About Mercy

GET TO KNOW US

Who is Mercy?

Planted in 2015 out of the Summit Church, Raleigh-Durham NC, our core team of 60 people uprooted their lives to bring the gospel message to the city of Charlotte. We are one church with multiple campuses. One in the Southeast area of Charlotte, one in the University area, and one opening in Union County in the fall of 2023. Plan your visit today!

Our Mission

To make disciples who love God, love each other, and love our world.

Our mission is what we aim to do the call to action we believe Christ has placed on his church. This mission is the goal of every decision we make and is borne out of two moments in the gospel of Matthew where Jesus summarizes the driving heartbeats of a follower of Christ: The Great Commandment and The Great Commission. Both found in Matthew, the first is a conversation between Jesus and a lawyer and the second is the final command that Jesus gives his followers just before ascending into heaven:

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets. – MATTHEW 22:36-40

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…– MATTHEW 28:19

Our Vision

To see a gospel awakening in the city of Charlotte that is carried to the ends of the earth.

Our vision is what we aim to see what we believe God will do as we carry out our mission. This gospel awakening is not just our desire, but what we believe is the natural manifestation and outcome of disciples who make disciples who love God, love each other, and love our world.

A true understanding of the gospel changes everything, and if we strive to help the people of our city understand the good news of Jesus, we expect that God will change lives. The more people who understand that a relationship with God is not based on what we’ve done, but on what has been done for us in Christ; that our lives are not for our own glory, but for the glory of God; that the gospel is not just the front door to the Christian life, but is the house in which the believer dwells – the more people we begin taking their next step in following Jesus and live on mission here and around the world.

Our Values

Here at Mercy, we hold five core values that were developed over our first five years and point us to where we want to go in the next five. They all begin with the core of our identity, which states, “Because of Christ, we…” Click on each value below to learn a little bit more about how we are striving toward our goals.

WHAT WE BELIEVE

What is the gospel?

The gospel is the good news of God overcoming death with life. It’s the single story that all of the Bible speaks, the story of God and his relationship to humanity, and it’s marked by four major movements: creation, fall, redemption, and restoration. At the epicenter of that gospel story is the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It goes like this:

God created us and created us for a purpose – to know him and worship him. But at some point we have all made the choice to turn from him, seeking our joy and purpose apart from God. God calls this sin. And because God is perfect, holy in every way, he has declared that any sin against him is punishable by death – eternal separation from him.

But God wants us and wants a relationship with us. So he sent his only Son, Jesus Christ, to earth. Christ lived the perfect life that we couldn’t live ourselves, then went to the cross to die the death that we deserved to die because of our sin. The Son of Man became the sin of man. But after three days he was raised from the dead, defeating the power of sin once and for all. After establishing his church, he ascended into heaven where he now sits on his rightful throne. And one day he will return to restore all of creation to perfection. Now for those who place the weight of their lives on Jesus being the Son of God, believing that he has done everything necessary to save them, there is eternal life. Through Jesus we can now know God and be restored to right relationship with him, the very purpose for which we were created.

We believe that this gospel message has several implications for the Church:

The gospel is the hope for believers and unbelievers

John 15:9 | Ephesians 2:1-10 | Romans 6:23 | John 3:16-17

The good news of the gospel, the report about the work of Christ on our behalf, is that salvation has been accomplished for us. The gospel is the only hope for unbelievers to find salvation, and it’s the the centerpiece for believers to focus their lives around. Therefore, we center all ministries of Mercy Church on the gospel.

The gospel creates a new community

1 Peter 2:9-10 | Hebrews 10:19-25 | Acts 2:42-46

The gospel creates a new people that bind themselves to one another, encouraging one another in their identity in Christ and spurring one another to love and good deeds. We will gather together weekly to worship God publicly where we will preach and respond to the gospel in a way that is accessible to believers and unbelievers alike (1 Corinthians 14:24). We will rehearse and live the gospel intentionally together in smaller groups. As believers, we will covenant together as members to practice church life under the authority of Christ and leadership of our elders. Because we believe many will belong to us in some ways before they believe, we will be intentionally inclusive of non-Christians into the web of relationships forming in our church.

The gospel sends

Romans 10:14-15 | Matthew 28:18-20 | Acts 1:8

God has chosen the Church as his plan-A for the world to hear the gospel. When the gospel saves us, the gospel sends us. Jesus told his disciples, “As the father has sent me, I am sending you” (John 20:21). We believe God has sent and is still sending Mercy Church to Charlotte, NC. Therefore, we will strive to be a sent community living as fishers of men (Luke 5:10-11) by taking the gospel to our workplace, our neighborhoods, and to the whole city.

We believe that the church is God’s plan-A to bring salvation to the ends of the earth and to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20). As a result, Mercy Church will support missions, send missionaries, and plant churches for the glory of God.

The gospel reconciles

Galatians 3:28 | 1 Corinthians 12:12 | 1 Peter 2:9-10

We are in a unique moment in our nation’s history. The façade of racial reconciliation is beginning to wipe away and we are left again with the only true hope. Galatians 3:28 says that as Christians we are one in Christ. Mercy Church will seek to live and hold high the reconciling power of the gospel through active unity among the cultures represented in Charlotte. We believe the gospel carries the only true power for cultural reconciliation and, by God’s grace, Mercy Church will intentionally and actively seek to welcome people of all cultural backgrounds into the body of Christ.

The above is a summary of our core beliefs. For a fuller explanation of our beliefs, please see the Baptist Faith & Message 2000.

OUR TEAM

Leadership

Get to know the men and women who lead and serve at Mercy Church.

Next steps

Take a First Step

We believe in helping others take their next step in following Jesus. Are you ready to take your first step in getting connected at Mercy?

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