We exist to bring the good news of God’s Kingdom to a diverse city.
Our Mission
Ponce Presbyterian is a Gospel-centered Christian community. We worship the triune-God and embrace the good news of Jesus’s life, death, resurrection, and eventual return. It’s only through this good news, and by the Lord’s grace and mercy, that anyone can have a relationship with God and be part of His Kingdom.
We want the power and transforming love of God to pervade every aspect of our lives, our families, and our communities. What would it mean to proclaim the grace and truth of Jesus with our lives? We seek to reach all of Midtown, indeed all of Atlanta, with this good news – to the homeless, broken, and disillusioned.
More on Our Values
Ponce Pres is a Kingdom-centered community that proclaims Jesus Christ as king. our values fundamentally rest on communing with Him:
GOSPEL
Tim Keller has been known to say that “The Gospel is not only the ABC’s, but the A to Z’s of the Christian life.” It is not only a provision to enter heaven based on grace through faith, it is also the vehicle God gives to live more freely from the impact of sin and to be transformed from the inside-out. Thus, the “inward” and "outward" person gets touched; the spiritual, emotional, physical, vocational, and financial get addressed. The Gospel, therefore, provides a holistic vision of life, empowering us in Christ from spiritual conversion to mature discipleship.
MISSIONAL
More than a church that does missions, which we do, we believe the church biblically designed, is the locus of the mission. The Church being the Church is the missionary, as the Lord Jesus makes Himself present in, with, and through His body. The body of Christ, then, becomes the very life-giving and mediated presence of Christ. All this with the whole world present is God’s missionary strategy to the world (John 1:14, 20:21) .
COMMUNAL
A Church where the community matters. This community formation occurs where Christ our King is worked out through life-on-life relationships and holistic empowerment under the shepherding care of Christ’s servant leaders. (John 13:34, Gal. 6:2, 1 Peter 5:1-5)
CONFESSIONAL
Listening for the Word of Christ, we seek to hear God’s voice in expositional preaching and teaching. The Scripture is our only rule of faith and practice. Even so, we want to humbly read and interpret the Scripture with the consensus of the church that has been passed down from every age and place through the use of “confessions”. Our consensus is reflected in the Westminster Confession of Faith, which is consistent with other familiar creeds such as the Apostles’ and Nicene creeds. We strive to apply our beliefs to all of life and reflect the very Spirit of the Kingdom.
SACRAMENTAL
Sacramental spirituality wherein Christ our Priest is “fleshed out”, via the Holy Spirit, in a carefully designed four-movement worship service that follows a gospel logic. Sacramental worship will include participating in the sacraments weekly and throughout the week in our contextualized Community Groups! (1 Cor. 10:14-17, Heb. 12:22-24, Rev. 4-5)
Mercy
Just as we have been shown incredible mercy in Christ, we seek to demonstrate mercy to all we encounter, especially the marginalized and oppressed. We seek mercy and justice for the sake of those in our church community and the broader community around us (Micah 6:8, Luke 4:18-19, Acts 6).