CHRIST FELLOWSHIP STATEMENT OF BELIEFS       

   We, as a church, seek to stand in the mainstream of historic, orthodox Christianity as expressed in the early creeds of the church, as grounded in Scripture, and as expressed in more recent times by the term ‘Evangelical’.

   We, therefore, believe in the One, True God Who has revealed Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit; three distinct Persons, yet One God.

   We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ; his eternal preexistence as God the Son, his Incarnation by Virgin birth; his sinless life, his substitutionary death for the sins of the world, his resurrection from the dead, his ascension, and his Coming again in power and glory as Judge of all.

   We believe fully in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit; that he convicts the world of sin and righteousness and of judgment to come; that he indwells, seals, fills, guides and gives spiritual gifts to true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.

   We believe that “all Scripture is God breathed”.  Our view of Scripture is that set forth in the Chicago Statement on Inerrancy of 1978.

   We believe that humans, male and female, were created in the Image of God and that all humans have dignity and worth in God’s sight from the moment of conception.  We believe that all who die in their sins outside of the salvation that is in Christ alone, will be “judged according to what they have done” and, as the Apostle Paul wrote, be forever “shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power”. We believe that all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory and that salvation from the penalty and power of sin and the free gift of eternal life are available to all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

   We believe in righteous living and good works, not as in any way the procuring cause of salvation, but as the necessary evidence and fruit of salvation.  We believe, in the words of the Apostle Peter, that baptism is “the reply of a good conscience toward God”, and that it should be in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  We believe that believers should from time to time share the bread and cup of communion to “show forth the Lord’s death until He comes”.

   We believe that marriage is ordained of God as a lifetime commitment between one man and one woman; that men are to be servant/leaders in both the home and the church; that they are to love their wives as Christ loves the church and are to honor and protect all woman and girls under their care; that men, as servant/leaders in the church, are to recognize the gifts that the Holy Spirit gives to all believers, including women and girls, and make provision for those gifts to be exercised under the Holy Spirit’s direction.

   We believe that there are some matters of interpretation of Scripture in which true believers in the Lord Jesus can have differences of opinion.  These are sometimes called “secondary matters”, not because they are unimportant, but to distinguish them from essential Christian beliefs.  As a church we welcome all who truly believe in the Lord Jesus and who commit to “keeping the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”.

   So that there are no misunderstandings, we here set forth some beliefs that we as a church hold, but recognize that not all believers agree on. We expect the event that believers call “the Rapture” to be imminent.  We believe that God will restore the people of Israel, the Jewish people, to Himself, and that we should have a special love for the Jewish people as the physical descendants of Abraham.  That Christ, at His Second Coming, will reign as King of Kings and that all the prophecies of the Messianic Kingdom of peace and righteousness will be literally fulfilled. 

  We believe that true believers are kept by the power of God but recognize the sin of apostacy.  We leave with God the question of whether such a person was ever a true believer or not.

   We recognize that any statement of beliefs can never cover every possible situation that may arise in the life of a church.  But a spirit of humility and looking to the Holy Spirit to guide us in the Scriptures, we believe, will be the way to deal with any situations that may arise.