Values of our Life Together

We believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, our Lord and Savior

In Jesus Christ we have come to know who God is and how we are to relate to Him and to one another as fellow children of God.  This means:

• Jesus Christ is our Savior, having made peace between God and us
• Jesus Christ is the Lord of our life, as individuals and as a church; that in Christ will we find God’s will for our daily living
• Jesus Christ, as the Word of God, reveals God to us.  In the life, teaching and proclamations of Jesus, and by His death on the cross and His resurrection, we can test all matters of our life together
• As Jesus promised His disciples, we believe that the Holy Spirit lives within us and guides us in our daily life

The Holy Bible is our source for knowing Christ and ordering our life as a Church

In Christian freedom, we claim for each individual the right and responsibility to read and interpret the scriptures for him or herself.  We also read and listen to scripture together, and actively search for words from God for our lives, both as individuals and for our life together as Christ’s church.

We come together as a church to hear God’s call, to serve God’s will, and to witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ

The Church is the body of Christ which was created by God’s will. As such:

• Within the bonds of the church, we receive each person by the grace under which we all stand, calling each to Christian discipline and service, while respecting the faith and Christian insight of each
• Within the church we nurture one another in the spiritual disciplines and in the practical applications of the Gospel to our lives
• Within the church we receive the gifts of each person for the greater service of and witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ
• Within the church we celebrate the sacraments of the Lord’s Supper and Baptism:
• We understand the Lord’s Supper is a gift that brings Christ’s presence to all believers
• From the witness of the scripture, we understand baptism to be the immersion of believers. While some find the practice of infant baptism questionable, our church accepts those baptized in other traditions into fellowship and membership

For practical reasons, we order our life as a congregation democratically, remembering that our decisions are fallible, and that God’s call is to continued confession and growth.  We recognize that the Church does not end at the boundaries of our fellowship but extends beyond to world-wide fellowship. 

All of these statements are surrounded by the freedom to which we are called in Christ, which first calls us to love, then to mutual accountability, and finally to humility and tolerance.