Our Beliefs
Knowing what a church believes is one of the most important things to be familiar with when searching for a church home.
The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by inspiration of God and are the only sufficient and authoritative rule for life and godliness. It is the only material source needed for living a God-centered life.
We subscribe to the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy.
There is one God who is eternal and exists in three persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), who are equal in Deity and yet distinct in person.
When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, it can be said that all of humanity did as well since everyone born would receive his spiritual nature. Therefore, all of humanity is under the consequences of their sin, which is death. Humanity is totally helpless to remedy this situation through good works or obedience since even these are tainted with self-effort and insincere motives. We are in dire need of God’s help. We need Him to rescue us if we are to escape His judgment on sin.
The God of the universe in His amazing love and grace has chosen, in His sovereignty, to redeem people bound in their sin by the power of the Holy Spirit through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. When an individual puts their trust in Christ as their sin-bearer, they are not only forgiven of their sin but are declared righteous based on the person and work of Jesus Christ. In other words, God now considers us righteous because He views us through the merits of Christ’s righteousness and not our own.
Given this renewed relationship, those who are righteous before God not only have a relationship with Him now but will spend eternity with Him; all because of what Christ has done. Tragically, any person who does not trust in Christ still has an outstanding debt of sin before a holy God. If that person should die in this condition, they will be separated from God forever.
God desires that his followers love Him with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength and that they would seek to love others as they would themselves. This means that God calls us to embrace a lifestyle of dependency on Him in allowing His Spirit to control us in all areas of living in order to fulfill His heart.
The local church is God’s primary method for people to be nurtured and enabled to live a God-centered life. Those who commit to a local church are called to serve and support the mission of that church in all ways possible. Grace Fellowship is led by Elders that have been chosen from within our Church to lead in a Christ-centered, Spirit-dependent lifestyle.
It is important to recognize and model the priorities that God’s Word places on baptism and taking the Lord’s Supper. Therefore, we hold to the practice of water baptism of a believer and the monthly celebration of the Lord’s Supper. We do not believe that either of these practices is prerequisites for salvation, but that they serve as a demonstration of our trust and hope that anchored in Christ.
We believe the Bible teaches that baptism is the public profession of one’s salvation and the Lord’s Supper is the remembrance of one’s salvation. As such, it is our conviction that baptism should precede one’s participation in the Lord’s Supper.
The Bible teaches that sexual relations are to be exercised solely within marriage (Exodus 20:14, Hebrews 13:4). Therefore, we promote healthy marriages by, among other things, opposing all forms of sexual immorality, including adultery, homosexuality, and pornography. Marriage is an institution established by God as clearly described in the Bible for the good of people. Grace Fellowship recognizes that marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman (Matthew 19:4-6, Ephesians 5:31-32).
We subscribe to the Nashville Statement on human sexuality and gender.
Human Identity, Sexuality and Gender: A position paper and FAQ from our elder team (audio of accompanying seminar)
Jesus Christ will return visibly and bodily to this earth, at a time not expected, to finalize history and the earthly plan of God. The followers of Christ will then enjoy His heaven forever. We look forward to that and desire to share this hope with the nations. Until that time arrives, we are to make disciples of all nations and in so doing we will spread the fame of God.
Full Doctrinal Statement
Want to know more? We encourage you to read our full doctrinal statement. Please contact us if you have any questions.
Christianity is not just a creed or confession, but the very lens that we look through to understand how the world works—and our trust in God informs how we will respond to the world.