Mankind

What We Believe About Mankind

People are not interruptions to God’s mission.

People are the mission.

To love people well and share the gospel faithfully, we must understand what Scripture says about humanity: our dignity, our brokenness, and our need for rescue.

Humanity is created in the image of God

Every human being is created by God and bears His image.

From the beginning, God made mankind in His likeness, creating them male and female as the crowning work of creation (Genesis 1:26–27). This means every person reflects something of God’s design, creativity, and worth.

Because humans are image-bearers, every life carries inherent dignity. Worth is not earned by behavior, belief, productivity, or morality. It is given by the Creator.

Scripture reinforces this truth. God crowns humanity with glory and honor, placing value on human life that flows directly from Him (Psalm 8:4–5). Even our words matter, because when we speak against people, we speak against those made in God’s likeness (James 3:9–10).

This changes how we see others. No group, background, struggle, or label removes the image of God from a person. Respect and compassion are not optional. They are required.

Scripture anchors this: Genesis 1:26–27; Psalm 8:4–5; James 3:9–10.

Humanity is fallen and broken by sin

While humanity is created with dignity, humanity is also broken.

Scripture is clear that sin entered the world through Adam and has since been passed down to every person. All have sinned and fall short of God’s glorious standard (Romans 3:23). Because of sin, people are spiritually dead apart from Christ and naturally inclined toward self-rule rather than God’s rule (Ephesians 2:1–3).

Sin does not erase God’s image, but it fractures how that image is reflected. Humanity remains valuable, but deeply broken. This brokenness explains why the world is marked by pain, division, injustice, and suffering.

A helpful picture of this is kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with lacquer mixed with gold. The cracks aren’t erased. They are highlighted, showing that what was broken has been restored. Sin fractures what God intended, but grace doesn’t just patch us up; it makes us new, and our restoration becomes a testimony of the Redeemer.

Recognizing human brokenness changes how we respond to others. Rejection, hostility, and resistance are not personal attacks; they are symptoms of a deeper spiritual wound. Compassion grows when we remember that we were once broken too.

Scripture anchors this: Romans 3:23; Ephesians 2:1–3; Isaiah 53:6.

Every person is someone Christ died to save

God’s response to human brokenness is grace.

Jesus Christ comes on a rescue mission, offering salvation to the world. God loves the world in this way: He gives His one and only Son so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16–17).

Christ’s atoning work is sufficient for all and offered to all. Scripture teaches that Jesus comes to seek and save the lost—not a select few, but anyone who will respond in faith (Luke 19:10). God is patient, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance

(2 Peter 3:9).

This truth shapes our posture toward people. No one is outside the reach of grace. No one is too far gone. Every person we encounter is someone Jesus willingly died for.

Scripture anchors this: John 3:16–17; Luke 19:10; 2 Peter 3:9 (CSB).

Truth bomb

Everyone you lock eyes with matters deeply to God.

Shoe-leather application

If people matter to God, they must matter in how we speak, invite, and respond.