Shaping Beliefs

  1. God alone is to be worshipped because he is Creator and Savior.  All people must humble themselves, acknowledge that they are creations, not creators, and live as part of God's kingdom. 
  2. God’s holiness, love, and faithfulness are core attributes which shape authentic Christian living.

  3. Humans are created to live in relationship with God. As disciples of Christ personally relate to God through prayer, Bible study, and meditation, they are transformed into his nature and reflect his glory (2 Cor. 3:18).

  4. Humans sin by elevating self and following Satan's temptations. Sin then shatters not only the human relationship with God but also human relationships with humans.
  5. Jesus Christ, God's only Son, became human to show his father's nature and to reconcile sinful humankind to God by his death, burial, and resurrection. The passion events exemplify God’s power, compassion, holiness, and faithfulness.
  6. The Holy Spirit empowers God's people to overcome the sins of the flesh (Rom. 8:13) and leads them into God's mission (Acts 1:8).  
  7. God, because of His great compassion, has saved us through the sacrifice of his only Son. Salvation is by God’s initiative, his mercy, despite our sin. Believers respond to God’s work in Christ through faith and baptism. Baptism is the participation in the death, burial, and resurrection, where God cleanses the sinner, makes him a new person, and indwells him with the Holy Spirit. Faith and baptism are intricately related to each other.
  8. The church must be an authentic fellowship of God’s kingdom people who journey through life helping each other continue as Christ's disciples and encouraging others to join them on the journey to be eternally with God in heaven.
  9. Conversion is a turning from darkness to light, from the dominion of Satan to the kingdom of God, from focus on Self to focus on God and others in the kingdom of God.
  10. The Bible is authoritative and the major source of our understanding of a Christian worldview.