our staff.
"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." - Col. 3:23
core values.
Our church has 6 core values that are born out of our mission and vision. These core values help determine direction and decisions for our church body.
commitments.
We have 10 commitments that we as a church believe are vital in demonstrating our values and mission. Our church members are committed to these as the outward expression of our faith in Jesus Christ.
PASTOR LUKE ANDERSON
As the Lead Pastor, Pastor Luke Anderson has a heart for discipleship initiatives and assisting in the leadership of Global Harvest Fellowship. Having served as a missionary in Uganda, then returning to the U.S. to attend Seminary, and serving with two other churches before coming to GHF, Pastor Luke’s desire is to glorify God and serve Him in whatever capacity He places him in. He is also serving as a Bayonne Firefighter.
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PASTOR ULYSSES MARINO
As the Director of Global Missions,
Pastor Emeritus Ulysses Mariño has a passion for carefully unpacking the truths of Scripture. He has served at Global Harvest Fellowship, formerly known as First Filipino Baptist Church of Bayonne, New Jersey for 35 years. Pastor Uly has ministered in over 20 countries and heads the board of Blessed to Bless Community Development Corporation (B2BCDC), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
Pastor Uly is passionate about mission work and has a heart for the poor. He is a husband, father, and grandfather.
our staff.
As a staff, we are whole-heartedly committed to the church and in its mission to Delight in God, Declare the Gospel, and Disciple Others. We want to live lives that exemplify the beauty of a relationship with God and we are committed to being better disciples while also discipling others. We define a disciple of Jesus Christ like this: A disciple is someone who is becoming more like Jesus in all of life through the power of the Holy Spirit. And we want to strive for that every day.
We hope to see you soon at GHF!
our core values
Our church has 6 core values that are born out of our mission and vision. These core values help determine direction and decisions for our church body.
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GOSPEL CENTRALITY
We value the Gospel as a central tenet in the Christian life. The Gospel is the good news of our God bringing glory to himself through rescuing us from Satan, sin, and death by the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. The Gospel is the central element in the Christian life and continually renews the believer and the Church. Instead of leaving us in guilt, shame, and isolation, God offers forgiveness of sin and reconciliation to Himself through Jesus. Because of Jesus making salvation possible, the Christian life is a process of renewing every dimension of our life—spiritual, psychological, corporate, social—by thinking, hoping, and living out from the effects of the Gospel on our everyday lives. With the help of the Holy Spirit, the Gospel is to be applied to every area of thinking, feeling, relating, working, and behaving.
(Ephesians 2:1-10, Titus 3:3-8 2 Corinthians 4:1-6, Ephesians 1:3-14, Philippians 2:6-11)
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BIBLICAL DOCTRINE AND TEACHING
We value the Word of God as essential for the church. We believe that Scripture is sufficient and authoritative. We hold that the Bible is our guide and authority in everything. We are committed to the sufficiency of Scripture to save sinners, sanctify saints, and shape the church. We are devoted to expositional preaching and teaching and biblically-based evangelism, discipleship, and counseling. Scripture is sufficient to address any situation or circumstance, and by it with the help of the Holy Spirit, the Christian will receive wisdom, truth, and life.
(2 Peter 1:3, John 17:17, 1 Timothy 4:16, 2 Timothy 3:16-17,Psalm 19:7-8)
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MISSIONS AND CHURCH PLANTING
We value and love people and believe that as a Biblically-based, Gospel-centered church this is best done through the Great Commission. We desire to be thoughtfully engaging people in the world around us as we live to glorify God and love Jesus. We desire to love and serve our local community and the nations in a way that reflects the love of God, with the purpose of winning worshippers to Himself from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. We believe that to love our neighbors near and far we must preach and teach the unaltered message of the unique hope of salvation through Jesus Christ alone. We, as a church, have a deep heart for the nations, every tribe and tongue. We desire to see God glorified and disciples made through the gospel of Jesus Christ locally and globally.
The church exists to display the richly diversified, and wide-ranging beauty of God’s redemptive wisdom in saving sinners through Jesus Christ. God’s goal in all he does, and through us primarily, the Church, is to glorify himself — to put on display so everybody can see the unfathomable greatness of his redemptive wisdom and purpose.
We value church planting as the best way to establish and grow believers in Christ. We want to equip and train pastors and leaders, both locally and internationally to meet the needs of people while declaring the Gospel. We believe that the local church is vital in fulfilling the Great Commission, therefore we are committed to church-planting.
(Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 13:47, 1 Chronicles 16:24, Titus 1:5, 1 Corinthians 3:6)
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DISCIPLESHIP ORIENTED
We value making disciples and we want our evangelism and missions to be tethered to discipleship initiatives. Our spiritual growth and the growth of others takes place through discipleship initiatives. This is done by Spirit-led disciples who proclaim the life-changing reality of the Gospel and training others in righteousness and faithful obedience. We want to create opportunities for spiritual growth through meaningful relationships and mentoring opportunities. We are commanded by God as Christians to glorify His name by making disciples and we desire to follow and obey the Great Commission in its entirety.
(Matthew 28:19-20, Titus 2:1-8, Ephesians 4:11-17, 2 Timothy 2:2, Acts 2:42)
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FELLOWSHIP AND COMMUNITY
We value relationships. Similar to our desires for growth through missional and discipleship initiatives, we place a high value on relationships.
Because God Himself exists in eternal relationship and made us in His image we refuse to “go it alone” in life, but rather, we “go together” pursuing relationships marked by kindhearted humility, and mutual dependence. We desire as a church community to develop deep relationships with one another, based on love and respect. We believe that the church should operate as a unified community of servants, with each member stewarding their spiritual gifts in the service of the church. We want our church to be filled with loving relationships that permeate every aspect of church life.
(2 Corinthians 13:14, Genesis 1:27, Colossians 3:12-17, Romans 12:10, Proverbs 17:17)
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WORSHIP
We value worshipping God and giving Him honor and glory in all that we say and do. While worship is predominantly understood to mean the incorporation of music and songs, it is much more than only that.
We value worshipping God in spirit and in truth, and desire to have an all-encompassing approach to our worship. The ultimate aim is to experience God in such a way that he is glorified in our affections. The content of our singing and praying and welcoming and preaching and reading should always conform to the truth of Scripture. But more than that, the content of God’s Word should be woven through all we do in worship.
We value a public worship form that communicates the supremacy of God in all of life, that it will focus on God. Our desire for worship would be that in unity we may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Worship will encourage an expectancy and eagerness for God to draw near to us in reviving and renewing power.
We believe the attitude and action of prayer is essential to everything we do, and by it, we worship. Therefore, prayer is essential in our worship and important in our everyday walk with God.
We are new creations, not merely sinners saved by grace but saints who have been given His righteousness so we can partner with our Father God.
We worship in our declaration of the Word of God and by declaring his good works in our lives in order to praise Him and encourage others.
God is extravagantly generous and our generosity is a response and reflection of Him. He is a good Father who gives good gifts to His children.
We worship through our tithes and offerings, knowing that every gift is from our Father in Heaven and as we are called to give, we do so out of obedience and as an act of worship.
(John 4:24, Psalm 27:4; James 4:8; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; 1 Corinthians 1:30; Romans 3:21-26; Romans 8:1, 30; 2 Corinthians 9:6-15; Malachi 3:10-12)
our commitments
We have 10 commitments that we as a church believe are vital in demonstrating our values and mission. Our church members are committed to these as the outward expression of our faith in Jesus Christ.
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10 CORE COMMITMENTS
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First and foremost, we are committed to being fully devoted to Jesus Christ and the Word of God. God’s Word is our guide and Jesus Christ our King so we humbly submit our lives in accordance with His will. (Luke 9:23; 2 Timothy 3:16)
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We are dependent upon Grace and committed to it because of God’s grace towards us. We acknowledge our complete need for the goodness and grace of God. We have benefited from the kind intention of His will; therefore we quickly and eagerly extend it to others. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
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We are committed to and passionate about prayer. We believe the action and attitude of prayer are essential to our lives as Christ-followers. We believe in making prayer a priority--inviting God to lead, restore, heal and transform our lives, our churches, our communities and the world. Our dependence upon God glorifies God as we receive help and he gets the glory. (Colossians 4:2; Philippians 4:6; Psalm 50:15)
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We are committed to community. When we place our trust in Christ, we are then baptized into a new faith community. Through Christ we are sons and daughters of God our Father, thus we are a family of faith. As a family we are committed to loving and serving one another. We encourage one another, pray for one another, forgive one another and hold each other accountable as together we seek to glorify the name of Christ. The gospel sets us free to be real with one another, enjoy one another, and love one another as Christ loves us. (John 13:34-35; Col 3:12-14; Acts 2:42-47).
