What We Believe
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Engaging every neighbor with the surprising power of grace.
Over the Pew | Over the Fence | Over the Mountain | Overseas
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We will accomplish our mission by:
Developing People
Cultivating Relationships
Pursuing Impact
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GRACE DRIVEN
We emphasize Grace as the good news of God’s unconditional love and transforming power, and the primary message of the church for all people.
RELATIONALLY AUTHENTIC
We strive to be a place of strength and restoration: a community where we can be honest about our brokenness as we call one another to the hope that is promised in Christ.
KINGDOM ORIENTED
We believe that God’s purpose is the gathering of his people from every nation and the renewal of all things through sharing the Gospel and expressing Christ’s lordship in every area of life.
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The following are desired Measures of our growth individually and corporately as we seek to fulfill our Mission in Christ:
Surprising Grace: An ever-deepening personal experience of God’s unconditional love and transforming power that leads to supernatural growth and service.
Surprising Worship: Embracing the truths of the Gospel through music, prayer, teaching and sacraments that lead to an engaging and intimate encounter with the living God.
Surprising Community: Courageous, biblically-based relationships, empowered by grace, that lead to transformational intimacy.
Surprising Growth: Christ-centered teaching, fellowship and discipleship that leads to loving the Lord with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength.
Surprising Generosity: Joyfully choosing to live with less (in our Time, Talents and Treasures) so that others might live with more in Christ.
Surprising Impact: Making a Spirit-filled difference through a grateful lifestyle of generosity, mercy and reconciliation that continues to abound Over the Fence, Over the Mountain and Overseas.
We believe the Bible is the written word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit and without error in the original manuscripts. The Bible is the revelation of God’s truth and is infallible and authoritative in all matters of faith and practice.
We believe in the Holy Trinity. There is one God, who exists eternally in three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, who through His perfect life and sacrificial death atoned for the sins of all who will trust in Him, alone, for salvation. We believe in the power of the Spirit working through the means of grace.
We believe that all are sinners and totally unable to save themselves from God’s displeasure, except by His mercy. We believe that eternal life is received by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. We believe in the absolute sovereignty of God and that He ordains whatever comes to pass; we also believe that man is completely responsible before this holy and sovereign God. We believe that God is gracious and faithful to His people not simply as individuals but as families in successive generations according to His Covenant promises.
We believe in two sacraments: the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper and the sacrament of Covenant Baptism (the baptism of believers who have never been baptized in the past and the baptism of the children of believers as covenant children).
We believe in the primacy of grace to motivate and enable all that we are called to do as humans to bring God glory. We believe that grace alone opens our hearts to respond to the gospel for forgiveness of sins and eternal life; we also believe that grace working in us motivates and enables us to live transformed lives.
We believe that Jesus will return, bodily and visibly, to judge all mankind and to receive His people to Himself.