What We Believe
When it comes to beliefs, there is only so much that can be said on a web page. Below, we have done our best to summarize the bedrock essential beliefs on which we stand, but want every person who visits this site to know we think theology and beliefs are best communicated not through a soundbite on a website, but through the context of conversation. As such, we invite you into the conversation. Hopefully, what we share below will be the launching point into a dialogue and that as a result of the conversation, we all will grow as followers of Jesus.
In essential beliefs, we have UNITY.
In non-essential beliefs, we have LIBERTY.
In all our beliefs, we show CHARITY.
Jesus
Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ, He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself the demands and necessities of human nature and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His death on the cross He made provision for the redemption of men from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, partaking of the nature of God and of man, and in whose Person is effected the reconciliation between God and man. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission. He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever present Lord.
SCRIPTURES
The Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is the record of God’s revelation of God’s self to humankind. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction and is the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. The criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted is Jesus Christ.
GOD
There is one, and only one, living and true God. God is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and Ruler of the universe.
The eternal God is revealed to humankind as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being
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God the Father
God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace. God the Father is all powerful, all loving, and all wise. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
God the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. The Spirit inspired men to write the Scriptures and, through illumination the Spirit, enables men to understand truth. The Holy Spirit exalts Christ, convicts of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. The Holy Spirit calls men to the Savior, cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts” by which they serve God through the church.
HUMANKIND
Humankind was created by the special act of God, in God’s own image, and is the crowning work of God’s creation. In the beginning humans were innocent of sin and were endowed by the Creator with freedom of choice. By free choice humans sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Only the grace of God can bring humanity back into right relationship with God which will enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God. The sacredness of human persons is evident in that God created man in God’s own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore every person possesses dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.
SALVATION
Salvation involves the redemption of the whole person, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer.
THE CHURCH
A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a local body of baptized believers who are associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel, observing the two ordinances of Christ, committed to His teachings, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth.This church is an autonomous body, operating through democratic processes under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. In such a congregation, members are equally responsible.
The New Testament speaks also of the church as the body of Christ which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages.
LAST THINGS
God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end. According to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge all men in righteousness.
EVANGELISM AND MISSIONS
It is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and of every church of the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples of all nations. The new birth of a persons’ spirit by Gods Holy Spirit means the birth of love for others. Missionary effort on the part of all rests thus upon a spiritual necessity of the regenerate life, and is expressly and repeatedly commanded in the teachings of Christ. It is the duty of every child of God to seek constantly to reach the lost for Christ by personal effort and by all other methods in harmony with the gospel of Christ.