What We Believe

That is why you will not find a statement of faith or a creed with us. You won't be asked to sign your name on the dotted line and promise to adhere to all of the doctrines and dogmas we have spelled out. It is why, if you ask the question, "What are your beliefs?", you may get the answer, "We believe what the Bible says." We try to follow the Bible and simply apply its message to our lives. Christianity was meant to be simple. At first, it was one man, Jesus of Nazareth, and his small group of followers. Then, after the death, burial, resurrection and ascension, the Apostles led the church as it spread rapidly throughout the Roman empire and beyond. There weren't different groups and different denominations, there was just one church. It had its struggles and tensions, to be sure, but the New Testament is full of letters from the Apostle Paul that told the various congregations that despite their differences, they were one church and that they should act like it.

We want to be that same church: simply doing the will of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and being the people he has called us to be. That doesn't mean it is easy. Some parts of the Bible are difficult to understand and to know how to apply. There are thousands of years of separation between us and the earliest followers of Jesus and some of the things they did are just as strange to us as we would have been to them. People have different ideas and understandings of God and of scripture because we all come from different places and have different attitudes. We have our own traditions as well as our own perpetual problems. Even though it may sometimes be difficult, we believe it is possible for people to come together in Christ and to simply be "just Christians." 

The Bible is of utmost importance to us. We place our emphasis and focus upon Jesus Christ, our Lord and we believe that God will give us grace and forgiveness when we get it wrong. There is no list of doctrines or beliefs that bind us, other than the words of the Bible. We just try to understand it and apply it as best we can.

We believe in and are committed to the truths taught in the Bible. Our core beliefs, which are straightforward and which we share with most professing Christians can be found on our WHO WE ARE page. While we formally acknowledge "no creed but Christ," the following maybe can answer some questions you might have and give you a heads up regarding the things that are somewhat unique to us if you compare us to some of the other Christian traditions prevalent in our culture.

We teach the importance of free will. We believe salvation is available to all and that anyone can take hold of it by submitting to the teachings of Jesus and the commands of scripture. We believe anyone and everyone has the capacity to make the choice to follow Christ and receive his salvation.

We teach the importance of the New Testament. We believe that "all scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:16-17 NIV. The Old Testament is incredibly important to us like it was to the first Christians who used it, but we place a special value on the teachings and example of the New Testament. We hold that many of the commands in the Old Testament were intended for the Jews only and that today, Christians of different races and nationalities are not bound by them. Specific examples would be the commands to observe the Sabbath or to require a tithe (a one tenth donation of overall income).

We hold that every congregation is independent. No other church or headquarters or overseeing entity can demand anything of another church. We are responsible to Christ alone. We do not believe that there are modern day inspired apostles who can require the church to follow their teaching. We just try to follow the teaching of the original apostles that we have recorded for us in scripture. This means that other churches, even Churches of Christ might be significantly different from us because there is no group of leaders requiring uniformity on certain issues. It also means that 100% of the money we collect in the offering is used as the local congregation sees fit, not sent as fees or dues to a governing body.

We have a very high view of the importance of baptism. Baptism in the Bible is a word from the Greek language that referred to the act of immersing or dipping in water. In the New Testament, people were baptized when they became Christians. In Baptism, we are buried with Christ and then we come up out of the water to live a new life in Christ, committing ourselves to him and receiving the salvation he offers. If you are familiar with the idea of saying the "sinners prayer" in order to accept salvation, our view is that salvation is embraced through baptism. We believe that baptism should be a conscious decision and therefore infants should not be baptized, but rather people old enough to make the commitment for themselves. Small children have no need of baptism because in their innocence, they already belong to God. It is when we get older and begin to understand our need for a lord and savior and feel the need to repent of our sins that we can then commit ourselves to his service.

When we sing during our worship assemblies, we do so unaccompanied by musical instruments. This type of singing is called "acappella," and it is actually a very old way to worship and it has a long history among many Christian traditions (Greek Orthodox & Mennonite to name a few). It goes back to ancient times. The word itself, which come from the latin, literally means, "as in the church" or "as in the chapel." The styles of worship of the early church are hardly mentioned at all in the New Testament, but when they are discussed, the only reference made is to singing (Colossians 3:16, Ephesians 5:19). We think there is value in reflecting the simple worship of the earliest Christians. We also find that it is uniquely beautiful, not because we are such talented vocalists, but because it brings the whole congregation together using nothing but the voices that God gave us as we give him back our praise.

We observe the Lord's Supper every week. A central part of our worship service is the Lord's supper. To a passer by, it may just look like we are taking a pinch of cracker and a sip of juice as a mid-worship snack, but this is not the case. For us, this simple act has profound importance. We believe that, as a body of believers, we are gathered around a symbolic table with Jesus sitting at the head. He is providing us with the food and drink we need to sustain ourselves, his very body and blood which accomplished for us salvation. In this moment, we reflect upon his death and celebrate his resurrection. Jesus told his followers to "do this in remembrance of me" (1 Corinthians 11:24-25), so we gather together every Sunday as brothers and sisters of Christ and feast at the table of our salvation.

We teach the importance of male leadership within the church. This is a very hot topic in Christianity today, and it is a polarizing issue for many. We do not believe that women are to be domineered by men or that any of the abuses of women, past or present, are justified. We believe in the equality of all people - we all need a savior, we all have access to God through Christ, and that there will be no hierarchy in the life to come except that God and Christ will continue to be the head (In the life to come, there might not be any distinction of genders at all - Mark 12:25). With those beliefs, though, we do hold that God has placed the leadership of the church in the hands of men - 1 Timothy 2:11. Our sisters in Christ are cherished and appreciated and participate in Christian service right alongside the men. When it comes to the roles of elders who shepherd our congregation and those who publicly lead in the communal worship of the church, however, we rely on men for these functions. We do not do this because it is our preference, but because it best fulfills our understanding of the commands of scripture and the example of the early church. The role of women in the church is not a simple or easy issue and we are trying honestly and humbly to grow and learn in our understanding as best we can, but in an effort to remain faithful to the scriptures, we continue to hold to the importance of male leadership within the worship assemblies.

We try to focus on Christ, not issues. There are many issues facing the church that must be faced. Some of them, like women's roles mentioned above, bring division to the Lord's church because of differing beliefs held. We wish that this was not the case. We will have our differences, and in many situations, those differences will be stark and will necessarily mean that we not only believe differently, but that we do things differently. But we do not want to let those issues, no matter how inflammatory they are, to become what defines us. We are about Christ. Issues will come up and we will try our best to handle them in Christlike and biblical ways, and there may be times when we are wrong or handle things poorly, but that does not change who we are. We are followers of Christ depending on his grace, mercy and love.