STATEMENT OF BELIEF
THE BIBLE
The Bible was written by men under inspiration from God. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error in its original languages, for its matter. It is the source of God’s divine revelation and is the final authority for our belief and practice. We communicate the Bible with consideration for its intended audience, literary genres, and eternal context.
GOD’S NATURE (THE TRINITY)
There is only one living and true God. God is the completely holy and sovereign creator and sustainer of the universe. He exists in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All three persons are co-equal and co-eternal but are distinct from one another. To Him, we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience.
GOD THE FATHER
God as Father reigns with care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of history according to His purposes. He is all-powerful, all- knowing, all-loving, and all-wise. God is Father to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
JESUS CHRIST THE SON
Jesus Christ is the Son of God and has existed eternally as God. He chose to take on flesh and be born of the virgin Mary. He is both fully God and fully man forever forward. Jesus lived a perfect life and died as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. He rose bodily from the grave in victory over death, sin, and Satan. Jesus will one day return to earth.
THE HOLY SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. He inspired the writing of the Bible. He empowers believers to live the life God has called us to, illuminates the Word of God, and convicts people of sin. The Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts to believers to be used to serve others.
HUMANITY
God created humans in His image. Out of all of creation, we are set apart as God’s image-bearers, which gives all people inherent worth and special responsibility. Being made in His image, we can have a relationship with God founded on love and worship, unlike any other created thing.
MARRIAGE AND PARENTING
Marriage is a covenantal relationship that is between a man and a woman and provides the foundation for a family. Sex is a gift from God to be practiced only in biblically aligned marriages. Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing from the Lord. Parents are expected by God to be the primary authorities and teachers of their children. Through consistent lifestyle examples and loving discipline, they are to raise their children in biblical truth to know God’s love and care. Children are to honor and obey their parents.
MEN AND WOMEN
The Bible celebrates the highest form of gender value displayed by God’s special creation of males and females, both of which are made in His image. Gender biologically and spiritually defines and determines who God designs each of us to be. Men and women share equal ability, capacity, and potential, and simultaneously are entrusted and held accountable for unique responsibilities by God.
THE ROLES OF MEN, WOMEN, AND GOVERNANCE IN THE CHURCH
In the church, the pinnacle positions of earthly authority and responsibility are called Pastor (ποιμήν - Poimen), Overseer or Bishop (ἐπίσκοπος - Episkopos), and Elder (πρεσβύτερος – Presbuteros). They represent a singular position reserved exclusively for a man or men who are accountable to God for their leadership in the spiritual, communal, organizational, and institutional well-being of the church. The role of the Lead Pastor is a continuation of the first positions of biblical leadership over God’s people. Additional pastors, leaders, staff, and volunteers are appointed by the Lead Pastor or his designees to assist and expand the church’s ministry, guided by the principles of the Bible. God expects the church to follow and encourage the Lead Pastor and leaders, without division, as this is abhorrent to the Lord. While women are not called to pastoral positions, the Bible teaches that women are gifted to lead and teach in the church.
SIN
Due to the disobedience of Adam and Eve, sin entered and corrupted the world. The effects of sin impact all creation, including us. Sin separates us from God and from who God has designed us to be. Due to our sin, we stand guilty before God, deserve the punishment of eternal separation from Him, and are incapable of having a relationship with Him without His intervention.
SALVATION
God, according to His grace, offers salvation and forgiveness of sin to us as a gift that is obtained through faith in the work of Jesus through His sacrificial death and resurrection. Those who receive Jesus as Lord and Savior are born again. Upon salvation, the Holy Spirit brings us from spiritual death to spiritual life. The Holy Spirit transforms and enables us to live like Jesus.
HEAVEN AND HELL
Humans have been designed to exist forever. Those who are saved by Jesus will spend eternity in the new heaven and new earth in new life under the rule and reign of Jesus, forever. Those who reject Jesus will experience the wrath of God and spend eternity separated from God. Five terms from Hebrew and Greek are translated into Hell and potentially describe a singular or differing places: (שְׁאוֹל – Sheol), (ᾍδης - Hades), (Γέεννα - Gehenna) (Τάρταρος - Tartarus), and (λίμνη τοῦ πυρός – Lake of Fire). The Bible designates Hell as the place of eternal death, and scholars are split between eternal, temporary, and annihilistic suffering.
THE CHURCH
The Church is the global community of believers, united as the body of Jesus Christ. A church is a localized group of baptized believers committed to one another and the mission of God. The church gathers weekly to learn, serve, practice communion and baptism, and to function as a family and team. God expects all Christians to be loyal and unified with one local church where they commit themselves to the expansion of the church’s ministry through regular service and giving.
SPIRITUAL GIFTS
The people of God are empowered to serve the church through gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit. While some gifts appear to have been nearly exclusive to former times, such as in the Old Testament and the early church, they may still be enabled by God to an extremely limited extent today. Spiritual gifts cannot be measured but can be observed through the efforts of Christians to share God’s love, and through service in the church.
