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What We Believe That Jesus Christ, the one and only Son of God, died for our sins and arose from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:1-8; John 3:16) That God gave us his Word, the Bible, which is our final authority for Christian belief and practice (2 Timothy 3:16; Psalm 119:105) That God created mankind, giving every person the ultimate level of worth as his creation, but that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) That God made forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life available to all, and gives these blessings only to those who trust Christ Jesus as Savior and Lord (John 3:16) That those who accept Christ should repent of sin, confess their faith, and be baptized into him (Romans 10:9, Acts 2:38) That the church is the body of Christ on earth, is empowered by the Holy Spirit, and exists to save the lost and strengthen the saved (Ephesians 4:1-16) That Jesus Christ will one day return and reign forever as King of Kings and Lord of Lords (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)
Jesus has united us on these core beliefs. At the same time, we encourage each individual in Christ to freely develop their own beliefs through prayerful individual and group Bible study with openness to the Holy Spirit’s leading, without fear of ostracism. We protect freedom of conscience and keep individuals from uncritical, unspiritual pressure to conform which sometimes accompanies cherished, inherited interpretations. We want people’s faith to be their own—not that of their parents or revered church leaders. We ask those who wish to exercise their faith as members of our church To love people in and out of the church, and to support our church family by strengthening one another to fulfill their individual and team roles among the Lord’s people. To allow all the freedom to explore their faith without irrational pressure from the “accepted” interpretations, to treat all with unbiased love, and to avoid spiritual arrogance and the binding of inferential interpretations (where “inferential interpretations” are all doctrines which cannot be found expressly stated on the pages of the Bible). To find, develop, and employ individual spiritual gifts as part of a specific ministry. To learn to give sacrificially of their resources, defined as establishing and exceeding a 10% baseline of giving (time, finances, skills, etc.) toward glorifying God through this congregation. To maintain the heritage of a cappella Sunday worship in it’s a cappella churches without it being an issue for debate which distracts from more important items of faith and practice.
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