STATEMENT OF FAITH

Below we have listed where we stand as New Covenant Church on many of the main doctrines of Scripture. While there is area for disagreement on some of these doctrines they reflect where we have landed as a leadership and as a church and reflect what will primarily be taught from the pulpit, in classes, and across our ministries.

The Scriptures

We believe the Bible to be the completely and fully inspired Word of God, without error in the original writings, the supreme and final authority in doctrine and practice, and is our trustworthy guide for living a life pleasing to God.  (II Timothy 3:16-17, II Peter 1:20-21, John 17:17, Matt. 5:18)

We believe the Bible is to be interpreted in a normal and literal way. This means to consider history, grammar, context, and harmony with other Scripture as guidelines for interpretation. We believe that the Holy Spirit guides the believer to understand the Bible. We believe that God’s revelation to mankind is complete, and that He speaks to mankind through the Scriptures.  (II Timothy 2:15, John 16:12-15, Revelation 22:18, 19)

The Godhead

We believe in one God eternally existing in three equal persons---Father, Son and Holy Spirit---who have the same nature and attributes but who are distinct in office and activity.  (Deut. 6:4, II Cor. 13:14, Matt. 28:19)

The Person and Work of God the Father

We believe God the Father is the Creator of all things. In His nature, He is, among other things, completely holy, all-powerful, all-knowing, omnipresent, eternal, just and loving. He is totally sovereign in all that has or shall come to pass.  As such, He is the author of election, through which He chooses a people for Himself. (Ps. 139:1-18, I John 1:5, John 3:16, Eph. 1:3-6)

The Person and Work of Christ

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man without ceasing to be God. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary in order that He might reveal God to mankind and redeem sinful people. We believe that He accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross as a substitutionary sacrifice. We believe that our redemption and salvation are guaranteed to us by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead.  (John 1:1, 14, 18, Luke 1:35, Rom. 3:24-26, 4:25)

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ now lives in heaven, exalted at the right hand of God, where as His people’s High Priest, He fulfills the ministry of intercession and advocacy. (Heb. 1:3, 3:1, 7:23-25, 9:24, 12:2, I John 2:1-2)

The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit

We believe that God, the Holy Spirit, is the person of the trinity whose ministry is to restrain evil in the world, convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. He also regenerates those who receive Christ as Savior, baptizing them at the moment of salvation into the church (the body of Christ), indwelling them permanently, sealing them until the day of redemption, bestowing on them spiritual gifts, and empowering them for godly living and service. It is the Spirit’s ministry to lead, instruct, and fill (control) believers as they are yielded to Him.  (John 3:8, 14:16-17, 15:26-27, 16:7-15 Eph. 1:13-14, 4:30, 5:18 Titus 3:5, I Cor. 6:19, I Cor. 12:4-11, 13, Rom 8:14)

Salvation

We believe that every person is lost in sin apart from Christ and in need of a Savior. We believe that salvation is a gift of God and is received by a person only through personal faith in Jesus Christ. We believe that a person is justified by grace through faith alone, apart from works.  (Eph. 2:8-9, Rom 6:23, John 1:12, Rom 3:23-24, Eph. 1:7)

We believe that all true believers, once saved, are kept secure in Christ forever. (Rom. 8:1, 29-30, 38-39, John 6:37-40, John10:27-30) 

Sanctification

We believe that sanctification, which is a setting apart of an individual unto God, is positional, progressive, and ultimate.

Positionally, it is already complete at the moment a person trusts Christ for salvation, since the believer is in Christ and is set apart unto God as Christ is set apart unto God. Since the believer retains their sinful nature, however, there is need for progressive sanctification (or spiritual growth) whereby the Christian matures in grace by the power of the Holy Spirit and the daily intake of the Word. The child of God will be fully sanctified when he is taken to be with Christ and becomes likeHim. (John 17:17, II Cor. 3:18, Eph. 5:25-27, I Peter 2:2-3, I Thess. 5:23, Heb. 10:10,14, I John 3:2-3, Galatians 2:20)

Creation and the Fall

We believe that all things in heaven and on earth were created by God and exist by His power and for His glory. (Gen. 1:1, Col. 1:16-17)

