“Doing” church this way means we drop false pretenses and discard selfish notions. We are tired of carbon-copy spirituality where unique individuality is lost in the matrix of ad-infinitum/ad-nauseum church programming. God has not been boxed-in so we won’t try either. We are not a cocoon, either. We want to live our faith-lives alongside those in all areas of the surrounding community- especially the marginalized and downtrodden. Veritas will be a place where people with little or no exposure to what it means to follow Christ can come and check things out. Additionally, Christ-followers on-the-move can get connected, find the right tools for their ministry passion and become what God intended. We are all on the way to something; it is the process of “becoming” that can either make or break us.

• God does such a truly beautiful, powerful and magnificent work where no one could get the glory but him
• Together, we listen to and obey the heart of God
• God’s Spirit guides us in all we do
• Seekers and searchers can come as they are and investigate (come into community with) what a tribe of Christ-followers is and does
• Beauty, creativity and artistic expression are valued as gifts the Creator gives to connect us to him while expressing the mystery of his love
• We can truthfully hug (engage) culture, touch (validate and identify) the hurt in the culture and kiss (intimately accept) new life together
• Joy, fun, humor and excitement are rediscovered
• We partner with God to join him in making his Kingdom a reality in our world by pursuing biblical righteousness and social justice
• The “Way, Truth and the Life” reveals His light (freedom) to individuals and families stuck in hurt and pain (bondage)
• We tell the Story of God as we tell how he made our story part of his
• Authentic relationships are pursued with only five agendas: love, integrity, honesty, accountability and transparency
• People are freed to discover and engage their God-endowed passion for life and service
• Everyone is welcome to contribute to the life of the community
• Innovation and technology are appreciated and adopted in order to make the Christ-story more powerfully known
• We are willing to fail for God
• Prayer (our connection and conversation with God) becomes a lifestyle and not a mere utility to be turned on or off
• Worship gatherings experience the presence of God in freedom, power, vibrancy and in the reflective seasons of life
• New tribes (generations) of leaders are lifted up, prepared and sent out
• Honest questions and doubts are warmly accepted as invitations rather that confrontational challenges
• We share the love of Jesus by building up our surrounding community with acts of self-less, servant-hood love with no desire for reward

We want to start a conversation. We also want this new dialogue to keep going. Not only is there no meaningful intergenerational dialogue, much of what the Church has been telling the last two generations has been a talking down to and a shutting out. And for certain segments of these generations, the Church has been content to “sever all ties”- relationally speaking. Preservation of dogma and traditionalism has replaced hospitality to strangers (seekers and searchers). This has been to the detriment of the Church’s ability to join in and converse with the present sufferings of today’s and emerging generations. It is indeed a strange new world for some, but not to God.

The promises and excesses of a modern-era (i.e., that “progress” is inevitable, the dissolving of families, a hyper-intellectual and anti-spiritual worldview) has given way to a POST-MODERN (we detest that term too) mindset that grows more influential in thought and life (such as a longing for community, mistrust for demagoguing “truth” figures and institutions, a desire for social justice and an appreciation for mystery and beauty). While it is more of an attitude than an “ism,” “doing” church in light of all this means we go back and rediscover something raw and powerful and simpler instead of reinventing/rehashing an complex institution. This is true tradition as opposed to traditionalism.

We believe that people (with some exceptions) are not entirely anti-God….they are just anti-whatever-the-church-as-institution-substitutes-for-authentic-biblical-spirituality (read, pre-packaged Jesus by-products). So it is to the labeled and the “unreachable” that Veritas is called. As retrograde missionaries, we identify with the record of the Church in its earliest emerging in the book of Acts, where Christ-followers were part of a movement, not an institution.

What Veritas seeks to do is nothing new. In our hopes, dreams and practice we borrow from the early Church in the New Testament. We are not trying to be a certain kind of church. We just want to be THE Church in our time and place because we believe God has placed us here at this historical juncture.

“Veritas” comes from the Latin meaning, “true, authentic, genuine, honest, real.” Our name adequately reflects who Jesus said he was (“the way, truth and the life” John 14:6) and who we want to become. It openly addresses a post-modern culture highly skeptical of absolute truth claims who is- at the same time- drawn to the possible EXPERIENCE of the truth (namely through relationships of acceptance, love, transformation and communication).

First and foremost, we are followers of Jesus Christ. This allegiance supercedes all others.

Secondly, we are affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention because:

1. It is the largest association of Christ-following churches in the USA
2. 1/10 of churches in the USA are Southern Baptist
3. It is 48,000 churches and 16,000,000 people strong
4. It is the most diverse association of churches representing 80 different languages in the USA

Thirdly, we are also affiliated with the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio and the Southwestern Baptist Association.

Fourthly, we also participate in a region-wide network of simple church communities from several states here in the Midwest. We typically come together once a quarter on the grounds of Vineyard Central in Norwood, Ohio.

Being an SBC church means:

1. The Bible is our sole authority
2. The local church is autonomous
3. We believe in the priesthood of the believer (the right for each person to personally access God without a human intermediary)
4. We tithe (give 10%) our monetary and physical and spiritual resources
5. We baptize by immersion as our second step of obedience to Christ
6. We tell others about Jesus Christ

Veritas is as independent as it is an affiliate:

1. Every church chooses its own pastor
2. Every church can own its own property
3. Every church determines its own purpose and focus