Jesus
WE BELIEVE IN JESUS...AND THAT JESUS CHANGES EVERYTHING
CORE BELIEFS
While there are diverse ideas, backgrounds, and cultures within our church, our main thing is Jesus. We want to introduce people to the grace, mercy, and unconditional love that He embodies. As we do, our experience is that we grow in our ability to reflect that kind of love to everybody. The following are the core beliefs of Restoration Church based on the foundational truths taught in the Scriptures.
God
We believe in the one eternal God the Father, Creator and Lord of all. He is eternally, perfectly, and equally existent within all three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He sustains and governs all things according to His perfect will. He is the Author of the Story, we find ourselves in. He has called us to be a people for Himself; we are invited to know and love Him, as we are known and loved by Him. We are invited to be transformed from the inside-out in cooperation with His Holy Spirit. And we are sent to embody His heart to the world as witnesses and servants of His Kingdom.
Jesus Christ
We believe that in Jesus Christ all the fullness of God dwelt in human form (1 Cor 2:9). We believe in His deity, in His humanity, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, and in His personal return in power and glory. We believe He now sits at the right hand of Majesty, acting as our Lord, High Priest, and Mediator.
The Holy Spirit
We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit, by who's indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a faithful and holy life. The Holy Spirit exists to glorify Christ and apply the saving work of Jesus in us and through us. He instructs us in all truth, speaks to the heart and mind of the believer, reminds us of Jesus’ teaching, convicts us of sin, draws us to life and freedom in Christ, empowers us to function in the gifts and works we were created to do, and seals us for the day of redemption.
The Bible
We believe the Bible to be the inspired, true, and authoritative Word of God. It contains the true history of God’s people and the Story, He has invited us into. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are without error in all they affirm, and the only infallible rule of faith and practice. They contain all that is necessary for salvation and faithful living. Through the Holy Spirit, the word of God has power to accomplish the purposes of God in the hearts of His people. As such, the Bible is our primary and final authority concerning truth, morality, and faithful conduct.
The Human Condition
We believe that humanity was created in the image of God but is fatally broken and has fallen away from God. This human condition is what the Bible calls “sin;” it is universal, consuming, and fatal. But God, in His mercy, sent Jesus to restore us, heal us, and give us a new identity as members of His family and citizens of His Kingdom. This salvation, healing, and wholeness are found in Jesus Christ alone. As such, we are fully dependent on His saving grace, through faith, and live dependent on His power to give us life.
The Good News
We believe this truth is the definition of the Gospel: that God’s Kingdom is the ultimate reality and that life in His Kingdom is ruled by Jesus and defined by things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The Gospel (the “Good News”) is that we are invited to join, in Christ, the life and revealing of this Kingdom - on earth as it is in heaven. And this is not just in the future, but from now on.
The Church
We believe the Church is made up of all God’s people, everywhere. The Church finds her visible and imperfect expression in local congregations of believers united in the body of Christ and sold out to the purposes of His Kingdom. The local church exists wherever people gather in the name of Jesus to know and praise Him (worship), live in authentic and life-giving relationships (communitas), and work to see the Kingdom of God expand (mission). We are called to individually and corporately to collaborate for Kingdom Purposes.
The Battle
We believe the life and expansion of the Kingdom of God is resisted by the enemy of our souls. As such, we believe that many of the battles we fight are not against flesh and blood, but against the powers and principalities of evil that seek to destroy the people of God and frustrate the purposes of the Church. We also believe that, as sons and daughters of God, we have been given authority to not only resist, but to overcome in Christ through faith, obedience, worship, prayer, and the Word of God.
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic* Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
Amen.
*catholic means universal
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father, and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic* Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
Amen.
*catholic means universal