Membership at our church is a commitment to a loving community that reaches, restores, and releases every person to expand God’s Kingdom. Local church membership is a commitment to community.

We have 3 main areas of community engagement which we ask each member to prayerfully consider and commit to. These 3 areas are Community Doctrine, Community Culture, and Community Commitment.

Community Doctrine

You can find our community doctrine at nsfc.ca/beliefs-culture

Community Culture

Our Culture includes the vision and mission of our community

Vision Statement: “To be a loving community that reaches, restores, and releases every person to expand God’s Kingdom”

Mission Statement: We are dedicated to cultivating a loving community who embrace the values of presence-focused, faith-filled, and servant-hearted living

Value- Presence-Focused

“We respond to God’s presence and we enjoy each other’s presence”

Our gatherings are presence-focused. We intentionally focus our times of worship on God’s presence and what He is doing at every moment. We are sensitive to His leading and we adjust our posture accordingly. We also make space in our gatherings to be present with each other. We are focused on the presence of God and the presence of each another. People are reached through presence. (Ps. 22:3) (Eph. 4:2-3) (Zech. 2:5)

Behaviours:

1. Responsive (Ex. 33:14,15)
2. Thanksgiving and Praise (Ps. 100:4)
3. Joyful (Ps. 16:11)
4. Stillness (Ps. 46:10)
5. Mourning (Jn. 11:35)

Value- Faith-Filled

“We believe that nothing is impossible for God and God’s Word is still living and active”

Our community is faith-filled. We believe that God continues to speak, heal, and restore lives today as He did in the early Church. Faith is the belief in what God can do, regardless of what we may see with our eyes. We make space in our gatherings for the gifts of the Holy Spirit to safely operate. People are restored by faith in Jesus. (Matt. 10:8) (1 Cor. 14:1-5) (Heb. 11)

Behaviours:

1. Salvation (Jn. 3:16)
2. Testimony (Rev. 19:10)
3. Hearing God (Is. 30:21)
4. Pray for Healing (Ex. 15:26)
5. Pray for Blessing (Num. 6:24-26)

Value- Servant-Hearted

“We believe that leadership begins with serving and all people are called to serve”

Our leaders are servant-hearted. We believe that the best leaders in the Kingdom are servants of God and others. It is our conviction that every person in our community has ability and capacity to serve. Serving is not above or beneath anyone and is evident in any loving community. People are equipped and released through serving. (Jn. 13:14,15) (Jn. 13:34) (Eph. 4:11-13)

Behaviours:

1. Be Humble (Phil. 2:13)
2. Stay Connected (Eph. 4:16)
3. Develop Leaders (Eph. 4:1-13)
4. Egalitarian (Gen. 1:26-28, Joel 2, Acts 2, Acts 18:2, Gal. 3:28,)

Community Commitment

1. Unity
2. Diversity
3. Hospitality
4. Maturity

Unity

God’s blessing falls on unity and we find unity as we follow the Holy Spirit together. Unity is also found in diversity not conformity. We embrace the diversity found in our church community. We commit to maintaining unity in our membership and in our community. Unity also involves healthy conflict resolution.

“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes! It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the LORD has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.” (Psalm 133)

“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.”
(1 Cor. 12:12,13)

Diversity

We believe in the continuation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which we find in Scripture throughout the New Testament. We believe in the diversity of gifts, ministries, and activities, all initiated by the Holy Spirit. The manifestation gifts of the Holy Spirit are encouraged and celebrated at Northside.
“Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant: 2 You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led. 3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.
4 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.”
(1 Cor. 12:1-11)

Maturity

Maturity is found in a growing knowledge of God’s Word and an ongoing practice of God’s ways. Maturity is the result of people who are discipled and equipped for ministry in and for community. We believe that all people have a divine purpose, and all people are called to follow Jesus in the process of discipleship.

11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ”
(Ephesians 4:11-13)
Hospitality

We believe that church is like a table, a place to make space for people from our community. Our hope is to be invitational by being hospitable. Hospitality is also a desire to deeply care and honour each other.

“But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together”
(1 Corinthians 12:24b-26, ESV)

**Additional Community Safety Policies: https://northsidechurch.ca/our-policies/
**Additional Foursquare Membership Docs: https://www.foursquare.ca/administrative-manual/section-3-local-church-governance/pages/3-5-church-membership