The Short Version…
Parks Church desires to see the Love of Jesus saturate the People and Places of our West Nashville neighborhoods.
We believe deeply that the love of Jesus reaches to every person & every place. We long to see our neighborhoods look more & more like the beautiful, free & glorious design that Jesus came to usher in. All that we do in word, deed, and character is towards that end.
The Longer Version…
In and through Jesus, we exist to bring wholeness & flourishing to the people & places of West Nashville, recovering the true, beautiful, & good for the family, neighborhood, and culture that reverberates in Nashville and around the world.
In and through Jesus Christ
Our identity - Our union with Jesus…the truth that we are hidden in Christ and that he is in us…is the foundation of all that we are and therefore all that we do.
To help bring wholeness (peace) and flourishing (prosperity)
Our aspiration - Based on Genesis 1-2 and Jeremiah 29:7 we seek to love our God and neighbors by partnering with others to bring about a city that is a thriving and good place for all to live.
Our dynamic - The way we help bring about wholeness and flourishing is through the application of the Gospel to all of life. By and through Holy Spirit, God’s word is both the power for and shaping factor of all we do (Romans 1:16; Galatians 2:14). From the gospel flow our core values:
Delighting in Jesus - may Jesus become more precious & treasured by us each & every day
Through the Means of Grace - the gloriously “ordinary”…God’s Word, Sacraments, Church Family
As a Growing Family - may we be a place & people in which others can belong unto belief
In the Local Neighborhoods of West Nashville - our focus will be a local place we can get our heads & hearts around
Our mission - In order to bring about this wholeness and flourishing, we commit ourselves to a rallying cry, a mission statement – to embrace, embody, and extend God's Mission where we live, love, and labor.
To the people and places of West Nashville
The facets or “fronts” of Parks Church are the main organizational manifestation of our core values. We call them facets or fronts because each is an aspect of the whole, and this means that, while each front specializes in expressing certain values, everyone must carry out their ministry giving attention to all of them. So, for example, worship ministry must consider how to conduct their ministry with reference to cultural renewal, and neighborhood cultivation cannot fail to keep evangelism in mind.
Personal: We labor to help people know and walk with God through worship, evangelism and discipleship since the whole life is converted and changed by the gospel.
Family: We labor to help people define, celebrate, and be equipped for his/her role in Family and the passing down of Gospel and Life wisdom & values from this generation to the next.
Neighborhood: We labor to help people know and love one another through worship, Community Group fellowship, and sharing of resources, as well as being a counterculture with regard to our local blind spots. This includes knowing and walking with the poor and marginalized, partnering with ministries of justice and compassion, and impacting the whole city through the civic involvement of our people.
Cultural: We labor to equip and mobilize people to helpfully engage the culture by creating and cultivating, particularly through the integration of faith with vocation.
That reverberates in Nashville and around the world.
It is our hope that the presence of God tasted in this area of the city would be felt and replicated in other parts of Nashville. To that end we will be intentionally involved in planting other churches to saturate the West End of Nashville and beyond with Gospel presence. In addition, because of the unique role this community and this city plays in the global society, we will partner with others to see wider-ranging influence in Nashville-major cultural avenues (music, healthcare, etc).
The Bible is God’s Truth
A significant Core Value of Parks Church is Devotion to God in and through his Word. Studying the Bible personally, as families, and in community will be an ongoing and major part of what we do as a church community. Check out the resources below and begin today exploring the riches we have in Jesus!
Read the Bible 2024
2024 BIBLE READING PLAN: Want to read through the Bible this year and do it with brothers and sisters from Parks Church (and beyond)?!?! Here's a few ways how:
* Download the Bible APP
She Reads Truth
This rich resource for women includes desktop, smartphone, and print reading plans and bible studies. Choose something for personal reading, something for your kids, or something to study in community with other women.
He Reads Truth
This rich resource for men includes desktop, smartphone, and print reading plans and bible studies. Choose something for personal reading, something for your kids, or something to study in community with other men.