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We’re committed to being a healthy church body, as defined by the Bible. The following list of health qualities is not exhaustive, and we don’t believe there’s only one way to express these. But the following represents our core convictions about what it means for us to be a healthy church.
There are no Scriptures references in this section as we believe this is the comprehensive teaching of the Bible and not limited to a few passages. If you have any questions about our doctrine, please ask one of our Elders.
The foundation and focus of all church life is the good news of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection and the newness of life that comes through him alone.
The Bible is God’s authoritative, powerful, life-transforming word to humanity. Its focal point is the good news of Jesus. In our Sunday gatherings, we typically preach through books of the Bible, always proclaiming Jesus.
Christian worship is born out of grateful response to God’s undeserved kindness to us through the work of Jesus. Worship is both a corporate act that reminds believers of what God has done and also an individual act that seeks to glorify God in every aspect of life.
Every believer in Jesus is unified in one “body”—the church—and each has a Spirit-given gift to develop other disciples and glorify God by building the body. Because we belong to one body, we call everyone to be builders, not bystanders.
As human bodies are powerless without food to fuel them, we are powerless to faithfully follow Jesus apart from the empowerment of his Spirit. Because of this, we live in prayerful dependence.
We follow the way of Jesus, who came not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many. Motivated by gratitude for the gospel, we gladly give our time, money, and effort to the things God cares about. The result is a life of generously serving others.
The good news and life-saving power of Jesus spreads and makes new disciples not merely through inviting people to “church.” It happens when followers of Jesus have compassion for those who don’t know him yet and a passion to make him known, and therefore boldly take opportunities to share the gospel in word.
Love is the heartfelt commitment to another person’s good and is the preeminent mark of Christlikeness. Therefore we want our individual lives and our church community to embody genuine love and affection for God and one another.
We believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the written words of God, and the ultimate authority for faith and practice both inside and outside the Church. These Scriptures, called the Bible, are absolutely trustworthy, verbally inspired, and inerrant in the original autographs. By the guidance of the Holy Spirit the Bible was written by many individuals, in many different styles, to many different cultures. It is humanity’s goal to understand what the Bible says and to humbly submit to it. The Bible should not be added to or detracted from. Ultimately, the Bible tells one story of God’s redemption of humanity through the work of Jesus Christ.
We believe in one living and true God who eternally exists in three persons - God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Each person of the Godhead is equal in power and glory, and they share the same attributes. Within the relationships of the Godhead there is perfect love, justice and self-sufficiency.
—FATHER | We believe God the Father is the creator of the world, everything visible and invisible, and is full of glory. He created everything out of nothing. God judges the world in righteousness and truth, and concerns Himself perfectly in the affairs of humanity. God’s fatherhood involves both His relationship in the Godhead and his relationship with the redeemed. God the Father is sovereignly in control over everything happening at all times in all places. He knows perfectly the past, the present, and the future, and does all things in accordance with His will.
—SON | We believe God the Son is the Lord Jesus Christ, known and revealed through the Bible. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, and lived a human life. Jesus never ceased to be God, but took upon himself a full human nature and existence to live as a man without sin. He did this so that He could be the perfect example to everyone, to die for the sins of all people as our substitute, and to conquer sin, death, and Satan himself. The Lord Jesus was raised bodily from the dead, then ascended into Heaven where he is alive today sitting at the right hand of God. He is our high priest and prays for his people all the time. Jesus will return one day to judge the world, establish his kingdom, and make all things new.
—HOLY SPIRIT | We believe the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead. The Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He imparts new spiritual life to those who trust in Christ, baptizes them into the body of Christ—the Church—and forever seals them as God’s own possession. The Holy Spirit is personal, not a spiritual force, and is present in every believer, progressively conforming them to the likeness of Christ and empowering them to live a righteous life and to die to sin, as evidenced by the fruit of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit also gives spiritual gifts to every believer, for the building up of the Church.
