We exist to help people become relationally connected and make disciples who make disciples.

Want to engage in an activity that is both fun and incredibly challenging? Try to describe a color to someone...without using the name of the color! The truth is - that's a pretty daunting task!

Well, it turns out that trying to describe or define what a local church is or does is just about as difficult as describing a color without using the word! To summarize the description, most churches resort to sharing purpose, mission and vision statements - and here at OCC, we think those are very helpful! Any well-functioning group should be able to articulate clear purpose, mission and vision statements.

A purpose statement provides the reason for why the organization exists. A mission statement defines what the organization does. And a vision statement describes what the future of the organization should look like...if it adheres to the purpose and mission.

So, here at OCC, we exist to help people get relationally connected. That is our purpose; to help unbelieving people come to an eternal relationship with the God who created them and to foster impactful relationships with all of the people God places in the paths of our life.

That challenge drives what we do: as our mission, we strive to make disciples of Jesus Christ, who make more disciples of Jesus Christ. However, that is a job that is far too big for any one person to accomplish and actually impossible without God's help...

Which leads us to our vision statement! Our vision involves an intentional effort to join God where He is at work in this world! We know that God is the only one who can save; He is the only one who can transform lives - but we sincerely want to join Him in that work, for His glory!

To help people grasp our defining statements, we embrace a ministry philosophy at OCC, which we call the "4 chair model". In this model, we want to help people who are in chair one move to chair two and help those in chair two move to chair three, and...well, I probably don't have to go on, do I?

It's a great model that allows everyone at OCC to engage. Honestly, we find it pretty simple to grasp, yet enormously challenging to embrace (kind of like describing a color...)! The chair format goes like this: chair one is the "Lost" chair. This is where we hope to interact with people who are not yet followers of Jesus Christ and point them towards Him!

After they profess belief, they move to chair two, which is the "Believer" chair. In this chair, a person has secured their eternal relationship with God, through faith in Jesus, but their journey in following Christ is just beginning! From chair two, we encourage Christ followers to learn about their spiritual gifts and passions and engage in the life of the church.

When they do, they find themselves sitting in chair three, the "Worker" chair. At OCC we have tons of study and serving opportunities that allow people to grow in their faith and move along the path of sanctification (which is a big, weighty, theological term that means "becoming more like Jesus").

The final chair in our model is the "Disciple Maker" chair. Chair four is the finish line in our model, but it's also the starting line for the rest of a person's life in Christ - because from Chair four, disciple makers can circle back around and engage with people in any of the first three chairs to help them along on their journey!

In the 4 chair model, the movement between chairs is where we get relationally connected, where we literally define what we do as a local church and where we strive to always join God in the process, so it is a wonderful, tangible reminder of our God given purpose, mission and vision!