What We Believe

GOD

We believe in one Triune God, Creator of all things, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. (Gen. 1-2; Matt. 28:19-20)

 

THE PERSON AND WORK OF CHRIST

We believe that by miracle of the virgin birth the Lord Jesus Christ, eternal Son of God, became man without ceasing to be God in order to reveal God and to redeem man, that He died for our sins (the sins of all men) as a substitutionary sacrifice and arose bodily from the dead for our justification, and that He is now exalted at the right hand of God, Head of the Church and Lord of the individual believer, fulfilling His ministry as our Great High Priest and Advocate. (Matt. 1:20-21; John 1:1-14; Rom. 5:6-11; 1 John 2:1-2; Luke 24; Acts 1:9; Heb. 8)

 

THE RETURN OF CHRIST

We believe in the personal coming of our Lord, first to receive His own to Himself and, later, to set up His earthly kingdom and to reign over redeemed Israel and all nations of the world, bringing peace and blessing to the whole world. We believe that this blessed hope has a vital bearing on our personal life and service. (1 Thess. 4:13-18; 1 Cor. 15:50-58; Rev. 20:4-6)

 

THE MINISTRY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

We believe that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ and that He convicts the world of sin, regenerates the believer, and places him into the Church, which is the Body of Christ. We believe that He indwells, guides, instructs, gives gifts, and empowers the Christian for godly living and service and that He seals and keeps him until the Lord comes. (John 14:16-17; John 16:7-15; 1 Cor. 12:12-13; Eph. 1:13-14)

 

THE BIBLE

We believe the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, are verbally inspired by God, and inerrant in the original writings, and are the Christian's final authority in faith and conduct. (2 Tim. 3:16; 1 Peter 1:19-21)

 

MAN

We believe that man was created perfect in the image of God, but that he sinned, incurring not only physical death but also spiritual death which is separation from God and which is inherited by every member of Adam's race. We believe that every man has an opportunity to respond to Christ as God the Father draws him to His Son. (Gen. 1:26-27; Rom. 1:19-20; 3:23-25; 5:12-21; 6:23)

 

SALVATION

Salvation is the life transformation that comes to all who see themselves as sinners before a Holy God and put their faith in the finished work of Christ on the Cross. Because a believer is a new creation in Christ he will experience all the blessing promised to believers and will desire to obey the Lord in his daily life. This salvation brings eternal life, and establishes the eternal security of every believer. (Rom. 8:1; Eph. 2:8-10; John 6:37-40)

 

THE CHURCH

We believe that the true Church is composed of all who, through faith in Jesus Christ, have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, that those who are the members of the true Church will maintain fellowship in the local church, and that baptism and the Lord's Supper are to be observed by the Church during the present age. The decision to participate in baptism and the Lord's Supper will be on an individual basis, both being symbolic acts designed to teach and remind the believer of deep truths about one's faith in Christ and a loving, obedient relationship with Him. (Acts 2:41; 1 Cor. 12:12-13; Eph. 4:25; Matt. 28:19-20; 1 Cor. 11:17-34)

 

BAPTISM

We believe baptism is one of the ordinances left by Christ for the Church today. Baptism is an outward sign of the inward reality of a person turning from man's way to God's way. To baptize literally means to place into; therefore, the preferred mode of baptism here at Grace Community Church is immersion. We understand baptism to be a beautiful public statement of one's faith in Christ and therefore a great privilege and step of obedience to Christ. (Matt. 28:19-20; Acts 2:38,41; Rom. 6:1-11)

 

COMMUNION

We teach that the Lord's Supper is the commemoration and proclamation of His death until He comes, and should be always preceded by solemn self-examination (1 Corinthians 11:28-32). We also teach that, whereas the elements of Communion are only representative of the flesh and blood of Christ, participation in the Lord's Supper is nevertheless an actual communion with the risen Christ, who indwells every believer, and so is ever present, fellowshipping with His people (Matthew 28:20b).

 

THE CHRISTIAN'S WALK

We believe that we are called with a holy calling to live not according to the desire of the flesh (the old nature within opposed to God's will), but according to the Spirit of God. We believe a person's walk in Christ ought to reflect His attributes of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We trust the Spirit of God to lead the child of God into paths of righteousness.  (Gal. 5:22-23; Rom. 8; Eph. 2:8-10)

 

 

THE ETERNAL STATE

We believe that the souls of those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation do, at death, immediately pass into His presence and there remain until the resurrection of the body at His coming for the Church when the soul and body, reunited, will be with Him forever in glory. We believe that unbelievers will be punished in the lake of fire with everlasting separation from the presence of the Lord and the glory of His power because they have chosen to be opposed to God.  (Phil. 1:23; 1 Cor. 15:50-58; Rev. 20:11-15)