God Is Love

He is eternal, all-powerful, and all-knowing. He is the Creator and Ruler of all things and the source of compassion, goodness, and justice. There is one God: an equal unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Psalms 6:4; 118:1-4; 119:156; 1 Chronicles 16:34; 2 Thessalonians 3:5; Revelation1:8; Genesis 1:1; John 1:1-4; 14, 18;

1 John 4:7-10; Luke 18:19; Proverbs 29:26

A Place to Belong

God’s desire is for all people to be part of His family – the church. In a world where people are often misunderstood, criticized, and harmed, the church must stand as the place where people are protected, valued, accepted, and unconditionally loved. In this environment the church can fulfill its purpose to worship God together, encourage each other, serve the disadvantaged, and fulfill the Great Commission.

Romans 12:4-5; Ephesians 4:1-4; Acts 2:42-47; Matthew 28:16-20; Hebrews 10:25; Psalms 34:3; Proverbs 27:17; Galatians 6:2

Saved By Grace

All people were created in the image of God to have relationship with Him, but became separated through disobedience. As a result, people are incapable of regaining a right relationship with God through their own efforts. Jesus Christ came to make a way to restore the broken relationship by living a sinless human life that fully met God’s standard of holiness. His voluntary death on the cross bore all the guilt of humanity. The blood of Jesus, shed on the cross, provides the sole basis for the forgiveness of sin. God freely offers the gift of salvation to those who BELIEVE ( place their faith) in the death and resurrection of Jesus as sufficient payment for their sin. When we accept Jesus’ gift, we share in His goodness and restored relationship and eternal life. The Bible calls this grace – favor and power we have not earned for ourselves.

Genesis 3; Luke 23 & 24; John 3:16, 17; Romans 5 Galatians 5:1; Ephesians 2:8-9

Our True Guide

The Holy Spirit is present in the world to make us aware of our need for Jesus. At our invitation, He provides us with power for understanding of spiritual truth and guidance in doing what is right. He gives us spiritual gifts. We seek to live under His control daily in alignment with the Bible. We aspire to reflect God’s character and follow His will as expressed in the two great commandments – love God and love people. God’s ten commandments, found in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, expand and clarify these two great commands. Because of our spiritual brokenness, the Spirit enables our obedience and transformation.

John 14:26-27, Acts 1:7-8, 2:17-21, 4:31, Romans 5:3-5, Galatians 3:5-6, Ephesians 4:30

Gods Word

The Bible is our principal source of knowledge about God and His story of redemption. It is our ultimate authority for truth, our guidebook for life, and a key way God speaks to us.

Psalm 119:25-32, 105; John 17:17; Mathew 4:4; Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12; 2 Timothy 3:14-17

Sweet Communication

Prayer is talking with and listening to God just as we talk to our friends. It is an act of personal or public expression involving praise, thanksgiving, confession, and humble request.  Prayer increases our intimacy with God. It is so simple that anyone can do it and yet it releases more of God’s power than any other activity we can do. Prayer empowers us, through the Holy Spirit, to accomplish Jesus’ mission on earth for the glory of God.  

Psalms 16:7-11; Matthew 6:5-13; Mark 11:17; John 15:4-8; Galatians 4:6-7; Ephesians 1:15-19; Phillipians 4:6-7; Thessalonians 5:17; James 4:8; 5:13-16

Jesus' Return

Our greatest hope is the soon return of Jesus to earth, this time in all His glory, to rescue the redeemed and seal the victory over sin forever. His return will be real, visible, and experienced worldwide. You can’t miss it.

John 14:1-3, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Matthew 16:27, Revelation 1:7

New Life

Baptism by water immersion publicly shares our decision to die to our own ways and allow Jesus to live out His life in us - being “born again” so that we live in agreement with Jesus’ ways.

John 3:5-7; Matthew 3:13-17; Romans 6:3-6; 1 Peter 3:18-22; Acts 22:14-16

A Time To Refresh

As the world around us seems to spin faster and faster, we thoughtfully press pause each week and enjoy God’s gift of Sabbath. We rest in His grace and care and use His gift of time to bring our hearts and minds into sync with His. Each Saturday (as did Moses, David, Jesus, Paul, the disciples and all Christians for over 350 years after the resurrection), we celebrate and savor this day of close relationship, the sign of creation and redemption. We worship corporately with our church family. We rest, recharge, and reflect on the stories of God and how they relate to our own. We explore God’s creation. We count our blessings. We remember that we are not God. We cannot be everything to everyone, everywhere. We can only share – we cannot save.

Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 20:8-11; Leviticus 23:3; Deuteronomy 5:14; Luke 4:16; Isaiah 66:22-23

The Use of Gods Blessings

God is the source of all our provisions. All that we have and are we owe to Him. We have a spiritual obligation to others. We are called to serve with our time, talents, spiritual gifts, and material possessions. We recognize that these blessings are given to us to reveal God’s love to others. According to the Scriptures, we choose to contribute cheerfully, generously, regularly, according to a plan, and in proportion to God’s blessings for the advancement of Jesus’ mission on earth.

Leviticus 27:30-32; Deuteronomy 8:11-18; Malachi 3:8-12; Matthew 6:1-4; 25:14-29; Luke 12:16-21; 16:1-13; Acts 2:44-47; 20:35; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 4:1-2; 6:19-20; 2 Corinthians 8 & 9; Philippians 4:17:19

A Vibrant Life

Our bodies and minds are God’s creation and the residence of His Spirit. We choose to care for ourselves so that we can effectively represent Him to others and carry out the important work He has given us.

Genesis 1:27; Ephesians 2:22; 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20; 2 Corinthians 5:18-20

Sex Is Good

God invented sex as an expression of love, for our enjoyment, and to enable us to participate in the miracle of human life. To protect this wonderful gift and the people He created to enjoy it, God insists that sex be shared exclusively in the context of a loving marriage covenant. Sexual activity in any other setting hurts and demeans people and relationships. Marriage is intended by God to be a permanent, loving covenant between a man and a woman.

Genesis 1:27, 28; Genesis 2:18, 21-24; Exodus 20:14; Matthew 5:27, 28; Matthew 19:4-6; Proverbs 6:32; Proverbs 5:15-19; Hebrews 13:4; Romans 13:1-5

When We Die

There is a hope. Solomon says, “the dust (body) returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.” He also noted that “the dead know nothing.” Jesus described death as sleep. When a person dies, God receives his spirit and preserves it in an unconscious state until one of two resurrections. The ones trusting Jesus are brought to life when He returns at the end of the world. Those refusing God’s gift are raised to life after 1,000 years, when God puts a final end to sin. They experience the fulfillment of Romans 6:23, ”…the wages of sin is death.” Then God will restore the earth to its original perfection as He promised – no more tears, sorrow or pain!

John 11:11-14; Luke 8:49-56; Ecclesiastes 12:7; Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6; Psalm 146:4; John 5:28, 29; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 20-21