Beliefs
“In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity,”
St. Augustine of Hippo
The Nicene Creed
We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible.
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And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, begotten from the Father before all ages, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made; of the same essence as the Father. Through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven; he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary, and was made human. He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate; he suffered and was buried. The third day he rose again, according to the Scriptures. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again with glory to judge the living and the dead. His kingdom will never end.
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And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life. He proceeds from the Father and the Son, and with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified. He spoke through the prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church.
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We affirm one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look forward to the resurrection of the dead, and to life in the world to come. Amen.
The Scriptures
The Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments, are inspired of God and are the revelation of God to man, the infallible, authoritative rule of faith and conduct.
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One True God
The one true God has revealed Himself as the eternally self-existent "I AM," the Creator of heaven and earth and the Redeemer of mankind. He has further revealed Himself as embodying the principles of relationship and association as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
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The Fall of Man
Man was created good and upright; for God said, "Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness." However, man by voluntary transgression fell and thereby incurred not only physical death but also spiritual death, which is separation from God.
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The Salvation of Man
Man's only hope of redemption is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God.
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The Baptism in the Holy Spirit
All believers have access to the baptism in the Holy Spirit, according to the command of our Lord Jesus Christ. This was the normal experience of all in the early Christian Church. With it comes the power for life and service, the bestowment of the gifts and their uses in the work of the ministry.
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The Church and its Mission
The Church is the Body of Christ, the habitation of God through the Spirit. Each believer, born of the Spirit, is an integral part of the Church and a member of the royal priesthood of believers called to declare His praises. The mission of the Church is to collectively live as the embodiment of Christ, and freely offer what we have received from Him.
Values
Grace
It is by God's free gift of grace that we have been saved, and not by anything we have done. We hold this gift in the highest regard and seek to put it on display in our own lives and relationships. Just as Christ has freely given to us, we look for opportunity to freely give it to others. It is our hope that the grace of God manifest in His people would lead others to know Him more deeply.
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Humility
The hebrew word for humility is avanah, which means "filling up your space." It is understanding that all we have is from God, and is intended to be stewarded by the receiver. To walk in humility, is not to underestimate or diminish ourselves; and neither is it to elevate ourselves to a higher place. Rather, it is to simply occupy our God given space. The Scripture teaches us to in humility honor one another above ourselves, in other words, rather than allowing our space to crowd out others, acknowledge the space of others and make room for it. Jesus is our perfect example - although he was God incarnate, He did not seek to go above and beyond to prove it to anyone. Instead, He knew his place and mission, and became "obedient to death, even death on a cross." Philippians 2:8
Unity
God's heart is that all His children would be one with Him and one another. The Scripture even teaches that oneness is achieved when the Body of Christ is mature and complete, lacking nothing. Our heart cries out to Jesus, "make us one as you and the Father and the Spirit are one."
As ambassadors of reconciliation, we keep watch for opportunities to bring back together those things which the world, the flesh and the enemy has separated, that God's will would be realized, "that none should perish" and that in Christ "we would become the righteousness of God."
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Mission​​
Jesus said His Kingdom is like a mustard seed that a man planted, which grows up into the largest garden plant and gives perch to the birds. In another place He teaches that the Kingdom is like a small measure of yeast that was added to a large batch of dough, and was mixed in until it worked through the whole batch. We serve a God whose Kingdom is ever expanding! As members of this Kingdom it is our mission to actively foster and cultivate its expansion in the places we have been given influence. We do this by living in the power of the Holy Spirit, yielding to His promptings, and becoming "mixed into the dough." We seek opportunities to carry the hope and love of Jesus into new places where it has yet to be experienced.
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