Core Values
1. We believe God’s word is the final authority on all matters.
God’s word as contained in the Holy Bible is sufficient to inform and direct every idea, decision, teaching, principle and action taken, in our quest for truth and Unity.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 – “All Scripture s God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
2. We believe the only solution for sin is the forgiveness of Jesus Christ.
The Christian church is the only entity equipped to deal with sin, through the person of Christ and therefore is obligated to stand on the side of morality and protect those harmed by injustice.
Acts 4:8-12 – “Then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. He is “the stone you builders rejected which has become the capstone.” Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
3. We believe all human beings are created equal and should be treated with dignity.
There is only One Race to which all human beings belong, having descended from Adam and Eve. All human beings are fearfully and wonderfully made; created in the image of God and therefore inherently valuable, no matter their contribution to society.
Acts 17:24-26 - “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.”
4. We believe marriage and family are the foundations of a healthy society.
Marriage and family were instituted by God to provide for and protect individuals from the harshness of life on earth. These two institutions, when valued and protected by society serve to prevent individuals from divorce, poverty, homelessness, disease and hopelessness.
Genesis 2:24 - That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.
Mark 10:6-9 - “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
5. We believe that lives are changed through developing healthy relationships and walking beside someone through their difficult time.
“You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves” as Abraham Lincoln astutely recognized, but you can have tremendous influence in the lives of people if you are willing to walk and struggle with them through challenging times.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 – “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
6. We believe as the body of Christ we are assigned and equipped by God to meet the needs of the local community.
The body of Christ lacks nothing and is the only real source of hope for a hurting world. It has also been assigned the responsibility of going into the whole world to make disciples.
Hebrews 13:20-21 – “Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”
7. We believe that through the power of Christ all lives can be restored and made new again.
Anyone who surrenders to Christ is a new creation. The old self and its selfish desires is replaced so they are a new creation equipped with the Holy Spirits presence and power to overcome the world’s temptations.
2 Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
Ephesians 1:18-23 - I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.
8. We believe in cultural and denominational Unity.
Building loving relationships across cultural and denominational barriers is essential to developing Unity between people. Unity between diverse peoples provides evidence to the world that God sent Jesus to the earth and that God loves us in the same way he loves Jesus.
Psalm 133:1 – “How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity.”
John 17:20-23 - “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one I in them and you in me so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
9. We believe racism is rooted in sin.
Discrimination, prejudice, racism and its effects are rooted in the sinful hearts of people and therefore contrary to God’s plan; moral failings only remedied in Christ.
Galatians 3:22 – “But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.”
Matthew 7:12 - So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets
10. We believe in the sanctity of every human life.
All life, from the point of conception until the last breath is drawn, is valuable in the sight of God because it was created by Him. We are to honor God and His creation without exception.
Psalm 139:13-16 – “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”