We are a church who exists to be a vibrant expression of who God is — gracious, present, and hospitable.
Iron Works Church is a community that does not exist for ourselves.
We are working to care for our neighbors, restore relationships, celebrate beauty and worship God, preaching Christ in West Chester and beyond. We have a vision to see Jesus change peoples lives.
We invite doubters, seekers, and religious ALIKE to follow the way of Jesus for the good of West Chester.
This mission is rooted in Jesus’ own mission. We read, “God so loved the world, that he sent his one and only Son” (John 3:16). Later on Jesus prayed, “As you have sent me, I send them” (John 17:18, 21). Christians are sent to love this world to life. It’s tempting to read these verses in the abstract, but God tangibly loves real places like West Chester. Our mission is born out of the reality that West Chester, like everyone, needs the gospel. West Chester is a home to people like us, who cannot make themselves whole on their own, cannot perfect themselves on their own, but can only experience healing, meaning, and hope through Jesus. In other words, we need God and one another to find wholeness and belonging.
You do not have to believe in order to belong
If you look at the gospel stories, we see doubters, seekers, and religious all following Jesus — before they believed. Peter, one of Jesus’ best friends, followed him for roughly two years before confessing: “you are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Shortly after that, Jesus called Peter out on trying to hijack his redemptive mission in the world. Life with God is a process, and our lives are messy. Likewise, Iron Works is committed to creating space in our church life to help you investigate the claims of Christ upon your life. We don’t believe or pretend to have it all together, nor is that the point.
Our Core Values
Centered on Jesus.
We take Jesus seriously more than ourselves. Jesus has done something truly wonderful for us: he’s rescued us from our sins and reconciled us to God. Because of him we have a new reputation, we are forgiven of our sins, we enjoy being God’s children, and so much more. It’s all because of what God has done for us in and through Jesus Christ.
A dream that we have is to make Jesus irresistible in our city.
Rooted in Scripture.
Scripture is a wonderful picture as to who God is. God revealed himself to us through prophets and poets, under the wonderful guidance of the Holy Spirit. So if you want to know who God is, then you have to look at his word. Wonderfully it is through Scripture that we know about Jesus and the wonderful salvation that is offered through the gospel. Because God is the one who made us, he knows us more deeply than we know ourselves. This reality means that Scripture is deeply profound and relevant to our daily life, and we continually seek to follow Jesus’ teachings.
Community of Grace.
One of the incredible gifts of the gospel, is belonging to God’s family and having new rhythms. These rhythms are defined by grace, unmerited favor and love. This originates in everything that Jesus has done for us. He loved us first, so we can love. We forgave us, so we can forgive. As a people, our lives cannot be defined by competition, performance, people-pleasing, intimidation or anything else like that! That is not the way of Jesus, so we are able to put pretense and perfectionism aside and confess our sins, encourage one another, spur one another on to grow in godliness, and walking alongside one another as Jesus’ disciples.
Hospitality as a way of life.
Hospitality is a big deal to the way of Jesus. Jesus befriended sinners and tax collectors, and due to his associations over the dinner table with them he was accused of being a drunkard and a tax collector. While he certainly preached to crowds, a key way that he demonstrated his kingdom, discipled, and practiced evangelism was over a meal. We strive to see Christ’s welcome throughout our church life, from worship to community groups and within our hearts.
It’s our hope that you experientially know that you are welcomed within our church, to hear God’s word and be welcomed within our homes, regardless of where you are coming from in faith. So if you are nterested in knowing more about Christ, no matter where you are along the spectrum—those who are convinced, those who are perplexed, or those who are skeptical. We welcome you as Christ welcomed us (Romans 15:7)
All of life discipleship.
Being a follower of Jesus (i.e. a disciple) involves much more than information. Being a disciple of Jesus means becoming like him. God wants to transform us. We are a part of the new creation after all. This discipleship involves our hearts, emotions, bodies. It’s about spiritual things along with secular things. God made everything, so its no surprise that his word is relevant to the way that we work and various vocations that we have. He’s the first gardener, and he told us to make culture too.
Seeking the Welfare of our City.
God placed us, as a church, here in West Chester. So we seek to serve this community by proclaiming and demonstrating the kingdom, practicing hospitality and evangelism, and being good neighbors. The way that we live has the power to demonstrate that the incarnation, of God moving into the neighborhood, really happened in Jesus of Nazareth.
Theological Identities
Gospel centered
What we believe is a story. It is a true story rooted in history, that is told across generations through God's word, the Bible. This story includes four major acts: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Renewal. It is a story of God's relentless, loving pursuit of his rebellious creation. So he sent his Son, Jesus, to reclaim people, places and things... even enlisting Jesus' followers to make all things right. Jesus renews and redeems people from every walk of life, from every nation and tribe.
Instead of taking ourselves seriously, we are more interested in making a big deal about Jesus — always coming back to God’s incredible love, grace, and work within our lives.
Reformed
We locate ourselves in the Reformed Tradition, which came about in its fullness in the 16th century. This tradition sought to reclaim the gospel from extravagant religiosity.
We fully embrace the historic creeds and believe that the best summary of the Christian faith is found in the Westminster Confession of Faith. A few key features of the Reformed Tradition include: the goodness of creation, the centrality of God's story in all of life, the ongoing work of God, and the necessity of grace -- especially in salvation.
Missional
“For God so loved the world (cosmos), that he sent his Son, that whosoever would believe in him would have eternal life” (John 3:16). Jesus came to rescue all things, including the people and places of West Chester. God loves this world and is committed to its redemption. So he made the church to be a picture of renewed, redeemed humanity — known for love, joy, confession, reconciliation, forgiveness, hospitality, and extending the welcome of our Savior.
The way of Jesus calls on us to be faithfully present and seek the good of West Chester.
Presbyterian
We believe that denominational affiliation is a great picture of Jesus' renewing work in the world and how we are tangibly connected to other Christians. We hold to Presbyterian church government, which simply means we are led by a team of elders and are connected to other churches.
It is good for churches and leaders to be connected -- for encouragement on mission and accountability. One key feature of presbyterian governance is that church members select their spiritual leaders from among themselves.