God:
We believe, with other Christians, that God is Triune, three persons-in-one, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe that God is the Creator of the universe and everything in it. We believe that God is over and above all things and at the same time present in everything. Because God is “other” and beyond description, we often use metaphors like God is a Shepherd or God is Light. Above all things we believe that Love is the characteristic that best describes God.
Jesus Christ:
We believe that God appeared in human flesh in the person of Jesus (John 1:14). Jesus is with God and is God- and the Gospel of John affirms that Jesus was with God before the creation of the world. We believe that Jesus is fully divine, and at the same time fully human. This is a mystery that we embrace and find hope in. Even in his divinity, Jesus experienced the full human experience- tempted in every way; suffered rejection, and even death. In spite of all this, Jesus remained sinless.
We believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead three days later. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection makes it possible for each person who confesses Jesus as Savior and Lord to experience salvation. Because Jesus died for us, and offers us God’s grace and salvation, we call Jesus our Lord and give our lives to follow him.
The Holy Spirit:
The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity and is God’s present activity in our midst. When we sense God’s leading, God’s challenge, or God’s support or comfort, we say that it is the Holy Spirit at work. The Holy Spirit teaches us, guides and directs us, and equips us for living and ministry in the world as Christians.
Humans:
We believe that every person is created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) and has sacred worth. We believe that every person chooses to accept or reject and relationship with God. We believe that every person needs a relationship with God, through Jesus, to be fully human. Because every human is a sinner, we are in constant need of God’s grace. Because of this grace we can be restored and renewed in our relationship with God, with others, and with the world.
The Church:
We believe that the Church is the body of Christ at work in the world to share salvation, grace, and hope to a world in need. We believe that the Church is tasked with the mission of making disciples. We know that the Church is not perfect and that we will occasionally fall short of our pursuit of Christ. Because of this, we will continually encourage one another in our relationship with God and our ministry in the world.
The Bible:
We believe that the Bible is the Word of God and provides everything we need to know God and to experience salvation through Jesus Christ’s work on the cross. We believe that God speaks through the Bible teaching and preparing us for our life and ministry. We believe that the Bible was written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and that the same Spirit assist us in our study of the Scriptures and making application to our lives. We believe that every Christian should be actively reading and studying the Bible to live and effective Christian life.
The Kingdom of God:
The Christian life is about the transformation that God brings in our life now, and the hope we have for the future when Jesus redemptive work is fully experienced. When we talked about the Kingdom of God, we are talking about God’s reign in the world. That reign is present since Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection defeated sin and death. However, we still see the effects of sin in our world. God’s Kingdom will be fully experienced when Jesus returns and all of Creation is restored.
While we wait expectantly for that day, we (The Church) are to live as a sign of hope for the future. There is enough people experiencing “hell on earth” that the Christian and the Church should help people experience a little slice of heaven now with a hope for the future.