Our Vision

Our vision is to develop people into followers of Jesus Christ with a passion to worship God well and communicate His love to others.

"...followers of Jesus Christ..."
Wherever you are in your spiritual journey, we want to help you take the right "next steps" in becoming a follower of Jesus Christ. That begins with having a personal relationship with God through faith in Christ, not just "religion." Once you are sure about that, we will help establish you in your faith as a growing Christian and equip and deploy you to serve others. In short, there are four phases of becoming a follower of Jesus Christ: knowing, growing, reaching and discipling.

"...with a passion to worship God well..."
Worshiping God well means a "lifestyle of worship" that is 24/7, not just during church services--but then it overflows as people come together on Sundays to worship God passionately. Our services encourage people to focus on and participate in giving praise to God rather than coming to church just to be entertained.

"...and communicate His love to others"
We want to be a loving, gracious community of Christians where all people feel welcome and accepted, regardless of their socio-economical background, race, sex, or personal situation in life. As people grow in their faith, we desire for them to reach out in love and minister to each other and to those who are not yet part of God's family.

Stemming from our desire to glorify God, we are attempting to build a church which is based on the following six pillars:

1. Worship
2. Disciple-making
3. A loving, ministering Christian community
4. Commitment to God's Word
5. Commitment to prayer
6. Grace-oriented rather than legalistic

1. Worship

People who want to worship God with their lives gather together on Sundays at Harvest to worship corporately. These services are designed to be awe-inspiring celebrations of God which are meaningful to children, youth, singles, couples, and families. Children join adults for a portion of this time so that families worship together.

We believe strongly that worship is not about STYLE but HEART and substance; it's about what you bring to give to God, our "audience of One." Our music is primarily contemporary, but also includes some traditional hymns and other expressions that are woven together in a "blended worship" context. On any given Sunday, a variety of things are used to facilitate worship, such as spontaneous prayer and sharing from the congregation, drama, testimonies, or dramatic readings.

The goal for our preaching and teaching ministry is to be both Biblical and relevant to life. Every message teaches God's Word so that you can understand what it meant to the original audience and also gives tangible ways to put it into practice today.

2. Disciple-making

The overall purpose of this church in terms of its ministry to people is to "make disciples of all nations," which means evangelizing unbelievers, then establishing and equipping Christians to obey all that Christ commanded. Once people accept Christ as Savior, the process has only begun, for we then "disciple" them. This establishing of believers includes teaching them the basics of Christianity, training them in the Christian life, and teaching them not only the content and principles of the Bible but such things as how they can feed themselves and grow in Christ. We will seek to equip them to reproduce themselves by ministering to both unbelievers and believers. If you are interested in growing as a disciple, we can start by giving you a spiritual life assessment and then connect you with the right person or group of people to help you grow, and in the right time, help others grow.  To take the spiritual life assessment, click here. 

The Charlotte region has hundreds of thousands to reach, but our "target" is all those throughout the entire world without Christ. We actively participate in church planting, evangelism and discipleship in other needy parts of the state, the country and the world.

3. A loving, ministering Christian community

The people of Harvest genuinely care about each other, and that shows up in so many ways. Informally, it happens as Christians "do life" together; formally, it happens through small groups ranging from two-three people having coffee weekly to a group of 8-15 meeting in a home for Bible study and prayer to "accountability groups" for middle and high schoolers.

We desire to be a loving, gracious community in which all people feel welcome and accepted, regardless of their socio-economic background, race, sex, or personal situation in life, and we will always foster a spirit of being a united church family.

The primary role of a pastor/teacher is to equip believers so they can do ministry themselves, as Ephesians 4:12-16 clearly teaches. The pastoral staff are not the only ministers at Harvest, but those who equip the true ministers, the body. Every pastor has a heart for shepherding the flock God brings together, but we are also firmly committed to the principle that effective pastoral care is done through various members of the body. One person or staff cannot be responsible to do all the caring; when the the pastoral staff, elders and congregation work together, the best, most Scriptural ministry happens.

4. Commitment to God's Word

Harvest is a church which is thoroughly grounded on Scripture rather than tradition or expediency. This means that we seek Biblical guidance for all principles and practice. This also means that we teach believers how to feed themselves from the Word of God and how to discern sound Biblical teaching from unsound teaching. We believe in the inerrancy and inspiration of the Bible in its original autographs, and in our public teaching and preaching will use the best modern versions which translate the text accurately and in understandable language (our preference at this point is the New International Version). Though our preaching and teaching will address life issues (e.g., marriage relationships, managing stress), it will be driven by a passion to explain, apply and obey God's Word.

5. Commitment to prayer

Unfortunately, we as humans often we try to accomplish God's work in our own strength and abilities. However, we long to be a church which makes prayer its first rather than its last priority, one in which every corporate and individual need is bathed in fervent prayer. This can be done in a variety of ways-congregational prayer times, prayer in small groups, prayer partners, "prayer chains," etc.-we use any or all of these methods as well as others which will develop us into a praying church, dependent on the power of the Holy Spirit.

• "Impact Group" - this is the primary time for churchwide prayer, meeting on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of each month
  • Fellowship Meal, 6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
  • Churchwide Prayer, 7:00 p.m. - 8:15 p.m.
  • Childcare is available for nursery and preschoolers from 7:00 p.m.-8:15 p.m.
  • Elementary-aged children pray with their parents for a portion of the time and then go to "Impact for Kids" to pray together
• "Partners In Prayer" - those who commit to a unique partnership with the pastoral staff
• 40 Days of Prayer - we begin each calendar year with a concentrated, churchwide focus on prayer
• International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church - held in the fall of the year worldwide
• Prayer on Sunday--before, during and after our worship services, prayer is prevalent

6. Grace-oriented rather than legalistic

We want to create an atmosphere which is grace-oriented rather than legalistically-oriented. In other words, spirituality should not be measured by one's conformity to an outward list of humanly-designed rules but by Biblical expressions of the life and love of Christ. We want everyone to feel acceptance and love from us. Although we will encourage the living of holy lives and the development of Christian character, we will not impose personal convictions upon others.