GOD THE FATHER

We believe in God the Father, Creator and Upholder of all things. The Father is everlasting, perfect, and infinite. He draws people to himself through his Son, in keeping with his eternal plan to redeem a people for himself. He does all that he does by his wise and holy providence, according to his infallible foreknowledge, and by the unchanging counsel of his own will, to his praise and for his own glory. He will carry out all things in their proper time and consummate all things in his Son, Jesus Christ. (Job 22:2-3; 34:10; Psalm 37:1-9; Isaiah 33:10-11; Daniel 3:27; Hosea 1:7; 2:21-22; Luke 10:21-22; Matthew 4:4; 23:7; John 3:16; 6:27; Acts 17:24-28; 31,44; Colossians 1:16-17; Revelation 1:4-6; Romans 1:7; 4:17-21; 1 Timothy 1:1-2; 2:3, 6; 1 Peter 1:3)

 

GOD THE SON

We believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten eternal Son. He is fully God and fully man. He lived a sinless life and offered up that life as a substitutionary and atoning sacrifice for our sins and upheld divine justice, removing our guilt, and secured for us eternal redemption. He was raised from the dead, appeared to many disciples, and ascended into Heaven, where he sits at God’s right hand and intercedes for the saints as our Great High Priest. We await his Second Coming.(Acts 1:11; 1 Corinthians 13:1-28; Hebrews 7:23; 7:28; 1 Peter 2:21-23; Matthew 20:28; Romans 3:6-8; 6,7; 10; 8:34; 1 Timothy 3:16; Revelation 3:12-14)

 

GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT

We believe that the Holy Spirit is fully God, eternally one with the Father and the Son. The primary work of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Jesus. The Holy Spirit convicts unbelievers of their need for Christ and imparts spiritual life through regeneration (the new birth). He indwells, sanctifies, leads, illumines, and empowers the saints to live and serve like Jesus. The Holy Spirit anoints the saints for ministry and witness, imparting supernatural gifts to believers to build up the church. These gifts are to be eagerly desired and lovingly exercised for the good of the church today.(Matthew 3:11; John1:12-13; 3:1-15; 15:26-27; 16:7-15; Romans8:9; 1 Corinthians 12:12-13; 2 Corinthians 1:21-22; Ephesians 1:13-14, 5:18; Ephesians 1:3-14; Romans 12:6-8; 1 Corinthians 12:8-11; Ephesians 4:11-12)

 

THE TRINITY

We believe that one true God exists eternally in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that these, being one God, are equal in deity, power, and glory. We believe the Trinity is without division of nature, essence, or being. (1 John 5:7; Matthew 3:16-17; 2 Corinthians 13:14)

 

CREATION

We believe that God created all things visible and invisible for the manifestation of the glory of his eternal power, wisdom, and goodness. Both Adam and Eve were created equally in the image of God without sin. In creation God ordained that sexual intimacy be expressed between one man and one woman in the context of marriage. Any of other form of sexual intimacy is a perversion of God’s gift of sex. Grace Community Church will perform wedding ceremonies only between a man and a woman as that God-determined gender given at birth. In the ministry of the church, both men and women are encouraged to serve Christ and to be developed to their full potential. (Matthew 10:28, John 1:1-3; Romans 1:20; 2:14-15; Ephesians 5:31-32; Colossians 1:16; 3:10; Hebrews 1:2; 11:3; Revelation 4:11)

 

THE HUMAN CONDITION

We believe that God created Adam and Eve in his own image as the crown of creation. Tempted by Satan, they rebelled against God. Being alienated from God due to their sin, they became subject to divine wrath, inwardly depraved, and, apart from a special work of grace, unable to return to God. Their depravity is pervasive, extending to all mankind. In union with Adam, all mankind is born in and have chosen sin. It is only through the work of the gospel of Jesus Christ that we can be redeemed, reconciled, and renewed. (Genesis 1:27-28; 2:16-17; 3:3; 3:6-8, 11, 13, 23; 6:3; 8:21; Job 13:4; 14:4; Psalm 31:3; Ecclesiastes 7:27; Jeremiah 17:9; Matthew 13:17; Acts17:26; Romans 3:10-18, 23; 3:6, 12, 13-19; 7:18; 8:7; 11:32; 1 Corinthians 13:21-22, 43, 49 ; 2 Corinthians 11:3; Ephesians 2:1-3; Colossians 1:21; Titus 1:13; James 1:14-13; 1 John 1:8,10; Romans 7:3, 8, 14, 17-18, 23; Galatians 3:17)

