LIVING
Following Jesus is a way of life, not a weekend activity. We are sent into our city as salt and light. We share meals and stories, we listen for God and for one another, we celebrate, and we look for ways to bless the people around us.
Who We Are
Learn more about us.
Our Mission
We exist to help people become followers of Jesus, living our faith together — rooted in God, formed in community, and sent for the world.
At the heart of this mission is a longing to see ordinary lives transformed by the gospel, right here in Richardson and across the cities we call home. Our church family live in the neighborhoods around us and come from nearly every corner of the earth.
We believe God has gathered us here on purpose.
Our DNA: Living Our Faith Together
Everything at LOFT grows out of four words you will see the moment you walk into our lobby: Living Our Faith Together. It is our DNA, our dream, and our honest description of the life we are after. Faith here is not a label you carry or a box you check on a Sunday. It is a way of life we get to live, and we were never meant to live it alone.
OUR
God's heart is for the whole world, and he has placed us in Richardson on purpose. We see every person as made in the image of God. We are a diverse family, with significant Indian representation, mixed-race families, students, young families, and many who are first-generation believers. At LOFT, you can belong before you believe.
FAITH
It is all about Jesus. He entered our messed-up stories and changed them, and now we give him our full loyalty. The Bible is our highest authority, and we recalibrate our lives around it as we follow, explore, grow, pray, and stand for justice.
TOGETHER
You are not called to live your faith alone. The early church did everything together, and because of the finished work of Christ, we are family.
Our battle cry is simple: no one stands alone.
Our Location
LOFT did not land in North Texas by accident. We believe God set us, a group of people from all over the world, in one of the most diverse and fastest-growing places in the country.
Our City
LOFT is proud to call Richardson home—a diverse, growing city just north of Dallas. Our neighbors come from across the nation and around the world, making Richardson a unique place to live, learn, and build community.
Many people in our city have little or no connection to a local church. We believe God has brought the nations to our doorstep, and we're here to love our neighbors, share the hope of Jesus, and serve our community.
Our Metroplex
LOFT is part of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, one of the fastest-growing and most diverse regions in the country. Millions of people now call North Texas home, making it a place of tremendous opportunity for the gospel.
Our vision extends beyond one city. We long to see healthy churches planted across North Texas so every community has a faithful local church where people can encounter Jesus, grow in faith, and be sent to make disciples.
Our Values
These four core values are the guard rails that keep LOFT focused on the mission God has given us.
Christ-Centered
It's all about Jesus. It always has been about Jesus. It always will be about Jesus. We believe that all of Scripture makes sense only in light of Him. Forgiveness of the past is available only in Him. Hope for the future is available only through Him. Take away Jesus and you have nothing.
We seek to know Jesus as He is revealed in His Word. We seek to obey His commandments and so grow in our intimacy with Him. We seek to show those around us who Jesus really is and what He has done, so that they too may come to know the true meaning of life.
When we say that we are committed to Jesus, we mean, first and foremost, that we are committed to glorifying and worshiping the person of Jesus as He is depicted in the Bible (Col. 1:15-20), striving to intentionally pursue knowing and loving Him to the best of our ability, both individually and collectively. Second, when we say we are committed to Jesus, we mean that we value and are committed to the Word of God (John 1:1-5, 14). It is through God's Word that we come to know Jesus as He has revealed Himself, and we do not think it is possible to value Jesus and not value His Word; they go hand in hand. Finally, when we say we are committed to Jesus, we mean that we are committed to the gospel as it is laid out in the Scriptures (Acts 10:36-43; 1 Cor. 15:1-6): namely, that Jesus, being God in flesh, came to earth, lived a perfect life, died our death, and rose again on the third day, claiming victory over sin and death.
Diverse Family
We are God's people, made in His image for the sole purpose of glorifying Him for all of eternity. We are called to be one body, not for ourselves but for one another and for Jesus.
Often, when the Scriptures talk about the people of God, they are referred to as the children or household of God (Rom. 8:16-17). We love this image because it paints a picture of what our spiritual family should be like. You don't get to pick your family, or whether you are born or adopted into it. If we get into a fight with one of our siblings, we don't give up and find another family. We work through it and move forward. Likewise, if our sibling is about to do something foolish or harmful, we don't stand by idly; we step in to pull them back from harm. Finally, not everything that happens in our family of origin is a trip to Disney. Most of our experiences are mundane, everyday life. Most of our time is spent washing dishes or cleaning the house, and only every now and then do we experience those “mountaintop” moments like a family vacation. So it is with our spiritual family: we grow together, live life together, and stay together. At LOFT, our family is ethnically, generationally, and denominationally diverse. We make space for everyone, mourning together in our grief and celebrating together in our joy. We are authentic and transparent with one another as we journey together, seeking Jesus. As one body, we seek to recognize our individual roles and responsibilities to one another. The growth of the body is not limited to an individual member or a few select members, but belongs to the entire body as a whole (Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 12:12-31). When we take up our responsibility to shepherd one another, we in turn live healthier and holier lives.
