We seek to be a theologically conservative, culturally liberal inner city church, which reaches out to those in the 18-30 age range, with a particular focus on musicians and the artists.

But what does that mean?

Theologically conservative

This means that the Bible is the highest authority in the church. Everything we do must be rooted in Scripture and theologically reasoned. This means we will hold to such doctrines as:

• The authority, inspiration, inerrancy and infallibility of the Bible
• The deity of Jesus
• The penal substitutionary death of Jesus on the cross for our sin
• The physical bodily resurrection of Jesus
• The second coming of Jesus to judge the world

These key beliefs are in line with orthodox, biblical Christianity through the ages.

Culturally liberal

We hold to the authority of the Bible on matters regarding faith and morality. We believe that this means matters of culture are given considerable latitude, such as, styles of music, the place of art in church, styles of church and preaching etc. This means that culturally our church can adopt the good things of the culture around us while rejecting those things that the Bible rejects.

Inner city

We love the inner city! The inner city is where the action is at and it’s where, we believe, we are called to be the church. Sydney’s inner city has all the excitement and bustle of the great cities around the world mixed with an artistic expression found in few places. We also see that heaps of people who live in the inner city want so much more than what this world is offering them and so we believe that we have been placed in the inner city to proclaim the lordship and love of Jesus so that people may find life in him!

18-30

We live in a period where churches are getting older and there is a high turnover of people in the 18-30 age range. We want to be a church who reaches out to this group of people so we try to be a church that understands this culture well. We also see that this generation is very hungry for things of spiritual depth and so we are a church that understands this culture well.

Musicians and artists

The ‘traditional’ church has found it very hard recently to connect with these subgroups. So we are a church that seeks to express the gospel in a way which connects with these subgroups.

Core Values

Resolved to know Christ and him crucified

As Christians, we follow Jesus Christ through whom the world was created and who is Lord of all. We see the whole Bible as Christian Scripture inspired by God, proclaiming Jesus. We see ourselves as sinners needing his death on the cross in our place to take our punishment, and his resurrection to secure our future hope. This we call grace. This is the truth we are resolved to believe, preach and live.

Resolved to do real community

God has called us together as his community, the Church. Because we follow God, our community must reflect his character. Therefore we need to be a loving, welcoming, just, disciplined and Jesus-proclaiming community, because the God whom we serve exhibits all these characteristics and calls us to do the same. We see ourselves not as a group of perfect people but a group of sinners who are striving to glorify Jesus and make him known throughout the whole earth.

Resolved to be creative

Our God is a God who creates; we see his handiwork on every newborn’s face, in every mountain, in every star. It is this creative God whom we serve and who has given us gifts with which to be creative and, moreover, to humbly serve the church and the world. Therefore, in trying to be like our creative God we will seek to be creative in everything we do to the glory of him who gave us gifts.

Resolved to be on mission

Jesus came to earth on a mission to purchase salvation for anyone who would seek him. As the church, we are on a mission to point everyone to that saving mission of our great King, for his glory. Everything we do must reflect our mission. So whether we preach, produce art, or help those who are poor and disadvantaged, we not only remember Jesus’ death for us, but are motivated by it and proclaim it in both word and deed.

Story of Resolved

Resolved had its first service on the 1st of March 2009. But its story goes back a lot longer than that. Our lead pastor, Hans Kristensen, has always had a passion to connect people with Jesus, because it is only in Jesus that they will find the love they are searching for and the forgiveness they really need. But it seemed like a lot of churches either sold out on telling people about Jesus by making Jesus sound like a motivational life coach, or making Jesus seem boring, outdated and irrelevant. In his friends, Hans saw a deep hunger for more than this world had to offer, and so he wanted to start a church to reach his friends and people like his friends. He met some people who had the same vision: A church which told people about Jesus but in a way which didn’t sand off his rough edges. A church we could love being a part of and bringing our friends to. A church called Resolved. This team met together once a month in 2008 to discuss the theology and practice of the church they were dreaming of. They were given a generous amount of money from the people at Christ Church Mortdale which they spent on insurance, P.A etc. and on March 1st, 2009, they had their first service. Where will God take Resolved? We are not sure, but we would love you to join us in our journey as we seek to glorify God and show many people how amazing Jesus is!

About Hans

Hans Kristensen is the lead pastor of Resolved. He grew up in a small rural town and became a Christian at the age of fourteen when he tried to hit on a hot chick who told him about Jesus. Hans subsequently forgot about the chick and became totally blown away by Jesus. Hans is the luckiest guy ever, for three reasons:

1. He has been saved by Jesus from the consequences of his sin.
2. He is married to the most beautiful woman in the world!
3. He has the privilege of pastoring Resolved which, he thinks, is the best church in the world.

Hans is passionate about life, truth, and people, and would love to meet you and hear your story!

Statement of Faith

The Resolved Statement of Faith outlines what we believe. Please click here to read it.