BELIEFS
It can be intimidating to approach a new community when you don't know what to expect. The hope of writing out some of our beliefs is so you can know how—or let's be real, if—you want to engage with this community. We are not going to shame you or push you out if you don't agree with what is written here. But hopefully, it will give you insight as to where we are coming from as we operate in this world-view.
There is never a time questions can't be asked. God is way bigger than our questions. If there is something we don't know, that is okay, and we anticipate learning more the longer we are in relationship with God.
The following may seem pretty dense or complicated, but you don't need to know or agree to everything to begin a relationship with God or other people following God.
How we approach the Bible
We get this verbiage from The Bible Project, which is a phenomenal resource to dive into Biblical Theology.
Human and Divine Literature
The Bible is the result of a creative collaboration between humans and God’s Spirit. By exploring its humanity, we discover its divinity. By confessing its divinity, it transforms our humanity.
Ancient Literature
The Bible was written in another time and culture, and we need to honor that ancient historical context as we come to understand it better.
Unified Literature
The Bible has many authors, literary styles, and themes, but it tells one story about God’s creation and rescue of humanity to become his partners in overseeing the world.
Messianic Literature
The story of the Bible and all of its main themes come to their fulfillment in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection and the gift of the Spirit.
Wisdom Literature
The Bible invites its readers to not simply learn new ideas, but to go on a journey of character transformation that leads to wise living.
Meditation Literature
As ancient Jewish literature, the Bible is artistically designed to reveal its meaning over a lifetime of re-reading and reflection.
Communal Literature
The Bible was designed to be read and studied within a community that is learning to live within its story.
How we begin to understand the Trinity
The word "Trinity" never explicity appears in the Bible, but it is a way that the Church has collectively agreed is a faithful way to understand who God is. The things we know about God are the things he has expressed throughout the Bible, and our interactions with him reinforce those teachings.
The biblical authors felt comfortable describing the one God as three persons to portray his complex identity. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This complex unity is what the biblical authors want us to see.
“This ‘God’ simply doesn’t fit the mold of any other. The Trinity is not some inessential add-on to God, some optional software that can be plugged into him. At bottom, in essence, this God is not first of all Creator or Ruler or even “Deity” in some abstract sense. He is Father, loving his Son in the fellowship of the Spirit. A God who is in himself a community of love, who before all things could never be anything but love. And if you trust and come to know such a being, it changes absolutely everything.” – Michael Reeves, Delighting in the Trinity, pp. 36-38.
God the Father
“Jesus called God ‘Father’ because he is a father. It’s a name rich with meaning. A father is someone who gives life, who ‘begets’ children… If, before all things, God was eternally a father, that means “God” is an inherently outgoing, others-centered, life-giving God. The Christian God did not give life for the first time when he decided to create the universe. We’re asked to consider that from eternity God in his essence is life-giving… This is why in 1 John 4, he says “God is love,” because in the next sentence he says “This is how God revealed his love among us: he sent his One and Only Son, that we might live through him.” The God who is love is the Father who sends the Son. To be Father means to love, to give out life, to the Son and through him to others.” – Michael Reeves, Delighting in the Trinity, 24.
"God’s relationship with Jesus is not a one-created-the-other relationship. Instead, their relationship is a symbiotic one. They give and receive love as a father and son should give and receive love." - Jon Collins
We believe the Father loves us, and "in all things, God is working for the good of those who love him."
God the Son
We know the Son to be Jesus as he revealed himself in the four Gospel accounts within the New Testament. In the Hebrew scriptures (Old Testament) this character was referred to as "The Son of Man," first in the book of Daniel. He is the culmination and fulfillment of the ancient Israelite promise the the God of Israel said that he would come to visit and rescue his people.
The Birth of Jesus
We believe that at the Father’s appointed time, the pre-existent Christ took on human flesh, being conceived by the Holy Spirit, and was born of a virgin, Mary. He thus became a true man without ever ceasing to be God.
The Death of Jesus
We believe that, according to the Scriptures, the sinless Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins once and for all upon the cross as our representative and substitutionary sacrifice. All who believe in Him, by grace through faith alone, are justified on the basis of His shed blood. We are as forgiven as Jesus was dead: completely.
The Resurrection of Jesus
We believe that, according to the Scriptures, Jesus Christ arose physically from the dead in the same body, though glorified, in which He had lived and died. He was raised for our justification and His resurrection body is the pattern of that body which will be given to all believers.
The Work of Jesus
We believe that Jesus Christ ascended to Heaven and is now seated at His Father’s right hand, assuring us of the perfection of His work of redemption, and that He now, as Head over the Church, is engaged on behalf of those in relationship with Him as Intercessor and Advocate.
The Return of Christ
We believe in our Lord Jesus Christ’s return to unite heaven and earth, restoring the world to its original intent: A place where all of creation and those that opened their heart to the Lord will dwell with him.
