Practical Beliefs

…what you do determines what you believe… You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall before you. Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall before you. “‘I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new. I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. Leviticus 26:7-12 We believe God is raising up a people who want to be “The Church” and not just go to church. We believe His Church can be measured by what is happening throughout a region, and not in a building. We believe you are a part of the Church; it doesn’t require membership, because you already belong as family, through an encounter with Jesus. We believe that in the hearts of many there is an understanding that God’s Own Heart yearns for us to be family with each other and with Him. We believe our gatherings together are to be more relational and demonstrate the inclusion of all in the mission of fulfilling God’s dream, rather than simply watching others do it in front of us and to us. We believe we are equipping and training many to develop effective ministry that will touch communities, cities and nations in practical ways. We believe God is raising up people who are extremely successful in Kingdom realms because they are motivated by hearts of compassion and love with hearts of passion for worshipping and loving Jesus. We believe success in the Kingdom of God is not related to attendance, offering size, or charismatic personalities, but rather by the love we show in ministry to each other and to people in the world, and the cultivation of relationships that reflect the family of God. We believe that every opportunity to release the love of God and minister to others is a reflection of the Holy Spirit on our lives and His great power, joy, and love expressed to them and not an emblem to show off for our personal self-promotion and image. We believe God is raising up something that surpasses denominational and affiliation networks and is growing into a trans-tribal family and community of laid down Jesus lovers. We believe that hype distracts from holiness, power, and humble love that we desire in our gatherings and relationships. We believe that God is pre-eminent in all things and hold unswervingly to the notion that He alone is our goal, our passion, our reason, our purpose, and our destination. We believe that as servants of God we have been called to lay down personal agenda and plans and align collectively with His agenda, vision and dream. We believe that as we fulfill the dream of God to see every knee bow, every tongue confess, and the earth filled with His glory that the individual visions we have received will be fulfilled in the process. We believe that as we participate in sowing financially, physically, emotionally and spiritually into this Kingdom, it will have supernatural effect because it has been given to God and not to an institution. We believe the primary membership we should retain is the “The Dream Of God”which eliminates our need to fulfill societal and religious obligations that may be placed on us. We believe this is the Church. We believe this is normal Christianity. We believe it exists today. The Prophets called it The Mountain Of The Lord – chief of all mountains! Jesus called it The Kingdom of God!

Doctrinal Beliefs

...what you believe determines how you live...

We are committed to sound Biblical theology. Basic theology that gives us our way of life. Truth, integrity, relationships, dreams... all coming from the Word of God. Yes, we do believe that marriage is ONLY ONE MAN and ONE WOMAN. No, we don't believe the current cultural thought is acceptable when it infringes on the morality so clearly defined in the Bible. We don't believe it's okay to have sex without marriage (i.e. one man to one woman)... no, it's not cool to live with a partner before marriage or to experiment or behave in behavior that is incongruent with Scripture. We don't believe accommodating our theology to the broken society and behavior of the world around us is any sort of solution to seeing the purposes of God on the earth. We believe... therefore we act, move, and establish ways that bring value to the objective truth of what God speaks, rather than the subjective response to issues and problems that either exist or could become a reality in the days to come.

HOLY BIBLE

We believe that the Holy Bible, and only the Bible, is the authoritative Word of God. It alone is the final authority in determining all doctrinal truths. The Bible, in its original writing, is both inspired and inerrant. (II Timothy 3:16; II Peter 1:20-21; Proverbs 30:5; Romans 16:25-26) As evangelicals, the Bible is our final authority for faith and practice. We believe the Bible is God’s written revelation to man, and thus the sixty-six books of the Bible given to us by the Holy Spirit constitute the plenary (inspired equally in all parts) Word of God. We teach that the Bible constitutes the only infallible rule of faith and practice.

