What We Believe

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Our Faith Journey . . . What We Believe:

The Bible is God's true and trustworthy story about who God is, what God has done, is doing, and will do in the future. The Bible was given to us by God through the Church; God's revelation comes through human writers and so reflects their backgrounds, styles, culture, and language. The Bible tells the story of God, of God's creation, and the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ; therefore, we believe that the Bible holds authority in the life of the Church.

God. There is one God who exists as three persons living together in perfect community. We know God as Father, or Creator of the universe, as Son, or as Redeemer of humankind, and as Holy Spirit, or Sustainer of people here on earth. God is holy, all-powerful, all knowing, all loving, and always seeking to offer human beings forgiveness and new life.

Jesus Christ. God's Son became fully human when born to Mary. He was both fully human and fully God. He lived a completely faithful and obedient life to God the Father in heaven. Jesus died--was crucified, taking the whole of human sin and rebellion from God on his back for humanity; he was resurrected from death on the third day. Through the Resurrection, God declares that life always conquers death, hope overcomes despair, and ultimately all of our sins as human beings cannot keep us from having a relationship with our Creator. Christ bridged the divide, once and for all, between God and humanity. Our separation from God is no more.

Holy Spirit is the lifeblood of individual Christians and of the Church. By the power of the Holy Spirit we experience the full life and presence of God. The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sin, our separation from God, points us toward Jesus Christ, and moves us to serve the world for Christ's sake. The Holy Spirit gives gifts, power, and vitality to the Church; the Holy Spirit creates biblical community in the Church; the Holy Spirit reveals truth, guides our lives, and brings healing to our lives both individually and communally.

The Church. If we are in a relationship with Christ, we are part of the Church. The Church is universal, but is always expressed locally. The Church strives to be the visible demonstration of the new community Christ came to create. We believe that there is one Church of Jesus Christ. While different variations of the Christian faith exist and serve different people's needs, we believe that we are all essentially one body. Moreover, we believe that our particular congregation in the larger body of Christ should work toward the union of the one holy Church. Our way is not the only way.

The Sacraments. The Church celebrates the Sacraments, which are gifts given by Christ as a way of experiencing His presence and His promises here and now. We believe that we live in a sacramental universe in which everything, all of God's creation, has the potential to bring us closer to the God who has drawn near to us in the person of Jesus Christ. The two Sacraments that we regularly practice are baptism and the Lord's Supper (communion). As was the practice of the early church, we celebrate the Lord's Supper weekly. We practice believer's baptism but also affirm other forms of baptism as valid, particularly infant baptism, and do not require rebaptism of new members.

Healing. The core of Jesus' message to the world was healing. Jesus offered people emotional, psychological, physical, and eternal healing. We believe and participate in the healing ministry of Jesus Christ.

In Essence. Jesus Christ connects us to God. By accepting God's offer of forgiveness and reconciliation through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ we become reunited sons and daughters of God. This gift of forgiveness is called grace. There is nothing we can do to deserve this gift of life; grace is a gift of God and our job is simply to receive that gift. When we do receive that gift of grace, God then begins the process of molding us both inwardly and outwardly into the person we were created to be. And as we have been reconciled to God, we also have hope for being more fully reconciled to other people.

Last Things. The Christian Church throughout its history has held that Jesus Christ will one day return to establish a new heaven and a new earth and that God "will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away" (Revelation 2:14). We too believe that life as we know it will come to an end, and one day we will live in a new era of God's universally visible reign, which will last forever. However, we believe that the Bible is clear that no one knows when this day will come, or what this "end" will look like. The Bible is not a secret codebook that only a few special people can decipher. We do not believe that it is helpful, or faithful, to attempt to capitalize on people's fears about the end of the world. We trust God's time and God's faithfulness. We believe that it is not our mission to worry about the future; rather, we feel called to be God's hands at work in the world, here, in the present era.