Statement of Faith

It all starts with God.  I believe that God created everything (Genesis 1-2).  Out of nothing and by His word, He created the heavens and the earth, filled them with living things, and declared them to be “good”.  The creation account in Genesis points to God’s power, glory, creativity, goodness and purpose.  He created humans in His own image to rule over His creation (Gen. 1:26-30).  Later in Scripture we discover that the “us” of Genesis 1 is the Father, Son and Spirit (Matt. 3:16-17; 28:19; Jn. 1:1-14, 18; 14:9-13; 2 Cor. 13:14), and yet are One (Deut. 6:4; Isa.45:5). These three persons of the Godhead are united in an eternal relationship of love and mutual glorification (Jn. 8:54; 14:31; 15:9-10; 16:13-14; 17:1-5).  God is characterized by immense love and mercy and, as the Trinity implies, He exists within an eternal relationship, so of course, He desires a relationship with those created in His image (Mic. 7:18; Rom. 5:8; Eph. 2:4-5; 1 Jn. 3:1, 4:8-11).

God has revealed Himself generally through His Creation (Psalm 19:1-6), and also through the special revelation of His Word (Ps. 19:7-11), and supremely through His Son, Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:1-4).  I believe the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments are the inspired, authoritative Word of God and they are without error in all they teach. They were inspired by the Holy Spirit as He moved through human authors who wrote using their own language and style, and in various literary forms (2 Tim. 3:16, 2 Peter 1:19-21). These books were affirmed by Christ and the apostles, and recognized by the community of the redeemed as God’s written revelation to humankind. When properly interpreted, the Bible serves as our authority and guide for all matters of truth, faith and life. I believe that the Bible should be interpreted according to the literal, grammatical, contextual and historical method; and understood and applied with the guidance of the Holy Spirit through the discernment of the community of believers (Acts 15:1-29).

God has also revealed Himself through His Son, Jesus Christ, who is fully God and fully human united in one person (Heb. 1:1-4; Col. 1:15-20; John 10:30-39).  He was born of a virgin, He lived a sinless life, died on the cross for our sins, arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven and is now at the right hand of the Father (Mt. 1:18–25; Phil. 2:5–11; Heb. 7:25; 1 Peter 2:21–25).  He will return again physically and visibly to gather those who belong to Him, judge those who have rejected Him and bring in the fullness of His Kingdom (Rev. 20-22).

I believe that the Holy Spirit is fully God, a personal, eternal and divine Spirit, who is one with the Father and the Son.  The Spirit was at work in creation, inspired the Scriptures, and convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment.  The Spirit regenerates, baptizes, seals and indwells believers, intercedes on their behalf and empowers them for godly living and service through the filling, gifts, and His continued work and power in their lives (John 16; Acts 1:8; Rom. 8; 1 Cor. 12; Gal. 5:22–23; 1 Pet. 4:10).

Genesis chapters one and two describe the nature and calling of humans.  God created people in His own image and assigned them to rule over His creation (Gen. 1:26-30).  I believe this passage describes the identity and vocation of human beings.  Just as God exercises His benevolent authority over all He has made, He invites humans to be fruitful, multiply, fill, subdue and rule what He has made, and He points them to the resources they will need to accomplish their mission (Gen. 1:28-29).  Adam and Eve lived in complete dependence on God and trusted Him to direct them toward that which is good and life-giving, as well as to direct them away from that which would bring death (Gen. 2:8-17).  God bestowed value upon humans when he created them in His image and likeness (Gen. 1:27; Psalm 139:13-16), when “in love” he chose to redeem them before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4-8), and when “in love” he sacrificed his life on their behalf (Jn 3:16; Eph. 5:2).  To have value is to possess dignity and to be worthy of respect and high esteem. The identity of a human being is to be one who is deeply loved by God.  A person is fully human when he lives dependently upon Jesus Christ for love, value, and acceptance; safety, security, and significance. Christ is the source of life (Jer. 17:7-8; Jn. 4:14, 6:35; 15:4).

Genesis chapter three describes the entrance of death and sin into the world (Rom. 5:12-14), and informs us concerning the origin and nature of sin.  Through desire, and the deception of the serpent, the humans declared independence from God, disobeyed His warning, and introduced shame and relational isolation into the human experience; and in doing so, they also invited a curse upon themselves and the creation over which they rule (Gen. 3:7-19).  Sin, therefore, includes an evil force at work in the world, deception, and an orientation of self-determination.  Sin is an act of the will resulting in disobedience, a brokenness of relationship between humans and God, and also involves a curse that fell upon the physical creation (Rom. 7:7-25 cf. Gen. 3 and following).  Sin introduced the curse of relational alienation and isolation, physical disease and death, and moral corruption into the human experience (Eph. 2:1-4; Isa. 64:6, Rom. 3:9-12), but has not destroyed the image of God inherent within humanity (James 3:7-10).

