Statements of Fundamental Beliefs:
We Believe:
1. There is one God who is eternally existent in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God is infinitely perfect and is the creator of all things.
2. The Bible is the infallible inspired word of God and is without error in the original autographs. It is the Divine revelation of God's will, His plan of salvation, and is the complete authority for the believer's faith, life and service.
3. Jesus Christ is true God and true man, was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He gave His life as the perfect sacrifice for our sins, arose bodily from the dead by the power of God, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God. He is our High Priest, Advocate, Intercessor, Redeemer and Lord, Savior and God.
4. The Holy Spirit is the Divine Nature of God whose primary work is to convict the lost with the message of the gospel, and to guide, instruct in righteousness, regenerate and comfort the Believer. The baptism of the Holy Spirit supernaturally empowers believers to be witnesses and equips them for service and ministry. The gifts and fruit of the Holy Spirit glorify Jesus Christ and are manifested in the life of the believer daily. Speaking in tongues is a continuing gift of the Holy Spirit, yet as all of His gifts, is not for personal exaltation or promotion. 1
5. The blood of Jesus provides justification and salvation for those who believe in Him. Mankind was created in the image of God, but because of the original sin, is therefore lost. Only through regeneration by the Holy Spirit can salvation be obtained and spiritual life restored. Only those who believe in and receive Jesus Christ as both Lord and Savior are born of the Holy Spirit.
6. In Progressive Christianity, which is true Christianity. Progressive Christianity is the process of a fully surrendering ones life to the Divine and perfect will of God. It is the life of purity, productivity, and passion to keep the Covenant relationship with Him. The progressive Christian is one who has become the property and and possession of God, freely admits that his or her life is not their own, and who desires the measure of the statue of the fullness of Christ.
7. The true Ecclesia (Assembly or Church) is composed of these believers united together in the Body of Christ. An ecclesia (assembly or church meeting) is composed of two or more gathered in the name of Jesus Christ. It is not necessarily an earthly institution of organization of humanity, but a spiritual organism. Church meetings are not ends in themselves, but means to an end, which is the perfect will of God. 2
8. In the five ministry offices given to the Ecclesia for the purpose of "equipping the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head; Christ; from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love." (Ephesians 4:12-16 NKJV) There is no indication in the Scripture or in a point of fulfillment that either the supernatural miracles, nor any of these offices have been discontinued. 3
9. The personal and premillennial coming of our Lord Jesus Christ to destroy the works of the wicked and set up His eternal kingdom on earth. At His coming, there will be a bodily resurrection of the dead; of the believer to everlasting life; of the unbeliever to judgment and everlasting death. We discard the pretribulation rapture theory as an eschatological presumption of man that was derived from false prophecy and misinterpretation of the Scriptures.
10. Water baptism by immersion and Communion are ordinances to be observed by the Ecclesia, but are not to be regarded as means of salvation.
11. Salvation is a covenant relationship with God the Father and as such can be broken by mankind. There is no biblical basis for the doctrine of Election or Unconditional Eternal Security. The Bible is clear that eternal security is conditional and maintained by the believer's continuing faith in God and submission to His Lordship. The person who breaks the covenant relationship with God by repeated unrepentant sin and rejection of His Lordship is in danger of judgment and eternal death.
12. There is one Mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ. It is therefore superfluous and specious to submit to earthly priests and popes for any reason. Each believer may pray directly to God and receive answers to those prayers directly from God. Praying to the Virgin Mary, saints, icons or other idols is expressly forbidden by the word of God.
13. In the public and unashamed witness of the believer's life as a light that shines in darkness. The believer's life is a witness of the indwelling presence of God, the Holy Spirit. As such, each believer must endeavor to study the Bible and pray daily to progressively reflect the image of Christ through his or her life. There should be no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. We should love the sinner and hate the sin. Our love must be expressed in compassionate concern for the physical as well as the spiritual well being of all humanity. 4
14. In the assembly (ecclesia) of true believers both in home meetings and in corporate assemblies. We denounce Churchanity, the practice of meetings that have an end in themselves, and all the associative effort and doctrine that support its aberration. True ecclesia's are meetings of true Christians for the purpose of fellowship, feasting on the Word of God, sharing God's Word, activity of the various gifts, and the delivery of a divinely appointed message. However, none of these meetings are to be considered either the epitome of Christianity or the full duty of individual Christians. The assemblies are simply the means to the end, which is each believers calling and purpose, share, part, or contribution to the Body of Christ and the effectiveness thereof.
1. Spiritual Gifts: We do not believe that spiritual gifts can be abused, but rather that they are imitated. The spiritual gifts are of God, and He will not pour His gifts into a defiled temple. The fact is that there are many false gifts operating today, including false glossolalia. These false gifts have cast a bad light on the true gifts of God.
We are neither Charismatic or Pentecostal. Neither do we accept the titles Roman Catholic nor Protestant. Instead, we are Christians. Our beliefs may appear to agree on some point(s) with an established church, denomination, or movement, but they are not taken from these entities. We come to our conclusions about doctrine by studying the Word of God.
3. The Gifts of Leadership to the Ecclesia:
God gave five leadership gifts to the Ecclesia. For this reason, we do not call these gifts the "Five-fold Ministry." Everyone in the early church was to be a minister. The idea of five ministries, and the rest of the people as laity is a modern view. The people who filled these five offices were humble men that considered themselves to be servants, not "lords over God's heritage."
True holiness is not gained by legalism, which is obedience to the Mosaic Law or the laws or traditions of men. Rather, it is appropriated by obedience to God (1 Peter 1:16 NKJV) ...because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy."). We cannot obtain holiness without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which is the Divine Nature of God. He establishes in our hearts and minds the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. A true Christian has his or her senses exercised to discern both good and evil. No legalist can live as holy as one who is submitted to the Holy Spirit and whose life is consecrated to God in full surrender.
