What We Believe

 

The Bible

The Bible is God’s completely true love Story about who He is, what he has done, what he is doing, and what he will do. It was given by God to human writers so reflects their backgrounds, styles, and use of language. The Bible is the final authority on all matters to which it speaks.

 

God

There is one God, who exists as three persons living in perfect community-Father, Son, and Spirit. God created everything and sustains everything by His life. He is holy, eternal, all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present, unchanging, and full of mercy and grace.

 

Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ, God’s Son, became fully human when He was born to the Virgin Mary. He was fully human and fully God. He lived a perfect life in place of our imperfect lives; died, as our substitute, the death we deserved to die because of our selfishness; and physically rose from the dead. He offers us full life by the promise of His own resurrection. He then ascended into heaven and today is our representative, intercessor, and advocate with God the Father.

 

Holy Spirit

We experience the full life and presence of God in our relationship with God the Spirit, who convicts us of sin, points us to Christ, and applies Christ’s work to our lives. He gives gifts and power to the church and He is the one who creates biblical community in the church. He reveals truth and guides our lives, individually and together.

 

Salvation

We are connected to God in only one way-by choosing to accept the offer of forgiveness and reconciliation God provides to us by Jesus Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. If we ask him to, God treats us as if we were Christ, because He treated Christ as if he were us. God’s gift of grace makes us His adopted sons and daughters. There is nothing we can do to deserve this life-it is all a gift of God, and our job is simply to receive it. When we do, God begins the process of changing our hearts and minds from the inside out and making our characters more and more like Jesus’. And as we have been reconciled to God, we also have hope for being more fully reconciled to other people.

 

The Church

The church is universal and is best expressed locally. The church is the visible and local demonstration of the new communicate Jesus came to create. We are devoted to worshiping God, understanding and applying the Bible to our lives, offering connection to others, serving our community, using our Spiritual-given gifts to serve Christ and others, and making disciples who make disciples.

 

Baptism and Communion

Given by Christ, baptism and communion are experiences of his promise and his presence with us. Baptism is a public declaration of inward transformation through the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Communion is an invitation to remember the sacrifice Jesus gave for our salvation.

 

End of Time

In His own time and in his own way, God will bring the world as we know it to an end. According to his promise, Jesus will return personally and visibly to judge the living and the dead and to begin the new era of God’s universally visible reign which will last forever. Those who chose to receive Jesus’ offer of forgiveness will spend forever with God. Those who chose to live life without receiving Jesus’ offer of forgiveness will spend forever separated from God.

 

If we are in relationship with Christ, we are part of the church. The church is universal, but it is always expressed locally. The church is the visible and local demonstration of the new community Christ came to create. We are devoted to worshiping God, understanding and applying the Bible to our lives, offering connection to others, living life together, serving our community, and using our Spirit-given gifts to serve Christ and others. We celebrate two Sacraments, Baptism and Communion, given by Christ, which are experiences of his promise and his presence with us. Grace church is made up of imperfect people who are responding day by day in all their relationships to God’s grace. The main responsibility of the church is to serve and offer connection to people outside of relationship with Jesus by offering His full life and helping those who respond to become people who follow Jesus with their whole hearts.