EVOLUTION
As boats are steered by their captains, groups are steered by their leaders. After about a year and a half, the leadership found it very helpful to examine their own passions, strengths, and hopes for what the ministry might become, which they finally boiled down to a list of core values.

They established the first core value as the desire to “Create a Community of Belonging." Encounter should be a place where everyone is welcome and appreciated. Jesus describes us as all belonging to the body of Christ where each one is a vital part of the community. Encounter leadership wanted to create a familyof believers and an environment that was a safe place to grow into the men and women that God desires us to be.

The second core value was to “Make our Relationship with Christ Meaningful”. Encounter is meant to be a place where people become involved and are affected, challenged, and changed for life. From the new believer to the fourth generation Adventist, each would be drawn into a deeper relationship with God.

Once the core values were identified, the core purpose, or mission, of Encounter was re-defined. It was finally decided that the mission of Encounter was to “Disciple Young Adults,” which comes directly from the Great Commission: "Then Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, 'All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.' “(Matthew 28:18-20).

As the leaders looked at the newly defined core values and mission, they realized that to achieve the mission and support the core values, Encounter would need to be more than an hour and fifteen minute meeting on Sabbath mornings. It needed to be a way of life. Encounter's ultimate goal is to make a difference for God’s kingdom one life at a time.