Beliefs

There is one God who exists as three equal persons living in perfect community—-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God created everything and sustains everything. God is holy, all-powerful, all-knowing, and full of mercy and grace.

Jesus Christ, God’s one and only Son, became fully human when he was born to the Virgin Mary. Jesus was both fully human and fully God. He lived a perfect life; died the death we deserve to die because of our sin and selfishness; and physically rose from the dead. As our Savior, he offers us full life by the promise of his resurrection and forgiveness of our sin. He ascended into heaven and today is our representative and advocate with God the Father.

We experience the full life and presence of God in our relationship with God the Spirit who convicts us of sin, points us to Christ, and applies Christ’s work to our lives. The Spirit gives gifts and power to the church. The Spirit is the one who creates biblical community in the church. The Spirit reveals truth and guides our lives, individually and together.

The Bible is God’s completely true story about who God is, what God has done, what God is doing, and what God will do. The Bible is the final authority on all matters to which it speaks.

We are connected to God in only one way, by choosing to accept the forgiveness and reconciliation God offers to us through Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. We are all saved only by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, not by perfect behavior, perfect understanding, or perfect doctrine. God’s gift of grace makes us his adopted daughters and sons. There is nothing we can do to deserve this life – it is all a gift of God, and our job is simply to receive it. When we do, God begins the process of changing our hearts and minds from the inside out and making our characters more and more like Jesus. And as we have been reconciled to God, we also have hope for being more fully reconciled to other people.

If we are in a faith relationship with Christ, we are part of the church. The church is made up of imperfect people who daily seek to respond in all their relationships to God’s stunning grace. The church is universal, but is always expressed locally. The church is the visible and local demonstration of the new community Christ came to create. The Spirit leads our community life as we are devoted to worshiping God, understanding and applying the Bible’s teachings to our lives, offering connection to others, living life together, serving our community, and using our Spirit-given gifts to serve Christ and others. The church celebrates the symbolic ordinances of Baptism and Lord’s Supper which are gifts given by Christ and through which we experience his presence with us. Our focus on the centrality of Christ, and not on doctrinal differences, allows us to base our relationships on love and respect, whether they be with those with whom we agree, those with whom we disagree, those who believe in Christ or those who do not. We strive to respect and love one another as we are taught by Christ and the scriptures. The church is to offer a connection with God to people outside a relationship with Jesus by living fully for Christ and helping those who respond in faith to become people who follow Christ with their whole hearts.

In God’s own time and in God’s own way, God will bring the world as we know it to an end. According to his promise, Christ will return personally and visibly to judge the living and the dead and to begin the new era of God’s universal reign which will last
forever.