ONE FAITH | ONE FELLOWSHIP | ONE FOCUS
The identity of our church is centered on the gospel. The gospel is what defines our faith, our fellowship, and our focus. The gospel is our DNA. Just as there is only one gospel according to Scripture, we only have one faith, one fellowship, and one focus. The gospel identifies who we are and provides direction for where we are going. We are a gospel-centered church.
ONE FAITH
Our faith is built upon the message of the gospel alone. The gospel is the good news that the God of creation, who is holy and all-powerful, has established a plan to rescue sinners and fully restore creation according to his grace through the perfect life, atoning death, and bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, so that those who repent of sin and believe upon Christ alone through faith alone will be made right with God and have eternal life – all to the praise and glory of his grace, according to the Scriptures.
Since God has revealed his gospel to us through the Scriptures, we submit to Scripture as our final authority and guide in all things. We believe the bible contains “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3), therefore it is the inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Scripture alone is the foundation of our faith.
Since Scripture reveals the gospel to us, we submit to God’s teaching that eternal salvation is only possible through faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ, according to God’s grace (John 14:6; Acts 4:12; 1 Timothy 2:5). Christ alone is the Lord and Savior of our faith.
ONE FELLOWSHIP
The gospel teaches that Christ was sent by the Father to save the world from sin and death (John 3:16). The world includes people from all nations, ethnicities, races, cultures, languages, educational levels, financial conditions, and interests. Therefore, all who trust in Christ for salvation are adopted into the family of God, and should be treated as brothers and sisters among God’s people in the local church. The gospel unites all believers despite our differences. As believers, we are one fellowship in Christ. Just as people from all over the world will be gathered around the throne of God in heaven, our church should represent this gospel reality on earth (Acts 2:42-47; Rev. 7:9-10). We are one fellowship in Christ, and our church must reflect the community where we live.
ONE FOCUS
The gospel teaches us that it was through God’s grace and love that he sent Christ to die for his church. Therefore, Christ’s church must be fully committed to returning glory to God through worship and obedience. Our focus as a church is to bring God glory through obedience to him. While Scripture is filled with many commands to obey, we can summarize those commands as worship, spiritual growth, service, and evangelism.