Mission Driven
We believe that the church has been given one mission: make disciples of all nations. This means we have been called out as missionaries, inviting people to be followers of Jesus wherever we are. Each of us has a “sphere of influence” where we live, serve, work, and play. We interact daily with neighbors and coworkers, and we believe that Jesus has placed us in these spheres to be witnesses of who He is.
Whether we are accountants or teachers, we are all called to be missionaries with a heartbeat of discipleship. A disciple is one who follows, learns from, and obeys someone greater than themselves, seeking in everything to be like their master. Our desire is to make more disciples of Jesus. As disciples, we seek to follow Jesus, learn to be like Him, and obey what He is teaching us through His Word. As disciple-makers, we call others to follow Jesus, teaching them His Word and exhorting them to obey His commandments.
As we intentionally inject the gospel into everyday life, where we live, serve, work, and play, we call those who do not know Jesus to follow Him, and those who claim the name of Jesus to love and obey Him. In every situation, we seek to help others find life, place, and meaning in Christ.
This is not simply a mission to make converts, as if relationships were merely a means to an end, but rather a welcoming of others to experience true life in communion with God and his people. We believe that evangelism is only the first step in disciple-making, and that helping someone walk into maturity with Jesus, teaching them to observe all that Jesus commanded, should always be the natural next step. One should never be separated from the other.
Radical Generosity
Because we believe that in Christ we live and move and have our being, we share what we have been given to advance the Kingdom (Luke 6:38). Giving demonstrates our faith that the God who has provided for us in the past will provide for us in the future. It is the opposite of fear. Fearful people hang on to anything they can get, while people who are growing in faith see everything in life as a gift from God, not just their money. Every time we open our hands in generosity, we are saying to God, “This is yours anyway. Please use it for your purposes.”
When we give, we acknowledge three things. First, everything we have comes from the merciful hand of God. Second, true wealth is measured not by accumulating it, but by wisely investing it. Third, it is a privilege to distribute God's resources to a broken world. When we give, we make a conscious decision to exchange our plans, agendas, and priorities for God's.
Jesus modeled servant leadership by leaving heaven and serving humanity, all the way to sacrificing his life for our salvation. From healing the sick to feeding the poor, he always put others first, and so should we. Our goal is to use God's resources to help people both here and around the globe encounter Jesus. From helping eliminate medical debt in our community, to caring for our neighbors in seasons of crisis, to supporting church plants around the world, we reach out because our heart is for others, just as God's heart first reached out for us.
Our Culture
Everything at LOFT is held together with Jesus at the center and guarded by our four core values: Christ-Centered, Diverse Family, Mission Driven, and Radical Generosity. Those values shape what it actually feels like to belong here. We are not building programs to fill a building. We are becoming a family, the kind the early church was, where people are known, loved, and sent.
Here are five characteristics you should expect to see when you get to know us.
We are a place of rest and healing.
In a city that runs on hurry and striving, we slow down to be restored.
Many people come to LOFT tired, wounded, or worn down by life, and sometimes by church itself. We want to be a place where weary people can breathe again. Our aim is not to entertain you or make you feel good for an hour, but to be a community where God meets you, heals what is broken, and gives rest to your soul.
We make room.
You can belong before you believe.
Whether you are hungry or hurting, lonely or lost, full of questions or simply looking for a home, there is a place for you here. We do not ask anyone to clean themselves up before they come. We believe people can belong before they believe, and that the grace of Jesus is what changes us once we are through the door. We want to be a place where you can ask questions and wrestle with your faith. Come as you are. You won't be a stranger for long.
No one stands alone.
We do life together, in the highs and the lows.
We believe we are required by God to live in community. We were never meant to follow Jesus on our own, so we trade churchy busyness for real friendship. We share meals and we share burdens, we mourn together in grief and celebrate together in joy, and we keep showing up for one another. We let the Word of God shape how we actually live, and we walk alongside each other the whole way.
We celebrate our differences.
We rejoice that he has made each of
us unique.
We believe God's family was always meant to reflect every tribe, tongue, and nation. We celebrate the different cultures, ethnicities, backgrounds, and stories that make up our church because each one reflects God's good design. Our differences don't divide us—they remind us that the gospel brings people together as one family in Christ.
We live sent and open-handed.
We are all missionaries, and we hold everything loosely.
