Doctrine

Statement of Faith of Community of Hope

THIS WE BELIEVE

·        That God is One, revealed in the Scriptures as three persons, the Father, the source and creator of all, the Son, our Savior and Lord, and the Spirit, who calls us to faith and empowers us for holy living and effective service.

·        That Jesus Christ, true God and true Man, through His virgin birth, sinless life, death on the cross on our behalf, and resurrection from the dead, offers eternal life to all who believe, and that the same grace that saves also empowers for victorious living.

·        That the whole human race has fallen into sin and cannot be rescued from bondage to sin and to Satan without Christ.

·        That the Word of God, the Bible, is true, and that we can therefore trust in it without reservation. We accept all the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments as a whole and in all their parts as the divinely inspired and revealed Word of God and joyfully submit to it as the only infallible authority in all matters of life and faith.

·        That the Church is composed of all those who have been born of the Spirit by believing in the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. The Church is the Body of Christ, with Jesus Christ as the Head. We strive to submit to Christ’s headship in all things.

·        That baptism unites us with Christ’s death and resurrection and the Lord’s Supper gives us fellowship with the living Christ in His true body and blood.

·        That the local congregation consists of true believers, submitted to Christ, and carrying out His ministry and mandates in the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit, and that pastors help equip the members to do the ministry.

·        That the Holy Spirit gives gifts to all members of the Church to do the supernatural ministry of Christ until He returns. That Christ will return for His Bride, the Church, and that true believers will live forever with Christ, while unbelievers will be sent to eternal punishment.

·        That the Ecumenical creeds, the Apostolic, the Nicene, and the Athanasian, are true declarations of the faith we affirm.

·        That how we live affirms or denies what we profess. We do not want to deny the Gospel by wrong living. We adorn our creed with our conduct.

·        That right relationships are as necessary as right theology. We will not invalidate sound doctrine by unsound attitudes and actions toward others.