen to discern his guidance. We act when he so leads.   

TRANSFORMING PRACTICES  |  We create space for the Holy Spirit through individual and communal spiritual practices. These include baptism, communion, solitude, prayer, worship, fasting, and rest.

CHARACTER CHANGE  |  As we follow Jesus, our character gradually changes. We grow in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Our humility increases, our need for power decreases, and we learn to forgive.

SHAPED BY SCRIPTURE  |  The Bible speaks truth and transforms our view of God, self, and the world. We humbly meditate on Scripture, inviting God to realign our thoughts, feelings, and perspectives to His will and way. 

KINGDOM COMMUNITY  |  The relationships within the Trinity are the model for a Kingdom community. Formation happens in relationships of mutual submission and love. We need connection with others who seek first God’s kingdom.

We worship God because of who He is and what He has done. We do this on our own, through the lives we lead, and together as a community of Christ-followers. Our worship—manifested in our Sunday gatherings, other prayer and worship events, and individually in our personal lives—expresses our love to God in new and fresh ways while valuing the sacred practices of the historical Church. The following are landmarks which characterize who we are regarding worship.

GOD’S REAL PRESENCE  |  God’s holy and beautiful presence permeates our gatherings when they are in his name and for his purposes.

OUR INTENTIONAL PRESENCE  |  We come to worship ready and motivated, receptive in posture and engaged physically, emotionally, and spiritually. We are active participants with one another in the Spirit-led dialogue.

SACRED COMMUNITY  |  Something holy and unique happens when we gather in Jesus’ name. We proclaim His supremacy over the world. We offer His welcome to one another. We minister to each other as priests and pastors. We pray for one another and carry one another’s burdens. The Spirit works in tangible and transformative ways.

RETELLING GOD’S STORY  |  We tell God’s kingdom story, reframing our stories in the light of His grand narrative. We invite Scripture to realign us to Jesus’ counter-cultural reality and remind us of what is true, right, and good.

CREATIVE LITURGY  |  We express our worship with creativity, diversity, and excellence, while valuing ancient practices and prayers of the historical Church.

PRACTICING THE SACRAMENTS  |  We practice the sacraments of Communion and Baptism. Through these, we retell God’s story and encounter His presence.

DIVERSITY OF EMOTION  |  God is good even when life is volatile. We are called to authentic worship in seasons of joy, celebration, lament, confession, and repentance. Our gatherings reflect the diversity of life’s emotions.

HEALING AND RESTORATION  |  Healing is a sign of the Kingdom of God. Jesus restores people physically, emotionally, spiritually, and relationally. There is mystery in how healing happens, but we gather in the hope that God is able.

We create opportunities for those who are growing in Christ-likeness to give themselves away for the sake of others. Like Jesus, we are called to give our lives away regardless of how people respond. This includes caring for the disenfranchised; welcoming people into our lives, homes, and church; and ministering to their various needs. The following are landmarks which characterize who we are regarding mission.

JOINING GOD ON MISSION  |  God is always at work restoring all things and establishing His Kingdom. If we are awake to what He is doing, mission can happen right where we are.

PROCLAIMING JESUS  |  Our culture does not know Jesus but needs Him. We courageously proclaim Him through our example, story, and words.

ENGAGING CULTURE WITH TRUTH  |  We proclaim the truth of the Jesus way into cultural values and ideologies with conviction, gentleness, creativity, and love.

BUILDING SHALOM  |  The world is not the way God intended it to be. As His people, we work and pray to bring forth His Good. We work and pray for the flourishing of all through hospitality, reconciliation, and justice.

DOING JUSTICE  |  The world’s system often victimizes the poor and marginalized. We work and pray for justice at every level of society. We do our part to make things right and uphold the cause of the oppressed and forgotten.

SUPPORTIVE PARTNERSHIPS  |  God’s mission is bigger than Oak Hills, so we mutually support other communities, ministries, and organizations through prayer, finances, and service.

A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE  |  We care about God’s world. We enter global brokenness through prayer and other efforts to incarnate Jesus’ love, compassion, and hope. We remember our brothers and sisters around the world.

We desire to fully participate in the life of the Church, believing She is the Bride of Christ and a crucial part of God’s plan for the world. We seek vulnerable relationships with other Christ-followers and take the risky step to enter into deeper levels of community with others who desire maturity in Christ. The following are landmarks which characterize who we are regarding community.

UNIFIED DIFFERENTS  |  We pursue relationships with those with different experiences, backgrounds, opinions, and life circumstances. Our differences create space for Jesus to unite us in Him. A unified community of un-likes proclaims good news to a fracturing world.

KNOWING AND BEING KNOWN  |  We grow in vulnerability and acceptance in our relationships. We share our stories and receive the stories of others with grace and truth.

HEALING PRESENCE  |  We love, care, rejoice, and suffer with one another. We walk together on the long road toward healing and Christlikeness. We extend the communion table by pursuing reconciliation in broken relationships.

EXPERIENCING INTER-DEPENDENCE  |  We need each other to grow as Jesus’ people and church. We practice humility and vulnerability as we learn to serve and be served, help, and receive help.

TRUTH-TELLING  |  We graciously and gently speak the truth in love. We step toward difficult conversations, trusting God’s reconciling Presence. We speak life-giving encouragement into one another.

EMBRACING THE BROADER CHURCH  |  Oak Hills is one part of the larger body of Christ. We engage and collaborate with the broader Christian community to pursue unity with other brothers and sisters in our city and around the world.

ENGAGEMENT  |  The Christian experience is a dynamic and ongoing invitation to engage with the Holy Spirit and cooperate with what He is doing in us and the church. We sometimes take risky steps to move with God as he moves among us. (Proverbs 3:5-6, Philippians 1:6)

HUMILITY  |  God is King, and we are not. Humility before God and each other is essential for ongoing personal transformation and communal unity. (Psalm 25:8-9, James 4:7-10)

PRAYER  |  God invites us to co-labor with him through prayer. We exercise agency and influence as we align ourselves with God’s Kingdom and pray for His will to be done. (1 Kings 18:36-39, Colossians 4:2-4)

CREATIVITY  |  God created the beauty that permeates His universe. Creativity and beauty have unique ways of awakening our souls by pointing to the Creator / King. Artistry, imagination, and excellence are expressions of God’s image and proclamations of his beautiful kingdom. (Genesis 1:1, Romans 1:20)

HOSPITALITY  |  Hospitality is about receiving and loving people right where they are. It creates a space where the stranger can experience the “contrast community” of the church as it previews and proclaims the Kingdom of God. (Leviticus 19:33-34, Matthew 25:42-46)

RECONCILIATION  |  God took the initiative to reconcile people to Himself through Jesus Christ. We live out the way of the Kingdom by pursuing reconciliation in the fractured relationships of our lives and world. (Jeremiah 31:31-34, 2 Corinthians 5:18-21)

AUTHENTICITY  |  There is freedom in being real with God and each other as we pursue life in God’s Kingdom. As we are vulnerable with God and each other, the Holy Spirit brings restoration and renewal. (Psalm 51, Philippians 3:3-10)