COMMUNION
Communion is taken in remembrance of the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, symbolically representing His body and blood. Communion is reserved for Christians who are in good relational standing with the church.
BAPTISM
Baptism is an act of obedience, symbolizing a believer’s receiving of Jesus Christ as Lord and savior. Immersion in water is the Bible’s preferred method of baptism and represents death to a sinful life apart from Jesus and the raising from death into new life that is committed to Lordship under Jesus.
CREATION AND ESCHATOLOGY (THE BEGINNING AND END TIMES)
Theological positions on the age of the earth and the end times are tertiary issues that cannot prevent Christians from fellowshipping together. There are valid biblical arguments and observations for Young Earth, Old Earth, and the Gap Theory. There are also valid Preterist, Historicist, Futurist, and Idealist eschatological arguments.
HERETICAL TEACHINGS & LIES WE STAND AGAINST
The Prosperity Gospel is a heretical teaching that proclaims God's desire for all Christians to be healthy and wealthy. This contradicts the promise of Jesus Christ that believers will experience hardships in this life, especially for following Him. God is not against wealth and prosperity, but these things are not promised.
Word of Faith is a heretical teaching that declares all who have faith in God can name and claim God’s blessings, rewards, and healing. Those who fail to manifest blessings, rewards, or healing through spoken words are wrongly told they are cursed for lacking faith, or because they have sin in their lives. Jesus Christ guarantees blessings, rewards, and healing in Heaven, not on Earth.
The New Apostolic Reformation is a heretical movement in which false teachers label themselves as holding the extinct roles of apostles and prophets. They do this to claim authority and power they do not have, even to the extent of changing the Bible.
Little "gods" Theology is a false teaching that follows deification, the belief that because humans are made in God's image, we are also gods. This heresy wrongly declares that God created humans because he needs us to be known and seen in the world.
Abuse of spiritual gifts occurs when an individual, individuals, or a church claims authority over the usage of spiritual gifts such as prophecy, miracles, signs, healing, tongues, and deliverance. These gifts were given to the apostles and early Christians for the establishment of the church. Global prophecy was completed in God’s word. Miracles, signs, and healing are God’s work, not human work. Tongues miraculously enable unknown earthly languages to be spoken for evangelistic purposes. Deliverance takes place but cannot be purchased and is not for the purpose of public displays of sensationalism.
The Bible was written by men under inspiration from God. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error in its original languages, for its matter. It is the source of God’s divine revelation and is the final authority for our belief and practice. We communicate the Bible with consideration for its intended audience, literary genres, and eternal context.
GOD’S NATURE (THE TRINITY)
There is only one living and true God. God is the completely holy and sovereign creator and sustainer of the universe. He exists in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All three persons are co-equal and co-eternal but are distinct from one another. To Him, we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience.
GOD THE FATHER
God as Father reigns with care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of history according to His purposes. He is all-powerful, all- knowing, all-loving, and all-wise. God is Father to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
JESUS CHRIST THE SON
Jesus Christ is the Son of God and has existed eternally as God. He chose to take on flesh and be born of the virgin Mary. He is both fully God and fully man forever forward. Jesus lived a perfect life and died as a sacrifice for the sins of the world. He rose bodily from the grave in victory over death, sin, and Satan. Jesus will one day return to earth.
THE HOLY SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. He inspired the writing of the Bible. He empowers believers to live the life God has called us to, illuminates the Word of God, and convicts people of sin. The Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts to believers to be used to serve others.
HUMANITY
God created humans in His image. Out of all of creation, we are set apart as God’s image-bearers, which gives all people inherent worth and special responsibility. Being made in His image, we can have a relationship with God founded on love and worship, unlike any other created thing.
MARRIAGE AND PARENTING
Marriage is a covenantal relationship that is between a man and a woman and provides the foundation for a family. Sex is a gift from God to be practiced only in biblically aligned marriages. Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing from the Lord. Parents are expected by God to be the primary authorities and teachers of their children. Through consistent lifestyle examples and loving discipline, they are to raise their children in biblical truth to know God’s love and care. Children are to honor and obey their parents.
MEN AND WOMEN
The Bible celebrates the highest form of gender value displayed by God’s special creation of males and females, both of which are made in His image. Gender biologically and spiritually defines and determines who God designs each of us to be. Men and women share equal ability, capacity, and potential, and simultaneously are entrusted and held accountable for unique responsibilities by God.
