Grace Changes Everything
We believe that grace changes everything. God's grace in the person of Jesus Christ is made known to us through the Word of God and we expect to see God transform us into a community of grace, of love and on mission. We seek to be historically rooted, presently relevant, and future oriented.
With those things driving and motivating us, an observer who spends a few weeks or months among us will notice some things that are different about this church and the people who are members.
Grace is changing the way we gather for worship.
Sunday morning worship is much the same as many other churches, yet there is a joy. Our church is a mix of many different ethnic groups, wearing clothing that runs from casual to "Sunday best". We wholeheartedly singing ancient and modern songs of the faith played in various musical styles. Sermons are short on "what you must do," and long on "what Christ has done" as the pastor's driving conviction is that the Christian message is not a message of what you must do for God it is a message of what God has done for you in Jesus Christ. Our pastor is an expository preaches, so he preaches through the Word chapter by chapter. He is currently preaching through the Gospel of Luke.
The hallway activity before and after church seems different. In the hallway there is a good deal of hugging, handshaking and laughter, but it is not uncommon to see someone struggling to fight back tears because of a difficult situation they are going through and to see them surrounded by people with arms around them encouraging and praying for them.
After service, we eat together and visit in the fellowship hall. If you visit, please stay and enjoy some food with us!
What We Believe
...About the Scriptures
We believe the Bible to be the inspired and inerrant Word of God.
The Bible is made up of the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments and are inerrant in the original languages. The Bible was dual authored by men and God as the human authors were inspired by the Holy Spirit. The Word of God has been preserved and handed down to us by God’s providence and promise. It is infallible in all it contains and is the sole rule of faith and practice for God’s people. It is not “a” truth, but rather “the” truth.
...About God
We believe in one God who revealed Himself in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
We believe God is a Spirit, who exists in three persons but in a mystery to us still only one God. This trinity is how God revealed Himself to us. God is separate from His creation and is eternal. He has no beginning and will have no end. God exists as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All are coequal, coeternal, and yet only one God. God is everywhere present, all powerful, and all knowing. He is perfect in all His attributes and being, and He alone is worthy of all honor, adoration, and worship.
God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, is the member of our triune God who was incarnate in the virgin Mary and made flesh. He lived a perfect life, died on the cross for our sins, was buried, and on the third day rose from the dead. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. All authority is granted to the Son, and He will reign forever more. He will bodily return for His people as he promised and judge the living and the dead. The Father will establish His throne forever more.
The Holy Spirit is a person of the triune God who proceeds from the Father and Son and together with the Father and the Son is worthy of worship and honor. It is the Holy Spirit who is the agent working in the hearts of men to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. It is the Holy Spirit who changes men’s hearts that they may believe and be saved, and it is the Holy Spirit who indwells the believer as the down payment of salvation.
...About Humanity
We believe mankind is created in God’s image, male and female, yet is fallen from God’s original created state due to Adam and Eve’s sin in the Garden.
We believe mankind is created in God’s image, male and female, as He told us in His Word. With a body and a soul, mankind has both a physical and a spiritual component and that death is physical and the soul lives on either in heaven or hell. We believe Adam and Eve sinned and fell from their original created state when they ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, forever changing human nature and corrupting it with sin. We believe that all mankind since the fall are sinners by nature, evil in thought and intent of the heart, and in need of salvation without which it is impossible to please God and enter His kingdom.
...About Salvation
We believe God sent His Son to pay the penalty for our sin with His life, death, and resurrection. We are saved by grace through faith in what He has done. We look to His return.
Since we believe mankind is fallen and a sinner by nature, we believe that man in his natural state is completely corrupt and incapable of entering God’s kingdom and utterly unable to even earn entrance into God’s kingdom. God told us the penalty for sin is death – eternity without God and cast out of His kingdom. We believe that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to live the perfect lives we cannot, to die for our sins to pay our death penalty, and to rise again to give us new life. We believe Jesus’ own words that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life that no one comes to the Father except through Him. We therefore believe that belief in Jesus, turning our backs on our old way of life, and following Jesus in obedience as His disciples is the only way of salvation.
...About the Church
We believe that God’s people have been called out of this world to glorify Him and enjoy Him forever.
The Bible teaches that the church, God’s people, are the body of Christ. All who claim faith in Jesus and their children are members of the visible church. Jesus is the sole Head of the Church. God gave His people the church for community, mutual encouragement, and accountability to guard against personal corruption from sin and false teaching.