Gospel-Driven – The Gospel is the disruptive message of God, announced in the scriptures, embodied in Jesus, and lived out in the world through the people of God, the Church. It is the core message and heartbeat of all that Chapelgate is and desires to be. The Gospel enters hearts, homes, cities and nations through Grace rather than Performance, Humility rather than Power, and Love rather than Fear. It is the Gospel that compels us to reach outside of our selves and into the broken places where the Peace of Christ is not known.
Christ-Centered – Jesus Christ is God. He entered our world, born a human being. Having lived a perfect life, He died for our sins, and arose from the grave – so that those who flee to Him in faith share the hope of one day being with Him in eternity. At Chapelgate we acknowledge Jesus as Lord, Redeemer, Friend and King. He is the focus of our Faith, our Worship, and our Vision. He is unafraid of our troubles, our pasts, our fears and our doubts, and He continues to enter into the lives of those who trust Him. Jesus alone satisfies thirsty souls and forgives sinners.
Worship – The Gospel reveals that we find our greatest fulfillment in the worship of God – that as He receives the praise and glory He deserves we realize the deepest experience we were created for. Our worship is a festive and reflective celebration of the Gospel, a blend of confession, song, reading and preaching of the Word, and Sacrament. We meet for worship each Sunday at 9 & 10:30 AM and our services last around an hour and fifteen minutes.
Community – The scriptures reveal that we were created to live in Relationship with God, with one another and with Creation. They also reveal that sin shattered all of these relationships and alienated mankind in very conceivable way. The Church, a collection of people from diverse backgrounds, cultures and ethnicities and experiences, is called to nurture relationships and exist as one new community that finds its core identity in Jesus Christ and reflects the Gospel’s power to heal and reconcile all that is broken.
Mission – We believe the Church has been called to be a people who collaborate with God in His work of restoring all things to Himself. Through Cultural Engagement (Jazz Festival), Church Planting, World Missions and Local Ministries in the City and ministries to people dealing with issues such as Addiction (Celebrate Recovery), Divorce (Rebuilders), Economic Despair (Howard County Christian Services), Language Barriers (ESL), Sorrow (Griefshare) and more, we share in the Mission of God. Our Mission takes us outside our church doors into Howard, Carroll and Baltimore Counties.
Mercy – At the heart of Jesus’ message is the seemingly paradoxical axiom that in the Gospel we find ourselves by giving ourselves away. And nowhere is this more profoundly experienced than when God opens our hearts to enter into the brokenness of our church, culture, city and world. In an increasingly self-saturated society the Church is called to translate the grace of God into a merciful response of involvement, friendship, servanthood and love.
Beauty – Beauty is a reflection of a lovelier reality, embedded in the Gospel. God originally created all things to be ‘good,’ and whenever this is reflected the Arts, we are reminded that our God, is the Creator of all that is beautiful – and that one day all things will be made new and most fully reflect His Glory. We also believe that beauty is a language that speaks into the Culture. When you enter our facility you will see pictures taken by local photographers from within and outside our church. In 2006 Chapelgate established a regional Jazz Festival (Night of Jazz) that draws hundreds of people annually from the entire region, to a magnificent free outdoor concert featuring some of the finest musicians from the Baltimore-DC area. We have also begun a Drama troupe that has presented beautiful offerings to the surrounding communities.
Spiritual Formation – Another way to articulate this value would be to say that we seek to be Defined and Guided by the Scriptures and to speak the Gospel into one another’s lives as we grow in God’s Grace. We believe the Bible to be the Holy, Inspired and Inerrant Word of God, completely true and embodied in the Person of Jesus. And so we celebrate that the scriptures come alive in the lives of those who belong to Christ, desire to know Him and drink deeply of the Faith.
Greater Baltimore – Chapelgate’s roots are in the city of Baltimore and we continue to minister with a commitment towards and a love for the City and its surrounding communities. Baltimore is a historic and beautiful city marked by culture, ethnicity, development and growth. Once a thriving industrial city, Baltimore suffered great loss when the steel industry suffered nationally. Crime, violence and poverty became commonplace through its neighborhoods. However the development of the famous Inner Harbor, private business and continuing efforts to renew the city, along with urban churches, non-profit ministries and services, all have come together to bring a great resurgence of interest, growth and hope for Baltimore.