THE ROLES OF MEN, WOMEN, AND GOVERNANCE IN THE CHURCH
In the church, the pinnacle positions of earthly authority and responsibility are called Pastor (ποιμήν - Poimen), Overseer or Bishop (ἐπίσκοπος - Episkopos), and Elder (πρεσβύτερος – Presbuteros). They represent a singular position reserved exclusively for a man or men who are accountable to God for their leadership in the spiritual, communal, organizational, and institutional well-being of the church. The role of the Lead Pastor is a continuation of the first positions of biblical leadership over God’s people. Additional pastors, leaders, staff, and volunteers are appointed by the Lead Pastor or his designees to assist and expand the church’s ministry, guided by the principles of the Bible. God expects the church to follow and encourage the Lead Pastor and leaders, without division, as this is abhorrent to the Lord. While women are not called to pastoral positions, the Bible teaches that women are gifted to lead and teach in the church.
SIN
Due to the disobedience of Adam and Eve, sin entered and corrupted the world. The effects of sin impact all creation, including us. Sin separates us from God and from who God has designed us to be. Due to our sin, we stand guilty before God, deserve the punishment of eternal separation from Him, and are incapable of having a relationship with Him without His intervention.
SALVATION
God, according to His grace, offers salvation and forgiveness of sin to us as a gift that is obtained through faith in the work of Jesus through His sacrificial death and resurrection. Those who receive Jesus as Lord and Savior are born again. Upon salvation, the Holy Spirit brings us from spiritual death to spiritual life. The Holy Spirit transforms and enables us to live like Jesus.
HEAVEN AND HELL
Humans have been designed to exist forever. Those who are saved by Jesus will spend eternity in the new heaven and new earth in new life under the rule and reign of Jesus, forever. Those who reject Jesus will experience the wrath of God and spend eternity separated from God. Five terms from Hebrew and Greek are translated into Hell and potentially describe a singular or differing places: (שְׁאוֹל – Sheol), (ᾍδης - Hades), (Γέεννα - Gehenna) (Τάρταρος - Tartarus), and (λίμνη τοῦ πυρός – Lake of Fire). The Bible designates Hell as the place of eternal death, and scholars are split between eternal, temporary, and annihilistic suffering.
THE CHURCH
The Church is the global community of believers, united as the body of Jesus Christ. A church is a localized group of baptized believers committed to one another and the mission of God. The church gathers weekly to learn, serve, practice communion and baptism, and to function as a family and team. God expects all Christians to be loyal and unified with one local church where they commit themselves to the expansion of the church’s ministry through regular service and giving.
SPIRITUAL GIFTS
The people of God are empowered to serve the church through gifts given to us by the Holy Spirit. While some gifts appear to have been nearly exclusive to former times, such as in the Old Testament and the early church, they may still be enabled by God to an extremely limited extent today. Spiritual gifts cannot be measured but can be observed through the efforts of Christians to share God’s love, and through service in the church.
COMMUNION
Communion is taken in remembrance of the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, symbolically representing His body and blood. Communion is reserved for Christians who are in good relational standing with the church.
BAPTISM
Baptism is an act of obedience, symbolizing a believer’s receiving of Jesus Christ as Lord and savior. Immersion in water is the Bible’s preferred method of baptism and represents death to a sinful life apart from Jesus and the raising from death into new life that is committed to Lordship under Jesus.
CREATION AND ESCHATOLOGY (THE BEGINNING AND END TIMES)
Theological positions on the age of the earth and the end times are tertiary issues that cannot prevent Christians from fellowshipping together. There are valid biblical arguments and observations for Young Earth, Old Earth, and the Gap Theory. There are also valid Preterist, Historicist, Futurist, and Idealist eschatological arguments.
HERETICAL TEACHINGS & LIES WE STAND AGAINST
The Prosperity Gospel is a heretical teaching that proclaims God's desire for all Christians to be healthy and wealthy. This contradicts the promise of Jesus Christ that believers will experience hardships in this life, especially for following Him. God is not against wealth and prosperity, but these things are not promised.
Word of Faith is a heretical teaching that declares all who have faith in God can name and claim God’s blessings, rewards, and healing. Those who fail to manifest blessings, rewards, or healing through spoken words are wrongly told they are cursed for lacking faith, or because they have sin in their lives. Jesus Christ guarantees blessings, rewards, and healing in Heaven, not on Earth.
The New Apostolic Reformation is a heretical movement in which false teachers label themselves as holding the extinct roles of apostles and prophets. They do this to claim authority and power they do not have, even to the extent of changing the Bible.
Little "gods" Theology is a false teaching that follows deification, the belief that because humans are made in God's image, we are also gods. This heresy wrongly declares that God created humans because he needs us to be known and seen in the world.
Abuse of spiritual gifts occurs when an individual, individuals, or a church claims authority over the usage of spiritual gifts such as prophecy, miracles, signs, healing, tongues, and deliverance. These gifts were given to the apostles and early Christians for the establishment of the church. Global prophecy was completed in God’s word. Miracles, signs, and healing are God’s work, not human work. Tongues miraculously enable unknown earthly languages to be spoken for evangelistic purposes. Deliverance takes place but cannot be purchased and is not for the purpose of public displays of sensationalism.