Our Beliefs & Our Way of Life

He is the One True God eternally existing as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The three are coequal and are one God.

Gen 1:1-2, 26, 27, 3:22; John 1:1-4; 10:30; 17; Psa 90:2; Matthew 28:19; 2 Cor 13:14

We believe in God the Father, coequal with the Son and the Spirit. He is perfectly holy, righteous, good and just all the time, and at the same time, He is compassionate, full of mercy and grace, slow to anger and abounding in love. Because of Who He is, He pursues His wayward children, He sees them, cares about them, hears their prayers and has plans to rescue them from sin and death through His Son, Jesus Christ. 

Gen 1:1; Eph 3:14-15; Exo 33:6-7; 1 Cor 8:4, 6; Matt 6:26-33; Rom 1:7, 5:1, 8:1-4; 1 Peter 1:3. 

He is coequal with the Father and Holy Spirit. He is God who became man to be with us, show us the Father and reconcile us to God. He lived a sinless and exemplary life, died on the cross in our place, and rose again to prove His victory over sin and death and to empower us to live as He did and experience the abundant “With-God-Life” God always intended for us.  After His resurrection, He ascended to the right hand of the Father in Heaven and will return again someday to earth to put all things right and to rule and reign as King of all forever.

Matt 1:22-23; Isa 9:6; John 1:1-5; Heb 4:14-15; 1 Cor 15:3-4; Rom 1:3-4; Acts 1:9-11; Col 1:15-20, 2:9-10; 1 Tim 6:14-15

The Holy Spirit is coequal with the Father and the Son. He is present in the world to make people aware of their need for Jesus Christ. He provides Christians with power for living, understanding of spiritual truth, and guidance in doing what is right. He gives every believer spiritual gifts to carry out Jesus’ mission and spiritual fruit to live it out as Jesus did. The Holy Spirit empowers us to be holy like our Father is holy, reminds us of what Jesus taught and how He lived, and opens opportunities for us to see where God is working so we can join Him. As Christians, we seek to live under His control daily.

Acts 1:8; John 14:16-17, 16:7-13; Gal 5:25; 1 Cor 2:12, 3:16; Eph 1:13; 2 Cor 13:14; 1 Peter 1:2

…written by human authors, under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is the supreme source of truth for Christian beliefs about God, humanity, reality and the best way of living. By it we come to know God, His plans and His ways and how to walk with Him in truth and grace and join Him in setting people FREE to follow Jesus. Because it is inspired by God, it is truth without error and without change. It is our anchor, our compass, our guide and authority in all matters of faith and living in a world where truth is viewed as relative and cultural norms are ever shifting. His Word transforms the way we think and live—we don’t get to change what God has said to conform to our way of thinking or support our way of living.

2 Tim 3:16-17; 2 Pet 1:20-21; Psa 119:105, 160, 12:6; Prov 30:5l Isa 55:10-11; Rom 12:2

People, both men and women and boys and girls, are made in the image of God, to be His beloved children, like Him in who they are and how they live. Although every person was made for a love relationship with God and has tremendous potential for good, all of us are marred by an attitude and a lifestyle of disobedience toward God called “sin.” Sin is walking in our own ways instead of with God in His ways. Sin always leads us away from God and His best life for us.  Without God’s forgiveness, sin leads to death and eternal separation from God. But God loved us too much to leave us in our fallen state.  From the beginning, God had a plan to reconcile His wayward children to Himself, but it would cost Him dearly.

Gen 1:27; Dt 10:14-15; Isa 53:6; Rom 3:23; Rom 6:23; Isa 59:1-2; Psa 139:13-16; Col 2:13-15

It is God’s free gift to those who put their trust in Jesus.  We can never make up for our sin by self-improvement or good works. Only by trusting in Jesus Christ as God’s offer of forgiveness through His death and resurrection can anyone be saved from sin’s penalty. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life and no one comes to the Father apart from Him. When we turn from our self-ruled life and turn to Jesus  in faith we are saved. Eternal life begins the moment we entrust our lives to Jesus, receive Him as our Savior and King, and follow His lead in life.

