OUR BELIEFS

Our Beliefs

What is the Gospel?

The Gospel is the good news of what God has done in Jesus Christ. This diagram depicts the essence of the Gospel in three circles.

God's Design

God is holy, just, loving, powerful, and good. He created us in His image to know Him and love Him perfectly. God also gave us other people to know and love too. God’s desire from the beginning for His people that He created was that all aspects of their lives would flow from a desire to worship Him. In the beginning, there was nothing evil.

Sin & Brokenness

We depart from God’s design when we sin. The Bible tells us that all human beings are in revolt against God. Because of this, we are separated from God. Our sin leads to brokenness. It doesn’t take long to realize how broken our world is. Every aspect of our lives has been affected by sin--our marriages, our relationships, our thoughts, our desires, etc.

In an effort to escape our brokenness, we often turn to relationships, escapism, or good moral behavior to try and fix our own hearts. Ultimately, these things can never return us to the good design God intended for us.

Gospel

The change we desire does not come from within us. The Bible tells us how we can be made right with God! Jesus, the Son of God, came to earth as a man and lived a perfect life without sin. He lived the life God originally created us to live. He died on the cross to pay the penalty for our rebellion against God--taking all of our sin on his himself. Three days later, He rose from the dead and defeated the power of sin over all of creation. When we confess our sin and surrender our lives to Jesus, we receive forgiveness and eternal life through Him!

Recover and Pursue

When we repent and turn to follow Jesus, we are free to live out God's design for our lives. We can love and trust Him without fear. He will transform our hearts to look more and more like His. He gives us the strength and the ability to resist sin. Though we will still sin throughout our lives, Jesus' sacrifice is enough to cover every wrong we commit. We are washed clean in Him. One day, Jesus will return and take away sin and evil from the world forever.

Adapted from The Three Circles: Life on Mission by the North American Mission Board

Our Beliefs

The Bible (all of the books of the Old and New Testaments) is the true written message of God to us. It is without fault, completely trustworthy, and we base our life on it. It is the final authority on all matters to which it speaks.

2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21, Psalm 19:7-11

The Bible

Salvation

It is attained by grace through faith alone. This faith is demonstrated within the life of the believer through good works. It is not something that we earn or deserve, it is a free gift from God.

Ephesians 2:8-10, James 2:14-24, 1 Corinthians 12:13, John 3:16, 14:6; Romans 3:28, 8:31-39

Jesus

He existed forever as God but took on humanity to offer his life as the only perfect sacrifice for all people. He is both fully God and fully man. He lived a sinless life, was persecuted, suffered, and ultimately died on the cross. He rose physically from the dead, and one day will return to earth to reign forever with those who are His.

Matthew 1:18-25, John 1:1-14, 8:40, 58, 11:33, Acts 1:9-11, Romans 5:8-10, Colossians 1:15-17, Hebrews 1:8

Humanity

Men and women are created special and precious in the image of God. Each life has value, but each one has fallen short of God’s perfect standard and is in need of salvation. Even though we are able to do good things in the eyes of humanity, the scriptures show that we are inherently sinful and can do no good thing that merits salvation in the eyes of God. Therefore, we are incapable of saving ourselves and need a Savior.

Genesis 1:26, Romans 3, 5:12-19, Ephesians 2:1-3, 4:18-19

The Trinity

The Trinity is the human explanation for the unexplainable reality that there is One God who exists forever in perfect community as three persons—God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit.

Genesis 1:26-27, Deuteronomy 6:4, Colossians 1:15-17, Hebrews 1:8

Church

We believe that the true Church is composed of those people who, through saving faith in Jesus Christ, have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and are united together in the body of Christ of which He is Head.

( Ephesians 2:19‐22 ; Acts 1:8 ; Ephesians 5:19‐21 ; Acts 2:42; Hebrews 10:23‐25)

Commission

We believe that Christ commanded the Church to go into all the world and make disciples of all peoples, baptizing and teaching those who believe.

(Matt 28:16‐20, John 20.21‐23; Acts 2:42, Hebrews 10:23‐25)