Our Beliefs

Our Mission: “To Know Him, to Love Him, to Share Him”

This mission flows out of our core beliefs about God and people; beliefs that fall into two broad categories: “essentials” and “non-essentials”.

The essentials:

  • Men and women are separated from God as a direct result of behavior that is harmful to ourselves and others
  • Jesus’ death on the cross pays the price for our behavior
  • Everyone can have access to the forgiveness of God through Jesus
  • We receive God’s forgiveness by acknowledging our harmful past behavior, by affirming our desire to get connected to Jesus, and by pledging ourselves to God through a deeply spiritual act of faith: baptism by immersion

The non-essentials:

  • The variety of distinctive doctrines and practices that different groups of Jesus-followers have adopted over the years
  • Areas where sincere Christians can “agree to disagree” because of our common faith in Jesus as the only way to God

Read on to see how we understand the essential and unchanging truths of the Christian faith.

God
God is the creator and ruler of the universe. He has existed – since before time began – in three personalities: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. These three are one God.

Jesus
Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and is co-eternal and co-equal with the Father. He lived a sinless (perfect) human life and offered himself as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all people by dying on the cross. He physically rose from the dead to demonstrate his power over sin and death. He returned to heaven and will come back to earth someday to take his people to heaven forever.

The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is co-eternal and co-equal with the Father and the Son. He is present in the world to help lead us to Jesus. He lives within every Christian from the moment of our salvation (when we express our faith and accept God’s forgiveness). The Spirit provides every follower of Jesus with power for living, understanding of spiritual truth, guidance to do what is right, and the power to faithfully represent Jesus in the world.

The Bible
The Bible is God’s Word to reveal himself to us. Human authors wrote it under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit. God himself breathed his Word into existence, so it is the truth and is without any fault or error. This timeless book is the ultimate source of truth for Christian beliefs and Christian life.

People
People are made in the spiritual image of God, to be like him in character. Although every person has the potential for good, all of us are scarred by an attitude of disobedience toward God called “sin”. Sin is a condition that separates us from God and causes us to engage in behavior that is harmful to ourselves and to others.

Eternity
God created men and women to live forever. We either will be eternally separated from God (as a result of our sinful behavior) or we will live eternally with God (as a result of receiving his forgiveness and gift of salvation). To be eternally separated from God is hell; to be eternally with God is heaven. Heaven & hell are real places of eternal existence.

Salvation
There is nothing we can do to save ourselves from the consequences of our own sinful behavior. Salvation – the forgiveness of sins – is received as a gift, through faith. This gift from God is made possible by the loving sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

People receive this gift by putting their faith in Jesus, repenting of their sin, acknowledging Jesus as their Lord & Savior, and being baptized (immersed in water). Baptism demonstrates our response to God’s offer of salvation. It is an act of faith that unites us with Jesus in his death, burial and resurrection. As we submit to baptism, God provides us with the forgiveness of our sins, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and eternal life.