Christian Fellowship is a Bible-centered, non-denominational church. We hold to the basic tenants of the Christian faith as stated in the Apostles’ creed.
We hold tightly to essential doctrines, but give freedom of individual opinion regarding secondary doctrines (i.e. specific methods of baptism, frequency of communion, details of the second coming of Christ, etc.).
We do not have to agree on every detail to live in unity with Christ and with one another.
“In essentials unity; in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity.” – Rupert Meldenius
“May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.” Romans 15: 5-7
Our main desire is for everyone to know Jesus. This goes beyond just knowing about Jesus or following his teachings, but walking in relationship with Him. We want to help all people discover they can have this relationship, no matter who they are or what their past looks like.
All of us need a Savior and were therefore created to know and be known by God. The Bible tells us that this relationship is not supposed to be lived in isolation from others. When we believe and are joined to Christ, we become a part of his body, the church (1 Cor. 12:12-13)
In these relationships with others, we not only help each other develop in relationship with Jesus, but we also learn to be an expression of Jesus to one another. It is as we live in community, where we encourage, challenge, strengthen, love, and forgive one another that our relationship with God develops and matures.
Our tendency is to walk through life with people who look, act, and believe a lot like us. To play it safe. Instead, we can choose a radically different approach – to actively engage life with those who are different from us. We can take Paul at his word that there is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female.
We are one in Christ Jesus. We can model a profound love for each other, as Christ did with all his apostles. We can reach to the fringes and allow people a seat at the table. And we can break through cultural boundaries as we share life (and grace) with the Samaritan women and tax collectors of our time.
Interdependent relationships are another key to genuine community and ultimate transformation. We can move past our fears and love others for the sake of the Kingdom. We can live as souls connected in relationships based on the goal of spiritual growth and transformation, serving together to advance the Kingdom of God. We can boldly model interdependent relationships not just by what we say, but through the radical way we live our lives.
Interdependence And The Blessed Alliance
We believe that God’s global mission, and our local mission, both rooted in the Great Commandment and the Great Commission, can only be fulfilled when men and women of all generations and ethnicities work together for God’s good in the world. Read our statement on the roles of men and women in the church here.
It is easy to hide our wounds, our sins, and our shame from God, ourselves, and each other. Instead, through God’s grace, we can live a radically unprotected life. In the posture of Christ’s death on the cross, we can live dangerously open, revealing all that we genuinely are (and aren’t), and receiving all the pain and sorrow the world will give back in return. We can be real because we know the Real.
Transparent encounters are the key to real community and ultimate transformation. We can cultivate open souls that have space for the world to enter and find Jesus. We can then bring these open souls into our encounters with other people, sowing seeds of grace and acceptance.
We can engage our emotions, wrestle with our sin, celebrate our triumphs, grieve our losses, revel in our friendships, and move past our past. Together we can cultivate a holistic environment where people are encouraged and equipped to thrive, without masks or pretense, in all areas of their lives.
We can become accustomed to seeing our relationship with Jesus as private rather than personal. A relationship that is rooted in our own self-interest rather than in the needs of the communal and the global. Instead, we can engage peace in our hearts so that we can proclaim peace with our lips. To confront the wounds of our own souls so that we can proactively engage in works of reconciliation in every area of life.
Becoming peacemakers in our community and world is about standing up for those who can’t stand up for themselves. It’s about reaching across the divide rather than holding ground on one side of it. It’s about having the courage to love those that look, think, and believe differently than us. Our mandate as Christ-followers is not to keep the peace, but rather to make peace.
A Fourfold Mission For Advancing Racial Relationships
Over a growing number of years, we as a church have become more conscious of the divide that continues to exist in racial relationships in our society. We do have a fourfold mission for advancing better racial relationships through understanding, harmony, and unity, which can be found here.
It is easy to assume that the only way to access God is though the head, so our efforts to lead people to discover and develop a relationship with Christ can focus on convincing their minds rather than capturing their hearts or touching their souls. We can easily make the gospel inaccessible and unattainable.
