OUR CORE BELIEFS

1. Biblical Expository Preaching

The central part of our worship gatherings is to hear the preaching of God’s Word, the Bible. We practice what is called expository preaching. Expository preaching is focused on exposing the meaning of a particular passage in the Bible. This means that the main point of a particular passage is the main point of the sermon. We practice this because the Bible is God’s Word. We believe that God has spoken and we want to know what He has said. We are firmly committed to this practice because we know that God brings new life through His Word. We believe that He is at work in believers shaping them into the image of His Son (Rom 8:29) and that He primarily does this through His Word.

2. God-centered Worship

As we gather together as an assembly of believers, we want to be clear that we have gathered to worship the glorious God of the universe. We structure our service to ensure that our focus is on Him and that it is not about us. We sing songs that are about God and the good news of what He has done through His Son’s sinless life, wrath-absorbing crucifixion, and death-defeating resurrection. As we gather we cry out to God in prayer asking Him to work among us by His Spirit. We want to glorify and delight in Him!

3. Biblical Evangelism and Discipleship

Biblical evangelism is shown when we are faithful to the message of the Gospel and faithful in presenting it to unbelievers. The message informs our methods of sharing the Gospel. We know that only God can give a spiritually dead sinner new life (Eph. 2:1-10). We also know that God uses his people to share the message faithfully in order to draw people to Himself. Therefore, we strive to be faithful to present the Gospel and entrust the results to God.

Biblical discipleship is shown in believers investing their lives in other believers. It is not a program. It is centered on a relationship between a mature believer and a less mature believer (men discipling men and ladies discipling ladies). Discipleship involves this mature believer teaching the younger believer what it means to follow Christ. It will involve teaching him doctrine and modeling for him how this teaching is lived out. All of this is done with a confidence in God’s Word and His Spirit at work within His people.

4. Gospel-centered Living

The Gospel can be summarized under the headings of God, Man, Christ, and Response. The Bible teaches us that God is the sovereign Creator of the universe who created humans in his image to worship and delight in Him. Man however, rejected God’s authority and sinned against him. Therefore, man is born dead in sin and deserving of God’s wrath for all eternity in hell. The good news is that Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, took on human flesh and lived a sinless life, died on the cross absorbing the wrath of God on behalf of those would trust in him by faith, and was raised triumphant from the dead. Therefore, the response to the Gospel is to repent of one’s sins and believe in Christ.

Repentance means that one acknowledges that God would be right to condemn him. Realizing this guilt one then must turn from his old way of life and turn to trust in Jesus. This trustful believing is more than mental assent of facts. It is displayed in a transformed life.

We believe the Gospel is not just the way into the Christian life, but it is the key to living the Christian life. We never leave the Gospel behind. Instead, it is central to our lives as husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, brothers or sisters. It is central to everything we do as believers. We do not live life in obedience to God hoping that He accepts us (legalism). Rather we live in obedience to God because He has accepted us in Christ (Gospel). Therefore, we strive to have relationships with others in our church to encourage one another in living lives powered by the Gospel.

5. Biblical Faith Family

We aspire to be a community of believers who share in each others’ lives. We seek to obey the Scriptural mandate to bear one another’s burdens. We are committed to “doing life together” as a church family. We see in Scripture a clear call to be growing in fellowship and rich, gospel-centered relationships.