“The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of God’s being. As the light from the lamp is of the same nature as the flame which shed the brightness and is united with it [where does the light “begin”?], so the Son is of the Father and the Father is never without the Son; for it is impossible that glory should be without radiance, as it is impossible that the lamp should be without brightness.” – “On the Faith,” in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 2.5, p.338
God the Holy Spirit
God's personal presence and energy that we can interact with here in creation. The Spirit is distinct from the Father and the Son, but is also God. The Holy Spirit lives in us when we yield our lives to the Lord. Galatians 4:4: “Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”
In both the work of creation (Genesis 1) and in the work of new creation (the Gospel stories), God’s word goes out by his Spirit. It’s all revealing what God is truly like. The Spirit is the One through whom the Father loves, blesses, and empowers his Son. The Son goes out from the Father by the Spirit.” – Michael Reeves, Delighting in the Trinity, 30
People cannot make themselves change, but God does this through the Holy Spirit. He convicts men of sin, regenerates, indwells, baptizes, seals, and sets believers apart to a holy life. He keeps and empowers believers day by day to live in accordance to His Word. He bears witness to the truth of the Gospel and is the Teacher of the Word of God.
We believe the Holy Spirit bestows gifts to believers for building up the Body of Christ. We believe Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, would demonstrate God's kingdom advancing with signs of healing (physical and internal), prophecy, and other miracles. We believe these signs and miracles still happen through the Holy Spirit today as Jesus commanded.
Humanity and Sin
"Everything happens for a reason." Yes...but, it's not necessarily God orchestrating it all.
In the beginning, God created a good world, one where humans lived with God, all the time, in His loving presence. He even created us with authority, to "rule over" and "subdue" the earth (Genesis 1:26-28). God made us good. He made us to reflect his character. He made us in His image. He also gave us free will, not forcing us to live a particular way. He gave us choice.
Sin and evil emerged in humanity when we decide that God's version of good is not what we think is good, and we begin to define good and bad for ourselves. If you've heard of the story of The Garden of Eden, it seems like the authors want to demonstrate the fact that humanity has partnered with a spiritual revolt against God. In that spiritual revolt (represented by the snake in the story), humanity gave the authority God gave them to the evil that got them to distrust God's good plan.
Sin and evil persist when humans give into the spiritual powers and when humanity does what is good in their own eye. Play that out in just about every circumstance, and that problem pervades the world: as small as a driver cutting another off in traffic—because it helps them get where they are going, so it is "good" for them—or even as large as war—because a country perceives a benefit or an assets they deem valuable for those in their country. No one sets out to do evil, but who defines what is good?
Our fight is not against people. Knowing this actually allows Jesus-followers to have more patience when engaging with the world because we know God has a good plan for them and can bring restoration to them if they are willing to yield a distorted view of autonomy, power, and self-preservation.
Monolatry
Monotheism is the belief that there is only one God, while monolatry is the belief that while other deities or spiritual beings may exist, only one is worthy of worship.
This is a statement that can get uncomfortable for some branches of the Church: we believe the Bible is clear that there are many other spiritual entities that God created, and that some of those entities have governing authorities that impact our world. There's a long list we are familiar with throughout the Old and New Testaments: angels, Satan, demons that cause strife even in the New Testament that Jesus easily overcomes, etc.
Salvation
We believe that salvation is the free gift of God’s grace, based entirely on the merit of Christ’s shed blood and not human merit or works. Faith alone in Jesus Christ alone is the only requirement for salvation. All who by grace through faith believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, who confess Him as such, yield their lives to him, and are born again of the Holy Spirit become children of God and inherit eternal life with Christ. Those who are born again will give evidence of their new life in Christ through their desire to be separated from sin and to live in a way that pleases and glorifies God. They are kept by the power of God and are secure in Christ forever.
If someone professing a life following Christ later denies him, we as people cannot determine their hearts, only God can. But we can pray they come to know Him fully. There are so many reasons that someone may feel compelled to leave "the faith," and commonly it's from other humans hurting them. But it could even be a mercy that someone's faith is sifted if they had built a relationship with God on a faulty premise other than choosing to love God simply because he is worthy. We cannot then as Christians ostracize or cast out these individuals. We turn to prayer and ask the Holy Spirit for discernment in how best to support those who God loves dearly.
Heaven
This may come as more of a surprise, but our goal as Christians is not necessarily to go to heaven. Our only desire is to know God and his goodness.
The Bible itself doesn't really emphasize heaven, but it does have a clear message that God intends to reunify the world and heaven. It was not God's will for heaven and earth to be ripped apart (read the story of the Garden of Eden), because he wants to partner and rule his good world together with his dignified, image-bearing human beings.
In Mark 1:15 Jesus' gospel (message of good news) was that "the time has come...the Kingdom of God has come near. Repent, and believe the good news." So, in Jesus' mind, the story of the Bible, who he is, what he's here to do, and the gospel is about God coming here "on earth as it is in heaven." Jesus talks about the Kingdom of God (or the Kingdom of Heaven) all the time, and it's not somewhere you go after you die, it's something that has arrived in Jesus.
Long story short on why someone cares about heaven is usually "what happens when I die?"
There is the promise that we get to be with the Lord when we die. Revelation (the last book of the New Testament) describes the promise of the new Garden of Eden, now in the form of a city, coming to end the age of sin and death by redeeming all of human history in a renewed creation, where God's space and human's space completely overlap once again like he originally created.
Related to the conversation of heaven would be about "Hell." Hell was not a part of God's original design that we read in Genesis: he made the heavens and the earth, and he made them good. Hell is something created when we are separated from God, by the urge to not trust God's definition of good and evil, and to seize autonomy as we see fit. Hell is present now, and God wants to get hell away from us. Hell is this concept and reality that there is something that has gone wrong in us, that affects and can consume this world and people, and Jesus is the good surgeon that can remove that bad thing from us. But we do not have to let him. God does not force us to be a part of this reunion of heaven and earth, and allows us to reject him and to stay separated from him.