We believe that the Scriptures provide a literal and historical account of God’s creation of all things. The climax of the six days of creation was the special, immediate and personal creation of human life. The first humans, Adam and Eve, were directly created, not evolved from previous life forms. God created humans, male and female, in His image. Human life, sexual identity and roles are aspects of God’s creative design. From creation, marriage is a covenant between a man and a woman that should be marked by sexual purity, mutual submission, and sacrificial male leadership. We believe that children, including unborn babies are a divine blessing from God. Adam and Eve, though created in perfection, sinned, warranting physical death, spiritual death, and eternal separation from God. Consequently, all human beings are born with a sinful nature, and are sinners in thought, word, and deed.  (Genesis 1:1-27, 2:7-25, 3:1-24, Psalm 127:3-5, Romans 1:18-32, 3:10-19, 5:12-19, Ephesians 5:22-33, Colossians 3:18-19)

We believe that mankind was created innocent and in the image and likeness of God but that they sinned, bringing both physical and spiritual death to himself and to his offspring. We believe that all people have inherited a sinful nature, are alienated from God, are incapable of redeeming themselves, and are in need of salvation. (Gen. 1:26-27, 2:17, 3:1-24, Rom. 3:10-12, 23, 5:12, 17-19, Eph. 2:1-3, 12)

The Church

We believe that the universal church, the body and Bride of Christ, is a spiritual organism, made up of all born- again persons of this present age irrespective of their affiliation with Christian organizations. We believe that the church began at Pentecost and that a believer is placed into the church by the baptizing work of the Holy Spirit.  We believe that the church is distinct from Israel. (Eph. 1:22-23, 5:25-27, I Cor. 12:12-13, 10:32, Acts 2:1-4)

We believe that the local church is an assembly of professed believers in Jesus Christ who are voluntarily joined together in one locality for the purpose of worship, study of the Word of God, observance of the ordinances, Christian fellowship, andprayer, thereby to be equipped for Christian service and evangelism, which is Jesus’s call to discipleship. (Acts 2;42-47, Eph.4:11-13, Matt. 28:16-20)

The Ordinances

We believe that Christ instituted the ordinances of water baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which are to be observed by believers until He returns.  (Matt. 28:19-20, I Cor. 11:23-26) 

We believe that by water baptism a believer is publicly identified with his Savior in His death, burial, and resurrection, and that immersion is the Scriptural mode.  (Acts 8:36-38)

We believe that the Lord’s Supper is a memorial of Christ’s death by which He established the New Covenant, the elements being symbols of His body and blood. The Lord’s Table is open to all believers who are walking in fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ.  (I Cor. 11:23-24, Luke 22:17-20)

Angels and Satan

We believe that angels are spiritual beings who were created in a sinless state and that they occupied different orders and rank. They presently exist in both fallen and unfallen states; the former includes Satan and his fallen angels.  (Heb. 1:13-14, II Peter 2:4, Rev. 7:11-12)

We believe that Satan, by his own choice the enemy of God and of the people of God, is the originator of sin. We believe he led our first parents into sin and now rules as the god of this world. Satan was judged at the cross, and ultimately he will be cast into the Lake of Fire for eternity.  (Isa. 14:12-14, Gen. 3:1-19, Rev. 20:10)

Events of the End Times

A.   The Blessed Hope: We believe in the personal, imminent coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the air to receive to Himself all those, dead or alive, who belong to Him. This event, the rapture of the Church, is the blessed hope for which we should be constantly looking. (John 14:1-3, I Cor. 15:51-52, I Thess. 4:13-18, Titus 2:11-14, I Thess. 1:8-10, 5:9)

B.   The Tribulation: For seven years at the end of the church age, the earth will undergo a time of judgment known as “The Time of Jacob’s Trouble” or “The Tribulation.” During this period, many will turn to Christ and be slain for their faith.  (Jer. 30:7, Matt. 24:14-22, Rev. 6:1-19:21, II Thess. 2:3-12)

C.   The Second Advent: The culmination of the Tribulation will be the personal, bodily return of the Lord Jesus Christ tothe earth to establish the Millennial Age, during which He will reign; Satan will be bound; Israel will be restored; and the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord.  (Isa. 11:9, Ezek. 37:21-28, Matt. 24:15-25, 36, II Tim. 3:1-5, Rev. 20:1-3)

D.   The Eternal State: We believe that the spirits of believers in Jesus Christ in this age pass immediately into His presence at death and there remain in conscious bliss until the resurrection of the body at His coming for the church. At that time the spirit and body shall be reunited and shall be associated with Him forever in glory. We believe that the spirits of unbelievers remain in conscious torment in Hades after death until the final judgment of the Great White Throne at the close of the Millennium.  At that time, the spirit and body of all unbelievers shall be reunited and shall be cast into the Lake of Fire, not to be destroyed but to be punished with everlasting separation from the presence of the Lord.  (Luke 16:19-26, 23:43, II Cor. 5:8, Phil. 1:23, II Thess. 1:7-9, Rev. 20:11-15)