What We Believe

WHAT WE BELIEVE- Creeds

The Apostles’ Creed is the foundational creed of Christian churches. It has received this title because of its great antiquity; most of the creed dates from the early 2nd century. The creed was used as a summary of Christian doctrine for baptismal candidates in the churches of Rome. Though many churches and flavors of Christianity throughout the ages have different interpretations of the Bible, and embrace various doctrinal nuances, the essence of what the Scriptures teach is found in the words of the Apostles’ Creed.

Therefore, we have fellowship with other members of the Body of Christ who profess their faith as follows:

We believe in God, the Father Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord: who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.  The third day He arose again from the dead.

He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, whence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy (universal) church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting.

-The Apostle’s Creed

And compiled more recently, we support the Evangelical Statement of Faith:

• We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.

• We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

• We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.

• We believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful people, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.

• We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.

• We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.

• We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.

WHAT WE BELIEVE- Core Convictions

No one theology can contain the enormity of this word. We find it best to articulate the overall narrative of what has taken place in times past and how God has created and responded in history.

The Gospel Narrative

1. CREATION: God and Humanity

God, in essence, is a community of persons (Triune) who have perfect delight because each glorifies and loves the others. Loving relationships are therefore the very essence of reality as there is an unselfish “others-orientation” in the being of God. God created us to share God’s glory and joy by living for God’s glory... just as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit glorifies one another. We were made to center our lives on God and to live in perfect shalom – peace and well-being – in the world God made. We were designed to defer to and serve one another and our environment rather than exploiting others and the material world.  Initially, this is what humanity enjoyed (Genesis 1-2).

2. FALL: Sin and our Alienation

But, as Genesis 3 recounts, peace and community broke down because of sin; Adam and Eve, our spiritual parents, believed they could live apart from God. Sin is centering your identity on anything but God – putting your heart’s deepest hope and trust, finding your greatest meaning, happiness, and significance in something besides God. This leads to one of two things:

a) Inner slavery because we are driven to achieve those things we must have in order to be happy. If we build our lives on human approval we are a slave to opinion. If we build our life on academic or economic or artistic achievement we are a slave to our career. We do not control ourselves – we are controlled by the Lord of our life. Everyone has a Lord.

b) Outward oppression and exclusion of “the other” because we must disdain those who do not have the same identity-factors as we have. If you build your identity on being very hard working or moral you must disdain those who are lazy or immoral. If you build your identity on your social class or national identity you must disdain those of different classes or races. Ultimately, sin leads to a complete lack of peace, a total breakdown in the world and in our lives. We experience spiritual alienation from God (Romans 6:23), psychological alienation within ourselves, social alienation from other classes, races and people, and physical alienation (from the natural environment) as well.

3. REDEMPTION: Christ and our Atonement

When we have been wronged we respond in one of two ways: a) pay the perpetrator back and make him/her suffer, or b) we can refrain from any vengeance at all which means that then we suffer. Either we make the other person pay or we absorb the debt within ourselves. But true forgiveness – though it only happens through great difficulty – is the only way to escape the endless cycle of evil and retaliation. We terribly, cosmically wronged God when we turned from God and ruined his creation, while we simultaneously depend upon God for our very existence. How can God forgive us? If human beings with their flawed sense of justice can’t “just forgive” except through great suffering and debt absorption – how much less can God do so? To forgive us, God had to suffer and absorb the debt for our sins. He did this by entering into the world in Jesus Christ (John 1:14) and dying for our sins (Romans 5:1). On the cross we see visibly and cosmically God doing what we all must do, on an infinitely smaller scale, when someone wrongs us.

4. RESTORATION: Faith and the Kingdom

Receiving God’s salvation is not just to live a better life or to join a movement. It is not only to turn from your doing-wrong but also from the old motivation for doing-right. By building your identity on other things besides God (even on morality/goodness and religion) you were seeking to be your own Savior. That is what led to the inward slavery and social exclusion. You must repent for seeking to be your own Savior, either by being religious or irreligious – either by being moral or immoral. You must ask God to accept you not because of your efforts, but because of Jesus’ work and sacrifice on your behalf. It is by grace alone that you are accepted and adopted into God’s family (John 1:12.), and by this grace you receive a new identity based on Christ Spirit dwelling in you.

By believing the Gospel, you are brought into a new community (1 Corinthians 12:13). In the church, gospel-changed Christians now slowly become freed from the inner slavery and the social exclusion that marked their lives before. The church is where Christians with transformed identities begin to live out (partially but significantly) the changed economic, social, racial, and family relationships that will mark the future kingdom of God, when Christ comes to completely heal all the alienation in the world and renew the whole earth. The church becomes ‘the sign of the kingdom for a broken world.

WHAT WE BELIEVE: What is Salvation?

Perhaps you have been around the church for a period of time and are still asking “Am I a Christian?” “How do I become a Christian?” “How do I know if I am a Christian?” The good news is that Christianity is not about doing/accomplishing anything to earn God’s favor. Becoming a Christian is a matter of trusting (faith) and believing that Jesus has done something on your behalf. We believe the Gospel (“good news”) of Jesus Christ, our Messiah, is the only hope for humankind. The message of the Gospel is that Christ has done what is necessary to bring us into relationship with God. We believe that the Gospel speaks to the whole person, and can transform anyone anywhere, bringing the healing and restoration needed to advance God’s Kingdom of Heaven on earth.

WHAT WE BELIEVE: What does it mean to be a Christian?

1. Acknowledging and confessing to God that you are a sinful human, in need of God’s grace, deserving of eternal punishment.

• Romans 3:23: For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God...

• Romans 6:23a: For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ

Jesus our Lord.

2. Accept and believe that Jesus paid the penalty for your sin by His death on the cross.

• Ephesians 2:8-9: For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is a gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast.

3. Willing to surrender your life to God by receiving Jesus as both savior and lord over your life.

• Mark 1:15: The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.

• Revelation 3:20: Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me.

WHAT WE BELIEVE: Evidence of Being a Christian

1. A life free from scandalous sin (1 Cor. 6:9-11, 1 John 2:1-6)

2. A life committed to growing in Christ

a. Personal worship

b. Committed fellowship

c. Ongoing equipping

d. Regular partaking of the Lord’s Table

e. Commitment to protect the peace and purity of the Church

3. Community with other Christians (Pursuing relationships, resolving conflict, refusing gossip –see Matthew 5:23-24, 18:15, Proverbs 15:30, 17:9)

4. Displaying Spiritual Fruit (Galatians 5:22ff.)