What We Believe

We believe that God exists and that he rewards those that seek him (Hebrews 11:6). He existed before creation and is himself the creator of all that is exists. We believe that he eternally exists in three equally divine persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He is eternal, all powerful, all knowing, exists in all places, and is our model of perfection, goodness and love. Therefore he is the most worthy of all honor, glory, and all praise we can give him. Everything God does, he does with purpose and intention and he cares deeply about his creation and all of mankind. He is not distant but is near to all who call on his name.

We believe that all of creation was made to in one way or another reflect the nature and characteristics of God. God is infinite and we are finite and so he teaches us about himself in ways that we can see and comprehend. We get a sense for how big God is by seeing how vast the universe is. We better understand the beauty of God as we observe the wonders of a sunset. We understand the power of God when we witness  the mighty wind from a hurricane. We understand the attention to detail of God when we observe study the design of DNA. The bible describes God as the source of all good things and the father of lights (James 1:17) and so we rightly understand creation when we see the different facets of it as windows through which God's light shines through.

We believe that God created all things but he especially created humans in his own image. This means that all human beings were created to be representatives of God to all of creation in the way that we think, speak, and interact with others. This is what we were designed to do and therefore we will only be most content and full of joy when we living in accordance with that design.

While God created everything to be perfect, he also gave us freewill which means that we can choose to follow him or reject him. We believe that the first humans (Adam and Eve) did just that in the beginning and it caused a rift between God and his creation that exists to this day. The word "sin" simply means to "miss the mark" and when we choose to not be image bearers of God or in other words to do something contrary to what he has designed us to do we miss the mark. Since the fall of mankind, the bible teaches that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and that we rightly are deserving of God's wrath for that treason.

We believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the son of the living God and that he himself is God. He is the perfect visible image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15) which means that thinks, speaks, and acts exactly as God does making him the true image of God that humans were originally designed to be. He was divinely born of the virgin Mary and lived on earth for over 30 years and experience all the trials, struggles and temptations that all humans experience and yet he was completely without sin. He proved through many miraculous signs that he was who he claimed to be and many of those were witnessed by thousands of people and recorded in scripture.

We believe that the gospel is the good news that because of God's great love for us, his abundance of mercy and grace, he has made a way for us to be reconciled with him so that we can experience the fullness of joy that he offers. This reconciliation is only possible through the life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ because he took on our sin as if it was his, and gives us his righteousness as if it was ours. It cost him dearly  to pay the debt that belonged to us, but now he offers us this redemption free of charge. (Ephesians 2:1-10)

The Bible teaches us that one day we will all have to stand in judgement before a holy God. Because we have all sinned and rebelled against him (Romans 3:23) we will be found guilty of treason on that day and the punishment will be eternal separation from God. This is what Jesus comes to save us from. He has stood in our place and taken the wrath that was meant for us and for those that follow him, there is now no condemnation (Romans 8:1) from God that we need to fear. We will be declared innocent and made holy on the day of judgement.

The Church is comprised of everyone on earth throughout all of history that have been called out and redeemed by Christ. We are called out to be his ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:20) to this world to spread the gospel and be a witness to the reality that Jesus is lord of all. Through the Holy Spirit all the members of the church are given various spiritual gifts to help do the good works that God has prepared for us and we all like various members of the same body are called to work together to fulfill the great mission that God has given us (Romans 12:4). The Church gathers together in smaller groups all over the world but we must always remember that the Church itself is not a building, it is a people.

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the trinity which means that he, like God the Father and God the Son, is also fully God. Jesus himself refers to the Holy Spirit as "the helper" and that through Christ, the Holy Spirit of God actually comes and dwells inside of believers and is constantly at work inside of us to guide, direct, and empower believers so that they are equipped for anything that God calls them to do.

The bible is clear that God has given us both baptism and communion as two ordinances for believers to do here on earth to help paint a picture to the world of Jesus's sacrifice and out own spiritual death and resurrection that comes when we give our lives to Jesus. We do not believe that any of these physical actions in of themselves are doing the work of salvation, but instead are meant to be outward signs of inward realities.

When mankind sinned and fell through Adam and Eve, all of creation was affected by the curse. This is why our bodies are fragile and wear out overtime and it's also why nature itself is full of imperfections ranging from thorns to disasters like earthquakes and hurricanes. Through Christ, we have the promise that one day he will restore all of these things and perfect them. Those that are in Christ will have new imperishable bodies and even heaven and earth will be made new. Our hope is not to become some abstract floating spirits in clouds but to live in this new perfected state in a new perfected creation.