God has placed us in Richardson and beyond on purpose, and every one of us is sent into the places we live, work, study, and play. We practice radical generosity with our time, talent, and treasure, giving ourselves away so that more people can meet Jesus, both here in our city and among the nations.
Our Beliefs
We Believe
We believe the Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments, to be the verbally inspired Word of God, written by men in God’s control, without error, and infallible in the original manuscripts. We further believe that this inspiration is not in different degrees but extends equally and fully to all parts of the Bible: historical, poetical, doctrinal, and prophetical. We, therefore, believe in the absolute authority of the Bible in all matters of faith and practice.
We believe in one living and true God who is heaven and earth’s Creator; eternal, almighty, unchangeable, infinitely powerful, wise, just, and holy. We believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — these three are identical in essence, possessing precisely the same attributes and perfections and worthy of the same worship, confidence, and obedience.
We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God in innocence & without sin, but that in Adam’s sin, humanity fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became spiritually dead and alienated from God. He is incapable of remedying his lost and depraved condition.
We believe that due to universal death through sin, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless born again; that salvation is only by grace through faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ, and that all who receive the Lord Jesus Christ through faith are declared righteous by God and thereby become children of God. We believe the Scriptures teach that regeneration, or the new birth, is that act of God by which the Holy Spirit imparts a new nature and a new spiritual life, not before possessed, and the person becomes a new creation in Christ Jesus. The mind is given a holy disposition and a new desire to serve God, the dominion of sin broken, and the heart transformed from a love of sin and self to a love of holiness and God. As the believer walks in the power of the Holy Spirit, these new realities become evident in a life characterized by holiness, compassion, and zeal.
We believe that the Holy Spirit is the divine Person who convicts the world of sin; that He brings new life to those who are spiritually dead; that all believers are baptized with the Holy Spirit and thus placed into the one true fellowship, which is the Body of Christ; that He in-dwells them permanently, seals them unto the day of redemption, bestows spiritual gifts upon them, and empowers them for service. We believe the Holy Spirit also empowers believers for Christian witness and service. While the Holy Spirit indwells all genuine believers at conversion, the New Testament also indicates the importance of an ongoing, empowering work of the Spirit after conversion. Being indwelt by the Spirit and filled with the Spirit are theologically distinct experiences. The Holy Spirit desires to fill each believer continually with increased power for Christian life and witness. It imparts his supernatural gifts for the edification of the body and various works of ministry in the world. All the gifts of the Holy Spirit at work in the Church of the first century are available today, are vital for the mission of the Church, and are to be earnestly desired and exercised.
We believe in Jesus Christ’s deity; He was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, and is entirely God and fully Man. We believe that our redemption has been accomplished solely by the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was made to be sin and made a curse for us, dying in our place so that we might be forgiven. We believe that He died not only for our sins but also for the entire world’s sins. We believe He was raised from the dead in bodily form and ascended into heaven, where He sits at the right hand of God the Father, interceding for us.
We believe the New Testament Church of Jesus Christ began at Pentecost and is comprised of all true believers in Jesus Christ, who the Holy Spirit indwells. We believe that the purpose of the Church in the world is to glorify God through worship, prayer, the teaching of the Word, observance of the ordinances, the exercise of our gifts and talents, and the proclamation of the gospel both in our community and throughout the world.
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ instituted two ordinances to be observed by all believers until His return: water baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Water baptism is only intended for the individual who has received the saving benefits of Christ’s atoning work and has become his disciple. Therefore, in obedience to Christ’s command and as a testimony to God, the Church, oneself, and the world, a believer should be immersed in water in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Water baptism is a visual demonstration of a person’s union with Christ in the likeness of his death and resurrection. It signifies that a person’s former way of life has been put to death and vividly depicts their release from the mastery of sin. The Lord’s Supper is to be observed only by those who have become genuine followers of Christ. This ordinance symbolizes the breaking of Christ’s body and the shedding of his blood on our behalf. It is to be observed regularly throughout the Christian life as a sign of continued participation in the atoning benefits of Christ’s death. As we partake of the Lord’s Supper with faith and self-examination, we remember and proclaim the death of Christ, receive spiritual nourishment for our souls, and signify our unity with other members of Christ’s body.
We believe in the personal, bodily, visible, and pre-millennial return of Jesus Christ in the glory of His Father to set up on the earth a kingdom in which He shall reign in righteousness and peace.
We believe that at the moment of death, believers pass immediately into the presence of Christ and remain there in joyful fellowship with Him until the resurrection of the body at His second coming, after which they will be forever with the Lord in glory. We also believe that at the moment of death, the unsaved descend to Hell, where they are kept under punishment until their bodies are raised at the final judgment, after which they will suffer everlasting conscious punishment, separated from the presence of the Lord.