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We are committed to healing, and know that God heals and changes us. The outcome of believing the gospel is a changed life. We believe the gospel has the power to set people free from the bondage of sin. Those who are imprisoned by deep wounds, addictions, and hopelessness can be set free and set upon on a journey of transformation. When the truth that I am accepted by God, not on the basis of my personal performance, but on the basis of the infinitely perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ is fully embraced it will impact every area of my life. (Eph. 4:20-24; Col.3:12-17; Eph. 5:8)
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We are committed to family. We believe that Christian marriage is a sacred covenant designed by God to model the relationship that is possible between Christ and people. In marriage, couples are called to respect each other's God-given distinctiveness while uniting as one before the Lord. This makes a marriage relationship both the husband's and the wife's primary bond, second only to their relationship with Christ. The significance of what marriage is designed to display to the world adds to the importance of healthy and lasting marital relationships, and for this reason, we make marriage ministry a focus.
We believe the family is the basic building block of humanity, and that children are a valuable, precious gift and blessing from God. While children are called to honor and obey their parents, parents are called to patiently love, raise, shape, and prepare their children to follow God's path.
The husband/father and wife/mother of a family have a divine calling and are responsible for the spiritual growth of each other and of their children. We wholeheartedly believe that the strength of our church is dependent on the strength of our families. God values families and created families as vital for Christian faith. Since so much begins with the family, we therefore, place a strong value upon family. (1 Corinthians 12:12,18; Genesis 1:27; Ephesians 5:32; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Colossians 3:21; Ephesians 6:4)
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We are committed to diversity. The Body of Christ is unique, diverse, and beautiful because of its many facets. We value all members in the body of Christ who are uniquely, fearfully, and wonderfully made in the image of God. Diversity includes ethnicity, sex, marital status, socioeconomic status, and the unique gifts of persons with disabilities. As a family in Christ, we belong to one another by grace, no longer according to traditional, racial, ethnic, or socioeconomic divisions. Following Jesus includes a commitment to the unity and diversity of God’s Kingdom, not only that in/of our locale, but as a biblical conviction, a strategic gift for witness, and foretaste of our eternal future. (Genesis 1:26-28; Psalm 139:14; Galatians 3:28-29; Revelation 7:9-10)
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We are committed to unity. Similar in our commitment to diversity, we believe that unity is vital for the Church. We desire to live and work together in unity by the power of the Holy Spirit and for the glory of God. We believe that repentance, forgiveness, and sanctification are important for restoration and reconciliation (with God and one another). It is crucial for each of us to be passionate about unity in the Body of Christ. We want to pray with and for each other to become like-minded, faithful, and gracious as we strive to be champions of truth, peace, and love. (John 17:20-23; Ephesians 4:1-16; Psalm 133:1-3; 1 Corinthians 1:10-17)
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We are committed to spiritual growth and continual learning. Our faith is not meant to be stagnate and the Body of Christ is filled with people at various stages in their spiritual walk. We desire to continually be moving towards spiritual maturity. We encourage everyone who hasn’t, to put their faith in Jesus Christ. We encourage those who are followers of Jesus to continually be growing in their relationship with Him. We desire to grow in our knowledge and love for Scripture and to increasingly say “no” to ungodliness, and to hunger for righteousness. (Galatians 3:1-3; Romans 11:33-12:2; Philippians 2:12-13; 1 John 1:9)
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We are committed to serving the poor. The Gospel and Scripture’s ethical principles place our service to the poor and vulnerable, as well as our work towards justice at the center of Christian life and witness. Our faith compels us as our Lord teaches what when we serve the “least of these,” we serve Him. The Bible teaches in hundreds of places that God has a special and unique concern for the poor. We believe that a commitment to overcome poverty is central to the mission of the Church and essential to our unity in Christ. Therefore, in order to obey God, to respect the dignity of every person, and to proclaim the Gospel, we must act. We want to be consistently seeking out ways that we can be a voice for the voiceless, give hope to the hopeless, advocate for the rights of those who are vulnerable, and defend the needy and the poor. (Proverbs 31:8-10; Galatians 6:10; Isaiah 58:7; 2 Cor 8:8-9; 1 John 3:17-19)