The Summit Church's vision is summarized in Jesus’ Great Commandment to "Love God, Love Each Other, and Love Our World." What does that look like in action? Here is how we interpret that... (these are the things you’ll hear repeatedly around the Summit!)

Loving God
Gospel-Centered Living
We believe the reason people feel so unsettled and unhappy in life is because they have rejected God’s rule. This rejection has left us under a state of corruption and condemnation, and His absence has left a void in our hearts.

Jesus, God in the flesh, in great love, absorbed God’s righteous wrath against our sin and bridged the gap between us and the Father.

At the Summit, we’re not into superficial answers or spiritual quick-fixes. We don’t believe the way to restore our hearts or our families is found in psychological techniques or behavior modification strategies. We believe we must turn from our self-worshipping, self-serving, narcissistic lifestyles and experience the radical, life-changing love of God in this Gospel of Jesus Christ and become the followers of God we were created to be.

Loving Each Other
The Church is a New Community
Love. That is the mark of a real follower of Jesus. We love each other. We’re friends with each other. We eat together. We’re with each other when children are born. We’re there when someone dies. Our members share with each other. We do life together.

We believe that Jesus does some of His best work through relationships.

We believe that believers should be belongers. We don’t believe you can be a spectator in the body of Christ. We believe that communities ought to be places where people know and are known.

So, we are committed to growing "smaller" at the same time that we grow "bigger." We do this by developing local communities of believers. Through local Summit Life groups, local childrens' and student ministries, and even regional campuses, we want to be in your community, because: "Better is a neighbor nearby than a brother far away." (Proverbs)

Loving Our World
Blessing our community
At the Summit, we want to be known by what we’re for than what we’re against. We’re for people. We’re for our community. We don’t believe the church should be a cultural ghetto, isolated from the rest of the world. We believe that God is the Author of culture and the original Master of creativity. We want to take the kingdom of God into the arts, business, education—and every other dimension of our community. We believe that the real “ministry” happens outside the church Mon-Sat, not inside our auditorium for an hour on Sunday. We believe there is not one square inch of our community over which Jesus does not declare "Mine!"

In other words, we’re not here to condemn our culture or simply survive it. We’re here to transform it for God’s glory. Our love is not just talk. We don’t just give poor families a turkey on Thanksgiving and then flip them the bird the rest of the year. Every year this church invests literally hundreds of thousands of dollars and thousands of man-hours into our community by participating with over a dozen of the most effective city-transforming agencies in the RDU area.

Planting churches
We believe THE most beneficial thing for every community is a church that can proclaim and live out the Gospel of Jesus. We believe the church is THE BEST organization on earth, and we believe it will survive as long as time itself.

So, we are committed to planting churches in strategic cities all over the world.

And not just where it’s easy, either. The Summit has members living in church plants in four of the hardest, most Christian-unfriendly places on the planet. Each year we give away at least 10% of our budget to these church plants overseas, and send hundreds of volunteers to serve those communities.

Whatever it takes
When it comes to reaching people with the Gospel, we are willing to let go of just about anything. Seriously. Scriptural values and the essential message of the Gospel will never change, but our methods of outreach will. Our cultural traditions are expendable, because we believe sacrificing for the Gospel sometimes starts with giving up what is comfortable to us.

We believe that if Christ left the comfort of heaven and clothed Himself in our flesh in order to reach us, we should be willing to go to whatever extents it takes to reach those in our community He died for.

We do not believe, however, in growing large at the expense of truth or growing healthy disciples and healthy churches. Our "end game" is not large audiences, but thriving communities of disciples. We believe God is looking not only at the breadth of our ministry, but also the depth.

Partnering with You
We can’t raise your children. We can’t fix your marriage. What we can do is partner with you in those things. We can help equip you. Our children’s ministries, student ministries, and family ministries are, hands down, the best things going at this church.

We’ll teach you how to raise your children, love your spouse, and impact your community. We’ll partner with you. But we want to empower you to be the minister.

Pray!
We believe the greatest asset of the follower of Jesus is the access to the power of God He has in prayer. We believe two things are limitless in the heart of God: the passion He has for people to see the glory of His name, and the compassion that He has for people. So, we believe that when we ask with those two things as our motives, there is no limit to the power God will pour out for us! The reason we do not have is that we do not ask.

We meet all throughout the city weekly to pray--for each other, for our families, and for what God is doing in our city and around the world. We gather often as a church body to call out to God for Him to pour out His love and salvation through our church!

This is not a church where you can plop down, navel gaze, get your religion-itch scratched, and stuff your belly full of Bible bon-bons. We are a church of revolutionaries (at least, wannabe revolutionaries!). Wild disciples of counter-cultural Jesus, trying to obey His great commandment (Matthew 22:37–40). We’re not perfect, but with God’s help, we’re trying. Feel free to come and join us!