Our Convictions and Commitments
Convictions
Our convictions help us stay rooted in God’s Word, united in what we believe, and intentional in how we live out our faith together.
We believe there is only one true God--the God of Israel. He is the creator of the heavens and the earth. He currently oversees his creation and history itself as He patiently drives the world toward the day of Redemption--that is, "the time of the restoration of all things, which God spoke about through his holy prophets from the beginning." (Acts 3:21)
The Scriptures are uniquely inspired by God. The Hebrew Bible along with the Apostolic writings in the New Testament were written under the prophetic inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah of Israel. He is the embodiment of God's word, and God's unique Son by whom the world will be redeemed. "Heaven must receive him until the time of the restoration of all things, which God spoke about through his holy prophets from the beginning." (Acts 3:21)
God's covenants with the physical descendants of Abraham are enduring. God's plan to redeem the world is tethered eternally to the people of Israel. We look with great expectation for the redemption of Israel, since it is Israel's redemption that will trigger the redemption of the other families on the earth.
God is still taking a people for his name from among the nations (Acts 15:14). This is because God's plan to redeem the world involves all of the nations coming back to their Maker. In the Redemption, the families of the earth will return to God and his ways. In the meantime, God is at work among the families of the earth, inviting them to turn from their ways and to return to His family. These disciples from the nations who turn to the God of Israel are fully acceptable to God as Gentiles. They should turn to God and his ways while maintaining their identity as the nations.
There will be a day when God judges the actions that men have done in this life. The day of judgment will see the righteous finally comforted when all of the wrongs done to them in this age will be made right. It will also see the punishment of the arrogant as the wrongs committed are also made right at their expense.
God is gracious and compassionate. He delights in showing mercy. God doesn't want for anyone to suffer in the judgment and so He offers the pardon of the wrongs committed if men will turn from their sins and trust in God's way. If people will trust in his mercy and turn to God's way, then He will forgive them because of the suffering and righteous death of Jesus, the Messiah.
God graciously provides his Spirit as a gift and empowerment to those who choose to turn from their way and to follow His way. The Spirit is the comforter and guide to Jesus's disciples who have turned to trust and follow him and his way. Jesus is the one who baptizes and fills with the Holy Spirit. This empowerment is the grace that enabled the Apostles to lay their lives down to follow the Master without the fear of death. The filling of the Spirit empowers us for the same purpose.
We believe that the Redemption spoken about throughout the Scriptures is something that is still to come. The Apostles, the Prophets, and the Patriarchs all hoped in a coming age where 'righteousness dwells' (2 Pet. 3:13). Wickedness, suffering and death will be abolished by the coming of our Master and the earth will be renewed. For this reason, the Apostles exhorted early disciples to, "Set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." (I Pet. 1:13) This is our Blessed Hope (Tit. 2:13) and the ultimate substance of the proclamation of the 'good news' of the Gospel of God to the world.
We believe that God graciously provides his Spirit and does miracles in our midst as a sign of the coming Redemption. That is, they are the "powers of the age to come" (Heb. 6:5). We unapologetically expect God to do miracles in our midst, and especially as the Gospel is preached to those who are far from God. He does miracles in our midst in order to validate the Gospel message. Healings, deliverance from demons, and other miraculous signs regularly accompany the preaching of the Gospel and the proclamation that Jesus is the one whom God has appointed to judge the world and to restore His precious creation.
5 Core Commitments
These help regulate and give value to what we do.
1. We are committed to obeying Jesus
As disciples of the Master, we are committed to growing in obedience to what he taught. We are full of gratitude for the pardon of our past offenses, and we express that gratitude through our commitment to obey.
2. We are committed to making disciples
We are committed not only to obeying the words of Jesus but to following him and his way. We are committed to following our Master in making disciples — working together to raise up disciples who are themselves able to make disciples.
3. We are committed to prayer
Our commitment to grow in obedience and to make disciples demands deep lives of prayer. Prayer is how we receive grace from God to walk faithfully as Jesus's disciples.
4. We are committed to the regular expectation of miracles
We anticipate and pray for miracles to accompany the Gospel message. As we share the Gospel with others, we expect God to confirm that message through miracles.
5. We are committed to suffering for Jesus's sake
Jesus warned that following him would always involve suffering and difficulty. Whether persecution or simple inconvenience, we are committed to embracing the challenges that come with being obedient disciples of the Master.