Within the curse pronounced by God over the serpent, the humans and creation, is a promise that begins to reveal God’s plan for salvation and redemption (Gen. 3:15).  An offspring, the seed of the woman will come who will crush the serpent and, as is later revealed, win the victory required to restore humans and creation back to God’s original intention.  Jesus Christ offered Himself on the cross and died as a representative, substitutional and atoning sacrifice for the sins of all humans.  All who place their faith and trust in Him as their Savior and Lord are regenerated, adopted into the family of God, and by His grace and shed blood are forgiven, justified, become part of His Bride, the church, and will live and reign with God forever (John 1:12; 3; Eph. 1:7; Titus 3; 1 John 5:11–13, Rev. 20-22).

The Gospel is the announcement that God is initiating and fulfilling the promise He made to restore everything back to the way it was created to be.  Jesus conquered sin and death and opened the way for us to enter back into the fullness of relationship and fullness of life we were created to enjoy.  His purpose is to completely change our heart and orientation towards Him, ourselves, others, creation, and all of life.  Jesus came to free us from our bondage to deception and restore His Kingdom of peace, justice, and righteousness.  This restoration includes defeating the evil forces that seek to rule in place of Him and His co-regent image bearers.  Through this salvation we are able to participate in fighting evil within ourselves, and within the world.  We are released from the bondage of performing, pretending, and proving ourselves to be worthy.  And we are freed to be the secure and other-centered people that we were made to be (Matt. 5-7; Mark 1:15, 4:11-34; Jn 10:10; Rom. 8; Col 2:15; 2 Cor 5:16-21)

Anyone who chooses to follow King Jesus becomes part of His Kingdom.  We do this through something called “repentance”, that is, changing our minds about the lie of the serpent: that we can find Life in things other than Him.  And we turn to Jesus alone as our Source of Life.  We become children of God, and we join Him in the ministry of reconciliation.  As we join God as servants of His Kingdom, we are drawn to pouring ourselves out for the needs of the world.  We work and plan with all of the energy of God to implement victory over injustice, violence, and degradation (Matt. 25; Col. 1:13-29; 2 Cor 5:16-21).

Much of the New Testament is devoted to the description of, and instructions to the church, who have been “called out” by God, redeemed through the work of Christ, and empowered by the Holy Spirit to serve as God’s royal priesthood.  In the New Testament we see two uses of the term church which point to two manifestations of the people of God in the new covenant.  There is the church that is made up of all those regenerated by the Holy Spirit, through all time, from throughout the world.  And there are the local, visible churches which gather together for worship and mission.  The commission, functions, gifts, ordinances and offices of the church were given to accomplish this two-fold purpose of worship and mission, summarized in the Great Commission imperative to make disciples.  The church should be characterized by unity (1 Cor. 1:10; Eph. 4:1-6, 11-13, Col. 3:13-14, Jn. 17:22-23; Eph. 4:3) and deep love for one another (Rom. 12:9-10; 1 Cor. 13:1; 1 Pet. 4:8).  The body of Christ should be known by their love (Jn.13:35).  The Church is the body of Christ and every member is a valuable part of the body. Every member is indwelled by the Holy Spirit and has gifts, abilities and input that are essential to the vitality of the entire body (1 Cor. 12; Eph. 4:11-16).  Christ is the only Head of the church, and the church is called to represent Him, announce His Kingdom and bring the Gospel to all nations and peoples of the world (Matt. 10, 28:18-20; Acts 2, 28; Eph. 1:15-5:32; 1 Cor. 11-14; 1 Peter 2). 

In Revelation 20, the identity, purpose and destiny of the serpent (Gen. 3) Satan is revealed.  Satan and his angels, as well as those whose names are not found written in the book of life will face judgment based on their deeds, and be consigned to the lake of fire (Matt. 25:41; Rev. 20:10 and 15).

The final state of creation and the consummation of God’s plan will be the “new heaven and the new earth” in which God and humans, now resurrected, will again dwell together in perfect union.  God’s glory will be manifest through His creation, and His people will live in fellowship and dependence upon Him, fulfilling their original calling as image bearers and co-regents (Isaiah 2:1-5; 1 Cor. 15; Rev. 21:1-22:5). The believer’s task will be to rule and reign over the new earth with Christ forever (Psalm 8;4-8; 2 Tim. 2:12; Rom 8:17-21; Rev. 22:5).