About Us

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OUR STORY | OUR BELIEFS | OUR MISSION | OUR VISION | OUR VALUES

Our Story

We are a non-denominational, local church

In 2021, there were two local churches reeling from the pandemic and trying to make sense of a very different reality.

GVF (Grace Valley Fellowship) was a growing congregation, with strong leadership, but they were meeting in a field.

CBC (Calvary Bible Church) was without a pastor but had this beautiful corner property that they prayed about filling to the brim.

God was beginning a work…

In March 2022, CBC and GVF voted to merge their congregations and move into CBC’s building. The two congregations began meeting together on March 27, 2022. 

In order to reflect the new work God was doing in our midst; and to step into this new season of unity, we decided to change our name.

On January 6, 2023, we became New Story Church. It is fresh, and it is going to take a while to get used to, and a while to roll out in its entirety, but we are excited about this new work and look forward to living into this new name and new story. 

Watch the recording from our 2023 Vision Night

Our Beliefs 

At New Story, our aim is to be
‘merely Christian‘

While there are a lot of different views within the church on a lot of different and important issues, our desire is to major on what's most important. And what's most important to us, bar none, is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

When it comes to what we believe, the last thing we want to be is on the cutting edge or innovative. Our core beliefs reflect the foundational beliefs of the historic Christian church.

  • The Bible is inspired by God and the final authority in faith and life.

  • There is one God, the Creator and Sustainer of all that has been made, who exists in three persons - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

  • Jesus Christ is the Son of God, fully God and fully human.

  • All of humanity is made in the image of God, but is spiritually lost and without hope apart from God's special intervention.

  • New life with God is freely given by God through Jesus Christ, whose death, bodily resurrection, and ascension make life with God possible. It is available to all who put their faith in Jesus Christ.

  • The Holy Spirit gives new life, indwells believers, empowers them for holy living, and unites them into the Church, the Body of Christ.

  • Jesus Christ will physically return to judge both the living and the dead and to establish his kingdom forever.

If you would like a copy of our full statement of faith, click here.

Our Mission

To make disciples who make disciples

‘Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.’ Matthew 28:19-20a

Our Vision

To be a church where life transformation is normal

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2

In order to fulfill our vision we have three different focus areas (facilities, pathways and a rule of life), but the root of it all is spiritual formation. We know that our culture is formed by our habits, our relationships, the stories we tell ourselves plus our experiences over time. Our vision hinges on helping people see where their story intersects with God’s and inviting them into a whole new story.

Our Values

At New Story, we have 8
‘house rules’:

  • We view our beliefs & practices in terms of concentric circles. The outer ring is preferences. The next is personal convictions. These are important, but they don’t make one a Jesus-follower. The center ring is core beliefs & practices. These define the bounds of Historic Christian orthodoxy. 

    Jesus is the bullseye. At the very heart of what we believe is not a list of rules or system or ideal of perfection. It’s a relationship with a person: Jesus.

    We seek to be humble in clarity and in ambiguity. We never want to be clearer than the Scriptures. But, where the Scriptures are clear, we never want to be unclear.

  • Busyness & hurry make it impossible to pay attention to what God is up to. Slowing down (daily, weekly, and seasonally) is critical to the way of prayer, mediating on Scripture, practicing the presence of God, and, generally, the way of Jesus.

    We are confident that salvation is in God’s hands, not ours. So, we can recognize our limits, and we trust Him to do what we cannot do.  

  • Messed up people shouldn’t run away from the church, they should run to it. If we cannot talk about what’s really wrong, we’ll never get help, never deal with it, never heal, and never be able to help others. At New Story, it’s okay to not be okay, but just not okay to stay that way.

  • We want to be like the early church… and frustrate both sides. According to Historians, the early church was:  

    • Progressive in that it broke traditional social/racial/gender barriers. (See Acts 15, Ephesians 2, Galatians 3:28)

    • Progressive in caring for the poor. (See Matthew 25:40, 1 Corinthians 11, James 1:27)

    • Conservative in sanctity of life. (See Exodus 21:22ff; Psalm 139)

    • Conservative in sexual ethic. (See 1 Corinthians 6-7, 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5, Hebrews 13:4)

  • There should be a direct relationship between the quality of relational commitment and your right to speak hard truths into someone’s life (confrontation). If your willingness to confront exceeds your level of relational commitment, you are a jerk. If your level of relational commitment exceeds your willingness to confront, you are a coward.

  • While there is nothing wrong with wanting to be spiritually fed, there is something wrong with us. Suburban Americans in particular. We are born into a world of selfish consumerism. It’s the air we breathe, the water we swim in. 

    Our aim is not to feed your personal preferences or desires. That would only serve to make you more selfish and consumeristic. 

    Our aim is to see you conformed to the image of Christ who prayed “Not my will, but yours be done” and lived His entire life for the sake of others.

  • At New Story, a leader should be the first to confess, the first to show vulnerability, and the first to say: “I’m sorry.” Some call this “authenticity.” At New Story, we call this being a Christian.

    See 1 Corinthians 2:3-5; 1 Timothy 1:15-16

  • Jesus did not come into the world to condemn the world but to save it by laying down His life (John 3:17). That’s New Story’s calling as well.