We believe God created all people, male and female, with dignity, value, and worth. God created people in the image of God for His own glory, to exercise dominion over the earth and to care for His creation. All humanity is directly responsible to God in matters of life and faith. God’s will for humanity is that they love God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength, and that they love their neighbors as themselves.
We believe that although God created everything perfect and it was very good, humanity chose to substitute themselves for God and directly disobey His commands. Our spiritual and physical parents, Adam and Eve, represented humanity and sinned against God. As a result, the image of God in humanity was corrupted. Through Adam, all humanity inherited this corrupt sinful nature and has been alienated from God due to our own rebellion. So now humanity is born with a depraved nature and is prone to reject God. People are born separated from a relationship with God, are spiritually dead, and in a fallen state. Being sinners by nature and choice and utterly unable to remedy their lost condition, humanity is in need of salvation.
We believe that all people are dead in sin apart from God and need a Savior. This Savior is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ offers salvation as a free gift from God, received by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone and what he accomplished through his death and resurrection. All who repent and believe in Jesus Christ are forgiven of all their sins, justified in God’s sight by the merit of Christ’s righteousness, adopted into the family of God, sealed by the Holy Spirit, and have equal access to God. This is the gospel, the good news.
—SOTERIOLOGY | Furthermore, we believe that because humans are morally depraved and do not seek or want God, salvation is initiated by God. He does not wait for humanity to take the first step toward Him; He takes the first step towards us. God the Holy Spirit convicts people of their sin, effectually leading them to repent and trust in Christ. We respond to this with extreme gratefulness and worship.
We believe that when an individual responds to God in repentance and faith, God supernaturally places them into His family called the Church. The Church is composed of all persons who have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit since the day of Pentecost. The church is also defined as a local gathering of believers who gather under qualified leadership to worship Jesus, practice baptism, celebrate the Lord’s Supper, listen and respond to instruction from the Bible, and for people to serve and give testimony of what the Lord is doing in their lives. The church is not perfect, but rather is the visible gathering of believers who are to be involved in evangelism and discipleship for the glory of God and the good of the world.
—BAPTISM | We believe that all Christians should be baptized by immersion as a way to profess their faith in Christ and testify to the world about it.
—LORD’S SUPPER | We believe the New Testament formulated and defined the continual practice of celebrating the Lord’s Supper (communion) when the church gathers together to proclaim the death and resurrection of Jesus until He returns. Therefore, we will celebrate taking communion together every Sunday, as possible.
—GENEROSITY | We believe that God has created humanity to emulate Him, and He is the Giver of givers. Being new creations in Jesus Christ, and therefore part of the church, means that we are no longer living for ourselves; but for God. Everything we have belongs to Him. So we are to be generous with the gifts God has entrusted to us, whether it is our time, treasure, or talent. The church should be a generous community, and we expect Christians to be generous. We will regularly celebrate generosity as part of our weekly gatherings.
We believe that God’s people, the Church, are invited by God’s grace into His kingdom. God’s kingdom was inaugurated at Jesus Christ’s first coming, but is yet to be fully consummated at his second coming when He will establish His reign over His Kingdom forever. Until that day we will experience injustice and pain of all sorts in the world. But Jesus Christ will come again one day in glory - in bodily form - as the reigning King of Kings and establish a new heavens and a new earth in which the redeemed people of God will live in perfect sinless harmony and worship forever. All people will be resurrected and stand before Christ at his return to face His judgment. Unbelievers, by their own works, good or evil, will be resurrected to everlasting damnation. Christians, justified by the merit of Christ, will be resurrected to everlasting life. The day of Christ’s return is only known by God and cannot be guessed or figured out, and it can come suddenly at any time.
—HELL | We believe hell is a real place. It is a place of eternal judgment from God where the lost and demons and Satan will be tormented day and night forever because of their separation from God. We do not want anyone to enter hell. For that reason, the church will proclaim the grace of God to all people all the time and pray for lost people.
—ESCHATOLOGY | We believe the Bible does not provide a simple description of how and when Jesus Christ will return to earth. Believers holding to various eschatological views are welcome to be members of the church, provided they are not divisive on this issue.