Transformational encounters with Jesus are key to people’s discovering and developing their faith. We can learn from other Christian traditions and integrate those practices into the life of our church. We can use art forms that communicate truths about God that human language doesn’t have words to express. We can create faith-producing moments, spaces, and experiences that bring God into people’s everyday lives. Our vision is not simply to teach, but to cultivate transformation.
The Bible
We believe the Bible as originally given to be inspired, the only infallible, authoritative, inerrant Word of God (2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:21).
The Trinity
We believe there is one God, eternally existent in three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (Gen 1:1; Mt .28:19; Jn. 10:30).
Jesus Christ
We believe in the deity and humanity of Christ (Jn. 10:33).
His virgin birth (Is .7:14; Mt. 1:23; Lu. 1:35).
His sinless life (Heb. 4:15; 7:26).
His miracles (Jn. 2:11).
His vicarious atoning death (1 Cor. 15:4).
His bodily resurrection (Jn. 11:25).
His ascension to the right hand of God (Mk. 16:19).
His personal return in power and glory (Acts 1:11; Rev. 19:11).
Salvation
We believe in the absolute necessity of regeneration by the Holy Spirit for salvation because of the exceeding sinfulness of human nature and that men are justified on the single ground of faith in the shed blood of Christ and that only by grace and through faith alone are we saved (Jn. 3:16-19; Rom. 3:23; 5:8-9; Eph. 2:8-10; Titus 3:5).
Baptism
We believe in water baptism for the believer, as Christ modeled for us (Matthew 28:19; Acts 2:37-38). To learn more about baptism, click here.
Communion
We believe in the breaking of bread commonly called communion or the Lord’s Supper for believers. (I Corinthians 11:23-26).
The Holy Spirit
We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling and continuous filling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life and is empowered with gifts of the Spirit as He wills (Acts 1:5-8; Rom. 8:13-14; 1 Cor. 3:16; 1 Cor. 12-14).
Satan
We believe in the reality and personality of Satan and the eternal judgment of Satan and his angels (Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:10-15).
Resurrection
We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life, and they that are lost unto the resurrection of condemnation (Jn. 5:28-29).
Unity
We believe in the spiritual unity of all believers in our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 8:9; 1 Cor. 12:12-13; Gal. 3:26-28).
The Bible is the inspired Word of God. It is central to what we teach. We study it. We use it to help us grow in the knowledge of grace and the knowledge of who Jesus Christ is.
Gathering weekly for corporate worship is central to who we are as a church. Worship is more than just singing songs. It is more than just a warm-up to the message. It is an end in and of itself because God ministers to us as we worship Him.
Everyone has something to offer. In the book of Ephesians, God says he gives gifts to each one of us for the building up of the body of Christ. Our attitude is not how can I be served, but how can I serve others.
Before Jesus ascended to the Father, He promised He would send the Holy Spirit. We believe the Holy Spirit is the one who leads and guides us as a community of believers. We look to him for leading in everyday life and we believe the gifts of the Holy Spirit are useful for today.
Prayer can be a real challenge for each of us. So, it is our desire to learn the importance of prayer and how to pray. It is our desire to ask ourselves, “How can we have a daily life of prayer?” and “How can we as a church learn to pray corporately?”
God has called us to touch our community and other nations. We are actively involved with local ministries that help the community as well as missionaries in countries around the world. Additionally, we have found that God has brought them to be a part of who we are as a church and we think it is a real reflection of what the Kingdom of God is meant to look like.
As followers of Jesus Christ, we believe authentic relationships with God and each other are key. Genuine community is central to how we live out our Christian life. We recognize that all of us struggle with sin, doubt, hurt, and confusion. Rather than cover up those struggles, we want to walk alongside one another so that we can be honest about where we are and pray for one another. Those times when we are in over our heads, we are not meant to do that alone. We are meant to share our lives with one another and be honest about who we are.
