DCF is hard to define, as should be any group who gathers together to live out the story of Christ in a messy world. We are people - real people with warts and bruises and joys and dreams. Most of us have staked our hopes on the man-God named Jesus, believing that our life only makes sense in the context of who he is and what he is doing in our world. Some of us are uncertain about our spiritual journey, and we are just warming up to the fire, checking out the surroundings, and taking the space provided to see if this carpenter who claimed to be God might be for real.

We do not view the church as nirvana, where perfection rules. Rather, it is a community where we all admit our brokenness and our desperate need. We believe we were created for intimate connections, deep relationships, and profound spiritual experiences. In short, we were created for heaven. Our longings and desires yearn for something more. It all points us to something beyond ourselves.

As C.S. Lewis said, If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.

And so, at our core, we are a people living for another world. This does not mean we withdraw from the culture around us. Quite the opposite, we believe that the reality of the other world means the brokenness of this world can be redeemed. We believe the community of God should encourage the brightest thinkers, the most vivid artists, and the most industrious employees. The mission of God's people is to bring at least a bit of heaven to earth, to live out the answer to Christ's prayer, "God's will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

This makes sense to us because our life is not ordered around small dreams and trivial hopes. Our life is not centered on our own miniscule stories. Our lives are centered on God. He is our hope. He is our life. We confess the paradox reality that pursuing his fame and his glory is the only sure path to securing our own pleasure.

Several themes have emerged, our guiding ideals that order the way we continue in God's story. We like to think of it as the "way we breathe":

Not to us, O Lord, not to us; but to Your name be the Glory

	Worship - a God centered life where His glory is our deepest desire
	Family - a connected life, immersed in the context of deep relationships
	Kingdom - a bold life, committed to joining God's work on the earth, invading the darkness and living the story of the Gospel