Jesus of Nazareth is King of all and the Chosen One of God (“lord” and “Messiah”/”Christ”).
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The Bible’s 66 books are inspired of God, authoritative for all matters of living our lives in this world, infallible and inerrant at least in their original writing and no less than wholly sufficient in their current translations.
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God is triune; “too many to be one, but too one to be many.” God the Father, God the Son (Jesus) and God the Spirit are eternally united and yet, also distinct.
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The Good News (“gospel”) lived out and taught by Jesus is that we humans are estranged from God by living our own way (sin), but that God provided the way to be reconciled to Him - He sent Jesus to us. Jesus, God the Son, died to pay for, rectify, and undo our brokenness.
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Jesus’s resurrection proves His authority over everyone and everything. Though Jesus isn’t tangibly, physically in this world any longer, He will be again someday - He will return; in the meantime, He reigns at God’s right hand over everything. Because Jesus was perfectly humble and never demanded His own way, on fulfilling His mission, God completely exalted Him and gave Him authority over all.
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After Jesus’s death, burial and resurrection, He rose into heaven from this world, entrusting His mission to His subsequent followers. “God’s Plan A” for the salvation of the world is His Church - there is no “Plan B.”
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As people, part of us is broken and can be repaired only by the intervention of God; we need to be “saved from ourselves” as well as saved from the consequences of living our own way. Our “being saved” is both a process and an event. It includes: a) hearing God’s good news, b) believing that Jesus lived, died, rose from the dead and that what He said was true, c) rejecting our own way of life (repentance from sin), d) admission we depend wholly on Him (confession), e) immersion as part of our conversion experience, the beginning of our new life in Jesus and in obedience to His command and example, and f) perseverance in what He expects of us.
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Our rescue and redemption from this world require humility. Just as Jesus was humble in His life, we humble ourselves both before Him and in the way that we live our lives every day among people. Jesus came to serve people and God, not to be served by people. Likewise, we, Jesus’ followers, in any way we can seek to serve people - our families, circle of friends, and all in our spheres of influence. Pastors, elders, deacons, volunteers - everyone - who wears the Name of Jesus as one of His followers is defined in God’s Kingdom by their humility and service, not by position, title, rank, or notoriety.
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Labels that we often use in churches - “pastor,” “elder,” “deacon,” etc. - should be understood not merely as offices but far more so as role descriptions and job descriptions. We are all under the leadership and headship of Jesus; all of us are responsible to stand on and live out the “one-anothers” of the New Testament: “submit to one another,” “share each other’s burdens,” “love one another,” “serve one another,” and so on. We believe a congregation’s preacher can and often should be considered a fellow elder, so long as that pastor feels called by God as such; “the elder who preaches.”
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Just as Jesus “came to destroy the work of the devil,” we, His followers, take His light and life to people who are estranged and far from God, helping them see that God calls them out of this dark world and into His wonderful light. All people across all time in all places are made in God’s image. We are priceless - every individual is worth the “price tag” of Jesus’ death. We deal with people in the extreme - ideally, even infinite - compassion that Jesus Himself extended to everyone He met. “It is God’s kindness that brings us to repentance.” God came to us in kindness to save us from ourselves and this world; being made in His image, we treat others as He first treated us.
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There are essential, important, and personal matters of our Christian faith and we do great harm when we confuse those categories. Jesus’ identity, role, sufficiency and work comprise much, but not all, of the essential part of our faith. Recognizing essential, important, and personal distinctions, we want to stand on a sentiment that has been part of our church movement’s history for the past two centuries: “in essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in everything, charity.” Though we pursue non-essential matters, especially what can be understood as important, with all diligence and intentionality, we want to, above all, do so with great charity and humility, both in our attitude and depth of conviction. Despite the gravitas of many important matters, we are convinced of the truth in the lyrics of an old hymn: “turn your eyes upon Jesus … the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.” After the restoration of all things, we know that the vastest majority of all opinion and important matters will simply cease to exist, and we want to be anchored to those essential things which endure eternally.
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