 

THE WORD OF GOD

We believe that the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, are the divinely inspired and literal Word of God, without error in the original writings, written by men inspired by the Holy Spirit and that it has supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct. In it is found the complete revelation of his will for the salvation of mankind through faith in Jesus Christ. The Bible is the only essential and error-free record of God’s self-disclosure. (Matthew 5:18; John 10:35; 17:17; 20:31; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21)

 

THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST

We believe that Jesus Christ is the gospel. The Good News is revealed in the birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. Christ’s death is a substitutionary and propitiatory [seeking forgiveness] sacrifice to God for our sins. His death upon the cross is the heart of the gospel. His atoning death and victorious resurrection are the only means by which we can be saved. There is no other name by which men must be saved. (Luke 2:10,11; 2 Corinthians 4:3-6; 1 Corinthians 2:2, 15: 1-4; Acts 8: 32-35; John 20:30; 17:2,3; 1 Timothy 1:15; 2:16; Luke 24:45-47; Romans 1:1-4; 3:21-26; 5:15-21; 6:1-4; Acts 1:6-11; 1 John 2:2; 3:9,10; Philippians 2:5-11; 1 John 14:6)

 

 SALVATION

We believe that by complete and perfect obedience to God and by his suffering and his death, Jesus Christ obtained forgiveness of sins and the gift of his righteousness for all who trust in God. Human beings are accountable for their response to the forgiveness, pardon, and reconciliation offered to them in the Lord Jesus Christ. When an individual trusts in him, the person is justified by God and adopted into his family. God’s will for believers is that they exhibit transformed lives evidenced by purity, holiness, and growth in Christ-like character. (Matthew 22:14; John 6:44; 14:6; Romans 8:2, 30; 9:11; 11:7; Ephesians 1:4-12, 17-19; 2:1-3; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14; 2 Timothy 1:9-10; Titus 3:4-3; Acts 26:18; 1 Corinthians 2:10-12; Philippians 2:13)

 

THE CHURCH

We believe that the Church is the bride of Christ, comprised of all believers of every age. The true church is manifest in local churches, and is God’s primary instrument through which he fulfills his redemptive purposes in the earth. God has called upon the church to preach the gospel to all nations, to remember the poor and minister to their needs through sacrificial giving and service. God has given water baptism and the Lord’s Supper to the Church to be observed until Jesus returns. (Isaiah 58:6-12; 61:1; Matthew 16:17-19; 28:18-20; Luke 4:18; 21:1-4; Acts 2:17-18, 42; Galatians 2:10; Ephesians 3:14-21; 4:11-16; 1 Timothy 6:8; Hebrews 10:23-25; 1 Peter 2:4-5, 9-10)

 

EVANGELISM AND MISSION

We believe that what God begins in his justifying grace is continued in his sanctifying grace. The calling and privilege of every child of God is to go and make disciples of the nations and live lives of purity, holiness, and growth in Christ-like character that is made possible by the new birth. With God’s Word and the indwelling presence and power of the Holy Spirit, we are being transformed, resulting in children of God who actively seek to take the gospel to sinners, carrying out the Great Commission in word and deed. (Matthew 9:37-38; Matthew 24:14; Romans 1:3; 1 Peter 2:9; Revelation 22:17)

 

THE RETURN OF JESUS CHRIST

We believe in the glorious, personal, triumphant return of Jesus Christ. After Christ returns, he will bring about the defeat of Satan, the resurrection of the dead, the final judgment, and the eternal blessings of the righteous. At that time, the Kingdom of God will be completely fulfilled in the new heavens and the new earth. Heaven is a real place of eternal blessedness in the presence of God for those made righteous in Christ alone. Hell is a real place of eternal suffering for those whose names are not written in God’s Book of Life. The second coming of Christ is our blessed hope and motivates believers to live to the glory of God. (1Corinthians 15:20-28; 50-58; Philippians 3:20-21; 1 Thessalonians 4:13–5:11; 2 Thessalonians 1:3-12; Revelation 19:1-21)