True Christian churches share the Lord Jesus, one faith, one baptism, one God the Father, and the eternal Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:1-6). But in other ways, each church is as distinct as a thumb-print. Are we the right church for you?
We are evangelical.
"Evangelical" is not about politics. It means that each of us must trust in Jesus Christ as Savior, to become a child of God. This is a free gift, received by faith in Christ. The main message we want to present to the world is Jesus Christ and new life through Him.
We have an open Communion.
Christian brothers and sisters can be found in every denomination. This is why we open the communion table to everyone, and any true follower of Christ is invited to participate.
We have a Bible focus.
Part of our founding vision was to have a church that emphasizes quality Bible teaching. We seek to learn and apply God's Word, with guidance from the Bible's original languages and history.
We believe in Christian liberty.
The Lord allows many choices to fall into the realm of personal conviction. We should not bind one others on matters not clearly stated in Scripture. Christians do not need to agree on everything, to be a church together. Living this out is a great challenge in our current era, but we feel this is important. There are also doctrines of secondary importance, such as eternal security, the time of the Rapture, the millennium, and other similar things where our association does not take an official stand.
We are congregational.
Our church is democratic and self-governing.
We have a pastor, but we don't want a one-man ministry. We're governed by elected elders and deacons. Our church members own the assets, set the budget, and elect our pastor and officers.
Though we have distinctives, we are non-partisan.
We have members who are Republicans, Democrats, or no affiliations. We're non-Pentecostal, though our approach to miraculous gifts is open-but-discerning. It's our hope to be an example of Christians from different backgrounds being able to worship together harmoniously.
FAQs:
We are evangelical.
"Evangelical" is not about politics. It means that each of us must trust in Jesus Christ as Savior, to become a child of God. This is a free gift, received by faith in Christ. The main message we want to present to the world is Jesus Christ and new life through Him.
We have an open Communion.
Christian brothers and sisters can be found in every denomination. This is why we open the communion table to everyone, and any true follower of Christ is invited to participate.
We have a Bible focus.
Part of our founding vision was to have a church that emphasizes quality Bible teaching. We seek to learn and apply God's Word, with guidance from the Bible's original languages and history.
We believe in Christian liberty.
The Lord allows many choices to fall into the realm of personal conviction. We should not bind one others on matters not clearly stated in Scripture. Christians do not need to agree on everything, to be a church together. Living this out is a great challenge in our current era, but we feel this is important. There are also doctrines of secondary importance, such as eternal security, the time of the Rapture, the millennium, and other similar things where our association does not take an official stand.
We are congregational.
Our church is democratic and self-governing.
We have a pastor, but we don't want a one-man ministry. We're governed by elected elders and deacons. Our church members own the assets, set the budget, and elect our pastor and officers.
Though we have distinctives, we are non-partisan.
We have members who are Republicans, Democrats, or no affiliations. We're non-Pentecostal, though our approach to miraculous gifts is open-but-discerning. It's our hope to be an example of Christians from different backgrounds being able to worship together harmoniously.
FAQs:
- We are pro-life. We support the traditional, Biblical definition of gender and marriage. We believe Moses was God's prophet, so Adam and Eve were real, historical persons directly created by the Lord. Men and women are equal bearers of God's image, equally lost in sin, and equally redeemed in Christ. God designed men and women to complement each other.
- For a thorough list of questions, see:
- www.efca.org/resources/document/theological-definitions-positions