Deciding whether or not to relocate to another city is usually no easy decision. The decision is made more difficult when one considers the unique facets of life in Utah and the Salt Lake valley. We've written this page to help in your decision, but we would be happy to talk with you directly. Just call our church office at (801) 943-0091.
What to ask first? We encourage you to make your decision to relocate only after you have found a church that is faithful to the gospel. We will make comments below about what "faithful to the gospel" means, but for now we simply ask you to consider the order of your decision - to find a gospel-centered church before deciding whether to relocate. This order is foreign to many of us, but it makes sense, when we consider the massive impact that teaching and community have on the trajectory of our lives. The book of Titus is in the Bible to make this point: right living grows from believing the truth, and this knowledge of the truth grows out of faithful preaching and teaching of the gospel. The deciding factor for a "sound life" is not job status or income, but it is the soundness of our beliefs - whether or not we are basing our lives on the gospel. The role of the local church is to hold firm to this gospel, and spread it to others - including Christians. We are not just saved by the gospel; we grow by it and persevere by it as well.
What does "faithful to the gospel" mean? We at EFree don't claim to do everything perfectly - not even close. Nor do we consider ourselves "the only game in town". And yet we need to make very clear what the Bible says - that the power for our salvation, the power for living today, and the source of true hope for the future all come from God Himself, through His gospel. So we seek to hold firm to the gospel of the Bible and keep it at the center of all that we do. We desire be a gospel-centered community that finds its joy in Jesus. We pursue this in our Sunday morning preaching and singing and prayer, in our life training classes, and in our smaller life groups. To get a better idea of what this means, have a listen to a few sermons. Or we would be happy to connect you with one of our leaders or even a church member, so that you can ask them more about how this "gospel growth" plays out in the real life of our church.
Gospel Growth, in Utah? Yes! Among ordinary Christians here, you hear a theme repeated over and over again: "I've learned so much about the gospel since coming to Utah." Utah of course is characterized by one dominant religion, and it has a culture strongly shaped by that religion. To many newcomers, it feels like a foreign culture. But being exposed to that religion and culture has the surprising effect of encouraging Christians to understand and live out the gospel more clearly. But it can also lead to compromise. This makes being part of a gospel-centered church even more important.
Consider Joining Us in Our Mission. Our mission is to develop disciples to be stewards of the gospel and we do this as a body of believers pursuing gospel-centered mission. We pray that God would increase and mature His church in Utah through the ministry of healthy local churches. Should God bring you to Utah, we hope you would consider joining us in this great work, to bring the gospel to this people.
If you would like to do some reading on outreach to the Mormon and Utah culture, we can recommend these two books (links to Amazon.com):
I Love Mormons, by David Rowe
The Mormon Scrapbook, by Daniel Thompson
How can we pray for you, in your relocation? Just let us know, at (801) 943-0091 or at evfreeoffice@slcevfree.org.