JESUS CHRIST

We believe that Jesus Christ is God the Son, the Second Person of the Trinity. Jesus Christ is 100% man and 100% God. He is the only man ever to have lived a sinless life. (John 1:1 & 14, 20:28; I Timothy 3:16; Isaiah 9:6; Php.2:5-6; I Timothy 2:5)

HOLY SPIRIT

We believe that the Holy Spirit is a divine Person, eternal, underived, possessing all the attributes of personality and deity including intellect (1 Corinthians 2:10-13), emotions (Ephesians 4:30), will (1 Corinthians 12:11), eternality (Hebrews 9:14), omnipresence (Psalm 139:7-10), omniscience (Isaiah 40:13-14), omnipotence (Romans 15:13), and truthfulness (John 16:13). In all the divine attributes He is coequal and consubstantial with the Father and the Son (Matthew 28:19; Acts 5:3-4; 28:25-26; 1 Corinthians 12:4-6; 2 Corinthians 13:14; and Jeremiah 31:31 34 with Hebrews 10:15-17). We believe that the work of the Holy Spirit in this age began at Pentecost when He came from the Father as promised by Christ (John 14:16-17; 15:26) to initiate and complete the building of the Body of Christ, which is His church (1 Corinthians 12:13). The broad scope of His divine activity includes convicting the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ and transforming believers into the image of Christ (John 16:7-9; Acts 1:5; 2:4; Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Ephesians 2:22). We believe that the Holy Spirit is the supernatural and sovereign Agent in regeneration, baptizing all believers into the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13). The Holy Spirit also indwells, sanctifies, instructs, empowers them for service, and seals them unto the day of redemption (Romans 8:9; 2 Corinthians 3:6; Ephesians 1:13). We believe that the Holy Spirit administers spiritual gifts to the church. We believe in the present work of the Holy Spirit who baptizes, fills, empowers and releases all the gifts that belong to Him. We believe in the ministry of healing, prophecy, tongues, discerning of spirits, faith, and the miraculous today.

THE CHURCH

The church is the Body of Christ, the habitation of God through the Spirit, with divine appointments for the fulfillment of Christ's great commission. Every person who is born of the spirit is an integral part of the church as member of the body of believers. (Ephesians 1:22, 2:19-22; Hebrews 12:23)a

THE LORD’S SUPPER

The Lord's Supper is a unique time of communion in the presence of God when the elements of bread and wine (or grape juice), expressing in some spiritual way the body and blood the Lord Jesus Christ, are taken by believers in remembrance of Christ's sacrifice on the cross. (I Corinthians 10:16, 11:23-25; Matthew 26:26-28)

THE FATHER

We believe that God the Father, the first Person of the Trinity, orders and disposes all things according to His own purpose and grace (Psalm 145:8-9; 1 Corinthians 8:6). He is the Creator of all things (Genesis 1:1-31; Ephesians 3:9). As the only absolute and omnipotent Ruler in the universe, He is sovereign in creation, providence, and redemption (Psalm 103:19; Romans 11:36). His fatherhood involves both His designation within the Trinity and His relationship with mankind. As Creator, He is Father to all men (Ephesians 4:6), but He is spiritual Father only to believers (Romans 8:14; 2 Corinthians 6:18). He has decreed for His own glory all things that come to pass (Ephesians 1:11). He continually upholds, directs, and governs all creatures and events (1 Chronicles 29:11). In His sovereignty He is neither author nor approver of sin (Habakkuk 1:13; John 8:38-47), nor does He abridge the accountability of moral, intelligent creatures (1 Peter 1:17). He has graciously chosen from eternity past those whom He would have as His own (Ephesians 1:4-6); He saves from sin all who come to Him through Jesus Christ; He adopts as his own all those who come to Him; and He becomes, upon adoption, Father to His own (John 1:12; Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:5; Hebrews 12:5-9).

SALVATION

We are saved by grace (which is undeserved and unearned) through faith in Jesus Christ, His death, burial, and resurrection. Salvation is a gift from God, not a result of our good works or of any human efforts. (Ephesians 2:8-9; Galatians 2:16, 3:8; Titus 3:5; Romans 10:9-10; Acts 16:31; Hebrews 9:22)

REPENTANCE

Repentance is a commitment to turn away from sin in every area of our lives and to follow Christ. Through repentance we individually receive forgiveness of sins and appropriate salvation. (Acts 2:38, 3:19) "CHRIST INDWELLS IN ALL BELIEVERS" A Christian is a person who has invited the Lord Jesus Christ to come and live inside him by the Holy Spirit. He is putting his trust in what Christ accomplished for him when He died, was buried, and rose again from the dead. (John 1:12, 14:17, 23, 15:4; Romans 8:11; Revelation 3:20)

WATER BAPTISM

After receiving the Lord Jesus Christ, the new convert is commanded by the Word of God to be baptized in water in the Name of the Lord. (Matthew 28:19; Acts 2:38)

THE RETURN OF CHRIST

We do believe in the physical return of the Lord Jesus Christ who, Scripture declares, "will return in the same way" He left. (Acts 1:11)