Six Directions
1 – Backward – Our roots go all the way back to God who made all things and created us in His image. We believe the Bible to be the God-inspired voices of many who have come before us who passed along their poems, stories, counsel, and letters of relationship with each other and the living God. We see ourselves in a long line of generations taking part in the ongoing conversation between God and people. To know where we’re going, we have to know where we’ve been.
2 – Forward – We look ahead with certainty to the perfect existence God originally designed. We believe that the condition of human struggle and death is temporary and that followers of Christ are destined for an existence that is better than anything we are capable of imagining. Though God sometimes seems distant or even helpless, He remains in control. To know where we’re going gives us perspective and hope here and now. 
3 – Withward – We believe that we were created to live deeply with one another, to carry each others’ burdens, and to share our possessions, to pray for and confess our sins to each other, to suffer and to celebrate together. It is in these sacred relationships and honest loving communities that God transforms us and works through us. The way of Jesus cannot be lived alone.
4 – Inward – We believe that God wants to redeem every part of us and that Jesus’ message of salvation is holistic in nature. We believe that all of life is spiritual and that all of our fears, failures, and broken hearts can be restored and made whole. We pledge to seek healing from God and others because we want to be fully integrated people; mind, body, and soul, emotions and experiences all offered together to Him.
5 – Outward – Jesus calls His church to be a compelling force for good in the world. God uses people as agents of change to relieve suffering and offer hope, living out the transforming message of the resurrected Jesus. At Epikos, we believe the church is at its best when it serves, sacrifices, and loves, demonstrating the priorities of God. We were created, individually and corporately, to live for something larger than ourselves.
6 – Upward – We believe that God created us in His image and that no amount of darkness can erase that divine imprint. Whether we choose it or not – whether we are aware of it or not – we thus hunger for a relationship with God. From this reality, we look for His fingerprints everywhere, and we celebrate the divine in the daily, pursuing lives of worship, obedience, and hope. God invites everyone, everywhere into this way of life, and we believe it is the best possible way to live.