Rom 6:23; Eph 2:1-9; John 14:6l Rom 5:1, 5:8, 10:9-10

People were created to exist forever. We will either exist eternally separated from God by sin or eternally with God through forgiveness and salvation. To be eternally separated from God is hell. To be eternally in union with Him is eternal life in Heaven. Heaven and hell are real places of eternal existence.

John 3:16, 14:17; Rom 6:23; Rev 20:15; Phil 2:5-11; Matt 25:31-34, 41

…made up of sons and daughters from every nation, tribe, people and language reconciled to God  and to one another through His Son Jesus.  The Church belongs to Jesus and is led by Jesus through His indwelling Holy Spirit to live the Great Commandment and to carry out His Great Commission for God’s glory and for the blessing and salvation of the nations. We are also the Body of Christ with Jesus as the head and all of us working together in unity for His purposes and by the oneness and love we have for one another by His Spirit will be the greatest witness to the unbelieving world that Jesus is the real deal.

Matt 16:18; Rev 7:9-12; Mark 12:28-31; Matt 28:18-20; I Cor 12:12-27; John 13:34-36; John 17

Once we have accepted Jesus as our Savior and King, baptism is a way for us to publicly declare that we have left our old life of self-rule behind and that we are stepping into our new life in Christ. It is also a first step of obedience as a disciple of Jesus, being baptized into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit as Jesus spelled out in the Great Commission.

Matt 3:16-17, 28:18-20; Acts 2:41, 8:12; Rom 6:4; Col 2:12

The Lord’s Supper is instituted by Jesus Himself exclusively for His gathered followers, called the Church. As we break and eat the bread, we remember His body broken for us and as we share the cup, we remember His blood shed for the forgiveness of our sins.  When we participate in the Lord’s Supper as His Family, we are proclaiming His death until He comes again.

Matt 26; Luke 22; Mark 14; 1 Cor 11:23-26

Jesus said, “The Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’” Marriage is to be an exclusive relationship, a lifelong faithful union between a man and a woman and the only appropriate place for sexual expression and connection. This relationship between a husband and wife should parallel the relationship between Christ and the Church and bear witness to God’s great love for us. God’s boundaries apply to all of us: in heterosexual marriage, faithfulness; in singleness, abstinence; in everything, purity. These constitute the Christian standard. When we fall short, we are invited to repent, receive the forgiveness of God, and walk in the way He has marked out for us. In light of all that the Bible teaches, the growing cultural acceptance of homosexual identity and behavior (male and female), same-sex marriage, and efforts to change one’s biological sexual identity are all symptomatic of a fallen and broken world at odds with God and the abundant life He desires for the human beings He made.

Gen 1:27-28, 31; 2:18-25; Mat 19:4-6; Eph 5:23-30; Rom 12:1; I Cor 6:18-20; Gal 5:16-25; Dt 10:12-13

Leaders root their identity, their thinking and living in Christ through hearing what He says in His Word and putting it into practice in their lives by the power of the Holy Spirit. They have a growing personal relationship with God, are walking with brothers and sisters in mutual accountability and are reaching out to lost and broken people with the love and Good News of Jesus. Leaders are first and foremost followers of Jesus and lead best only when they can say with integrity, “Follow my example as I follow Christ.”  Our church considers all staff and volunteers to be leaders who represent Christ and His Church.  Every staff member and volunteer is responsible for teaching the church’s established mission, beliefs, and way of life to those we serve, whether that teaching comes through specific instruction or by way of example. In light of this, all of our staff and volunteers, while not perfect, are held to a higher standard.

Dt 10:12-13; Matt 7:16-27; 4:19;  John 8:31-32;10:27; Lk 9:23-24, 12:41-48; 1 Tim 3:1-13; 1 Cor 11:1