We believe God inspired the authors of Scripture by His Spirit to speak to all generations of believers, including us today. God calls us to immerse ourselves in His story as a community and individually to faithfully interpret and live out that story today as we are led by the Spirit of God.
We believe that there is one God who is the loving Creator of all that exists, both seen and unseen. God is eternal and completely good, knowing all things, having all power and majesty. We believe God exists eternally in perfect co-equal relationship as three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
We believe that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary and mysteriously and wonderfully is God in the flesh. He is the perfect reflection of God’s heart, character, beauty and love for people. Jesus came to preach good news to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted and set captives free, proclaiming a new arrival of the kingdom of God, and restoring our fractured world. He and His message were rejected by many yet His path of suffering, crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection has brought hope to all creation. Jesus is our only hope for bringing peace and reconciliation between God and humans. Through Jesus we have been forgiven and brought into right relationship with God. God is now reconciling us to each other, ourselves, and creation and one day will return to bring an end to injustice as He restores all things to God’s original intent.
We believe that the Holy Spirit, sent from God to live in all who put faith in Jesus, teaches, comforts, convicts and empowers us, giving each person diverse gifts for serving in the church and serving others in the world on the mission of God. We believe that it is through the Holy Spirit that we have the power to change and develop a holy life and character becoming more like Jesus.
We believe that all people are created with dignity and great value in the image of God and that people were created to live in a thriving relationship with God. However, through our sin, we break our intended relationship with God and we experience the sad consequences of that broken relationship, both spiritually and socially. However, because of God’s love for us, He sent His Son, Jesus, to rescue us from those consequences, which is the “good news” (the gospel). Our broken relationship with God is restored through Jesus’ death on the cross, a perfect act of redemption for each of us. We receive the free gift of forgiveness and are spiritually reborn through repenting (changing our mind and heart) of our sin and placing faith in Jesus alone.
We do believe that life continues after physical death and there is a heaven and a hell. We believe the day is coming when Jesus will return to judge the world, bringing an end to injustice and restoring all things to God’s original intent. God will reclaim this world and rule forever. On that day, there will be no more death, and God will wipe away all our tears. Our relationships with God, others, ourselves, and creation will be whole. All will flourish as God intends. This is what we long for. This is what we hope for. And we are giving our lives to living out that future reality now.
We believe that the church is comprised of any person, anywhere in the world who puts faith in Jesus. The church itself is people who are empowered by God’s Spirit to be part of the mission of God here on earth. The church is one global community, but has smaller, local expressions, such as our church community. Each local church expression has a unique personality and we see beauty in that diversity. We believe that the church does not exist for itself, but exists as a community of worshipers who are here to serve others, as Jesus told us to be His light, love, compassion, kindness and hope to the world around us.
We believe in the two biblical sacraments rooted in the actions and teachings of Jesus: Baptism and Communion. These sacraments represent both the individual, inward commitment to a personal relationship with Jesus and the corporate, outward sign of being connected to a local community of Christ followers-the local church. In Communion, we remember the ultimate sacrifice Jesus made on the cross for the forgiveness of the sins of humankind. All who follow Jesus are welcome to participate in communion. We do this monthly. In Baptism, we follow Jesus into the water to publicly profess our obedience to Him; and trust that God meets us in the water. We celebrate baptism three times a year.
We believe that Christians are called to make their main goals about living for the glory of God and the well-being of others; Christians should exhibit increasing amounts of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, & self-control (Galatians 5:22–23); that they should be faithful stewards of God’s possessions; and that they should always be seeking to grow more in the maturity of Christ. In addition, we believe that Christians who intend to be married take part in a sacred institution ordained by God. According to Scripture, it is the spiritual and physical union of one man and one woman, as created by God, and this union is a profound mystery that represents the loving relationship and submission of Christ & the Church.
We believe that every human being has direct relations with God, and is responsible to God alone in all matters of faith; that each church is independent and must be free from interference by any ecclesiastical or political authority; that therefore Church and State must be kept separate as having different functions, each fulfilling its duties free from dictation or patronage of the other. We also hold that the Church must be wary of alignment and associations with political parties and the enticements of power that leads to syncretism.