Whether we realize it or not, we’re all theologians. We have have beliefs and ideas about God, and those beliefs shape the way we live our lives in response. Below you’ll find the core beliefs of our community – the beliefs about God and his purposes in the world that shape our lives together. We seek to express these beliefs from both a place of humility and confidence, adopting the posture of the Moravian Church:
“In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty;
and in all things, love.”
We believe there is One God, Creator and Sustainer of all things, existing in three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
We believe the Bible to be the divinely inspired and authoritative Word of God, perfectly revealing His character and purpose to His creation.
We believe that all human beings are created in the image and likeness of God, being made to reflect his character and purpose in all of creation; and have been made in his image, are endowed with inherent dignity, worth, and value.
We believe that sin entered creation by means of man’s disobedience, and that all humanity is born under the weight and wages of sin: death. While sin does not remove our worth and value to God, it turns our hearts inward towards self and away from Him, in need of salvation apart from ourselves.
We believe God’s redemptive purposes in creation are fully known in Jesus Christ, who is the perfect revelation of both God and humanity. Having been born of a virgin, he lived a sinless life, announcing the kingdom of God and calling mankind to repentance and discipleship.
We believe that Jesus’ death on the cross bore the weight and penalty of mankind’s sin, destroying its power by the sacrifice of God’s son. Having overcome sin, the cross enacted a new covenant with God’s people, reconciling and restoring those that trust it’s work on their behalf.
We believe that on the third day, Jesus was resurrected, the firstborn of a new creation. Having defeated death itself, his resurrection now inaugurated His Kingship and authority over all of creation.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity, who is the indwelling presence of God in every believer received upon faith in Jesus Christ. Having purposed humanity to be conformed to the image of Christ, the Holy Spirit was given to empower followers of Jesus to both overcome sin and bear the fruit of Jesus’ life and power uniquely in their own.
We believe that the Holy Spirit is alive and active through the supernatural gifts given to strengthen and equip believers for the work of God in the world. We believe these gifts to be purposed for the sake of edification of the Church in both life and mission.
We believe the Church is the universal family of God across race, nationality, culture, and denomination. We believe that through His Cross, Jesus has not only reconciled us to God, but by his sacrifice, he has reconciled us to one another as a new family, where love for one another is the primary witness of his reign to the world.
We believe the universal Church is alive and active through local, rooted expressions that embody the life and mission of Jesus to the context to which they were called. As God’s reconciled family, the Church is empowered by the Spirit to seek God’s kingdom purposes in every area of life.
We believe in calling men and women to discipleship under the Lordship of Jesus, putting their faith in his saving work, and submitting their life to follow and be conformed to His image in learning to love both God and neighbor. In doing so, we trust Jesus as the way to the Father and the one source of eternal life both now and in eternity.
We believe the Church is a kingdom-shaped family that embodies countercultural community through the pursuit of justice and righteousness ‘on earth as it is in heaven.’ Spurred on by the call to love both neighbor and enemy, we partner with God to bring restoration in every walk of life.
We believe that upon death, those who are in Christ by faith will enter the presence of God, and that upon the return of Christ, will be resurrected in a New Heavens and a New Earth to live eternally with God. Furthermore, those who choose to reject God’s invitation of grace will spend eternity apart from Him.
We believe the culmination of our redemption is the return of Christ, who will destroy sin and death once and for all, ushering in New Creation and reconciling all of creation back to God. Until his return, we live out the reality of our future hope in the present, seeking to embody the love offered to us through the Triune God.