We desire to see lives changed by the Gospel.


The vision of Imago Dei (Latin for “image of God”) is simple: to keep the Gospel central in everything. In the words of the Apostle Paul, we believe that the Gospel is of “first importance.” We should constantly reflect on it, and base our lives and ministries around it.

There are a lot of things people seek in a church, and there are a lot of things we could do, but we have purposed to keep the main thing, the main thing:

“Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance to the Scriptures”

1 Cor. 15:3-4

We are committed to keeping our ministry simple. We will avoid offering numerous programs. We will meet weekly for worship to know Christ and exalt Him. We will also meet weekly in sermon-based small groups for spiritual growth, community, and ministry. And we will equip covenant members to live as missionaries locally and globally everyday by fleshing out our “P.E.A.C.E.” plan. We will provide occasional equipping seminars over the weekends and will be doing several short-term mission trips throughout the year. But the weekly schedule will be simple: Worship on Sunday, sermon-based small groups (in homes), and daily missional living.

Our message is clear and simple. For we believe that the hope for Raleigh and the nations is the Gospel. We believe that it is the “power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes.” We want to saturate the city and the world with the good news by proclaiming it with clarity and love, and by practicing good deeds that glorify Jesus. We desire to be a blessing to the city and to the nations with our actions and our words.

We believe this emphasis on the simplicity and power of the Gospel will also help us be unified. We can agree to disagree over matters that are not of first importance. But on the Gospel, we will be together. We refuse to argue over trivial matters because of the urgency of getting the Gospel to the nations.

We believe that this theological phrase, Imago Dei, calls our attention to the storyline of the Bible, which may be put in four sections:

In creation, God created humanity in his image. But sin entered the world and now all people have fallen short of their purpose as God’s image bearers: to glorify God. We believe that God sent Christ to redeem us; that is to rescue us from our sin by dying in our place. Now God is at work transforming his redeemed into the image of Christ, who glorify Him. We believe that we will one day gather with every tribe and tongue to glorify Jesus in the new heavens and new earth, or the new creation forever. This is the story of the Bible. This is the story of the Gospel. This is the story of Imago Dei Church.

And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation”

Revelation 5:9

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