We believe that God exists in three persons (The Holy Trinity)- The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe that Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world and that man is saved through faith in Jesus Christ alone ("saved" meaning- brought into relationship with God and guaranteed to be with Him forever in heaven, after physical death). That God gave gifts to men as the incarnate Son of God, Jesus, ascended to heaven after rising from the dead, so that the body of Christ would be built up in unity. For that reason, we believe that every person has been given gifts from God to be used to: enjoy God and advance His Kingdom in the context of sharing their gifts with others.
We believe that the abiding atmosphere in heaven is JOY. We believe that God uses the prayers of man to release His intent. We believe that God has given us the gift of Holy Communion to remember what Christ did on the cross. We believe in water Baptism for Christ followers, which symbolizes a dying to our old way of living and hardwiring a new resurrected way of living “in Jesus Christ.”
We believe that God is the author of The Holy Bible, and that all scripture is God-inspired and useful for teaching, correcting, and leading people into life in Christ. We also believe that Jesus is the “Living Word” and that memorizing Bible verses alone has never helped anyone experience God's grace (i.e. the Devil can quote the Bible and it didn’t do him a whole lot of good). We believe that a life that encounters God has real impact. We believe that God will not contradict His written word, keeping in mind that the way He manifests Himself may be unlike anything we have experienced. We believe that The Holy Spirit is a real person- the Third member of the Holy Trinity, and a genius at doing life. We believe that He, The Holy Spirit, lives in every Christ follower and leads us into life “in Christ,” revealing the Father’s heart, and ushering us into revelatory kingdom living (and when we are hurting, He embraces us with His comfort).
We believe that God is relational and desires that all of mankind be in right relationship with Him and with fellow humans. We believe in a literal heaven and a literal hell. We believe that God desires every person to come to a place of receiving His gift of love and eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ, and that He is patiently knocking on the door of every human heart… wooing us to receive His gift of love and righteousness.
We believe that the Devil is a real entity with fallen angelic cohorts on his side, but that he is rendered powerless to those who have put their trust in Jesus Christ. We believe that every Christ Follower has been given authority over Satan’s domain but we are not to boast in that authority, instead we are to resist the enemy and draw near to God. We believe in focusing on the resurrected Jesus Christ, abiding in His love, and being continually filled with the Holy Spirit, instead of being preoccupied by the demonic.
We believe that the power of God is not based on debating doctrine, denomination, or how many scripture verses someone can memorize, but on an authentic daily walk with God through faith in Jesus Christ. We believe that The Holy Spirit brings glory to Jesus and illuminates The Father’s love. We value sound doctrine… and hold to it, but focus on the relational nature of God and His relentless pursuit of every human. These are some of our core doctrinal beliefs.
