What We Believe

To be saved, each person must personally choose to repent (turn away from) their sins, confess them to Christ and ask his forgiveness. While each believer may continue to struggle with certain besetting sins, an honest effort to repent of our sins and follow the example of Christ is expected of all Christians.

If you are considering being our guest at Fellowship of Faith, then you might want to know what defines our community. Here, you will find our core values and beliefs. Our essential beliefs explain what we think about certain things. Our values define how those ideas effect the way we live as individuals and in community. We acknowledge that people vary in their understandings of these and other beliefs. That is why we seek to exercise understanding and openness to those who agree on the foundations of faith but who differ on areas defined more by tradition or background.

God, our Creator, is a Trinity – There is only one God, Creator of heaven and earth, who exists eternally as three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit, each fully One God, yet each personally distinct from the other. He loves the people He has created, and invites us to a relationship with Him through His Son, Jesus Christ.

Jesus, the Word of God– Jesus Christ, second Person of the Trinity, the only begotten Son of God, was born of the Virgin Mary, lived a sinless human life, and willingly took upon Himself all of our sins. He suffered, was crucified, died and was buried to pay for our sins. In His death, He became the one, perfect sacrifice.

The Resurrection, Ascension and Second Coming of Christ– The third day following his death, Jesus was resurrected to life. He rose again bodily and ascended into heaven to reign with the Father as our advocate and mediator. He will return one day to consummate history and fulfill the eternal plan of God, where He will judge all people.

The Holy Spirit – The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son and is “God with us” who continues the work of Jesus Christ in the world. The third Person of the Trinity convicts us of sin and draws us to Christ. He indwells all believers empowering us to lead Christ-like lives, and gives us spiritual gifts to serve the church and reach out to a lost and needy world.

The Bible, Older and Newer Testaments, is the inspired, infallible word of God and the supreme and final authority on all matters upon which it teaches. Through the 66 books of the Bible, God has revealed Himself to humanity. God’s Word contains everything necessary for salvation and abundant life. No other writings are vested with such divine authority.

Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, sinned. They passed on original sin to the entire human race. Apart from Jesus Christ, all people are spiritually lost and, because of sin, fall short of God’s standard for salvation. We all deserve the judgement of God and eternal separation from Him and heaven.

Because of human being’s predisposition to sin, we struggle between our sinful nature and our spiritual nature. We can commit sins of omission, not doing the good things we should. We can also commit sins of commission, doing the things we know the Bible says are wrong. We are to do our best to avoid both types of sin in our lives as we follow Christ’s example and represent Him in the world.  

The Bible says the wages of sin are death. Death seals the eternal destiny of each person. At the final judgement, unbelievers will be separated from God into condemnation. Believers will be received into God’s loving presence for all eternity and rewarded for their faithfulness to Him in this life.

Christ’s death on the cross is complete in its ability to atone for all our sins. Christ took our place in dying the death we deserve for our sins. God gives salvation and eternal life to anyone who trusts in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Because of sin we could not turn from wickedness by our own strength. We have no power to do good works, pleasing and acceptable to God. However, empowered with God’s grace to accept Christ, we now have free will to choose to follow Christ or to reject Him.

To be saved, each person must personally choose to repent (turn away from) their sins, confess them to Christ and ask his forgiveness. While each believer may continue to struggle with certain besetting sins, an honest effort to repent of our sins and follow the example of Christ is expected of all Christians.

Salvation cannot be earned through personal goodness or human effort. It is a gift that must be received by humble repentance and faith in Christ and His finished work on the cross. By faith in Christ, human beings are named righteous before God. They are justified.

Is the process first, of being set apart as God’s child, and second, of being washed over time from the corruption of sin. By God’s grace, the Christian should grow in his/her love for God and others and ultimately walk according to God’s Word, sinning less and less and growing in Christ-like character throughout their lives. This process combats sins of commission.

While good works cannot save a person from being eternally lost without God, they should naturally follow once one becomes a believer in Christ. The Bible teaches that a tree is known by its fruit. Good works are the fruit for the Christian believer. This process combats sins of omission.

These are the outward and visible signs of an inward and spiritual work of God’s grace. They symbolize the sacrifice of Christ as well as the forgiveness and regeneration Christ has offered to us. They are acts of remembrance instituted by Jesus Himself and reveal God’s commitment to us. They strengthen and confirm our faith.
–Baptism – A sign of profession of faith and being made a new person in God’s sight. Simply being baptized does not save you. Not being baptized does not condemn you. We should be baptized to identify with Christ and it is commanded to be done by Jesus.
–Communion – A sign of the love we ought to have for one another. It is also a sign of our redemption by Christ’s death, shown through the bread (his body) and the cup (his blood). Regular observance of communion is commanded by Jesus.

There will always be a need for the visible body of Christ in the world today where the Word of God is preached, the Sacramental Ordinances are administered and our spiritual lives are ordered. The local church is a congregation of believers who gather for worship, prayer, instruction, encouragement, mutual accountability, and community with each other. Through it, believers invest time, energy and resources to fulfill the Great Commission – reaching lost people and growing them into fully devoted followers of Christ.

All believers are members of the body of Christ, the one true church universal, regardless of local congregation or denomination. Spiritual unity is to be expressed among Christians by acceptance and love of one another across ethnic, cultural, socioeconomic, national, generational, gender and denominational lines.

The rites and ceremonies of the church have never been, nor should they ever be, exactly the same in all places. They may be, and should be, changed according to the diversity of country, culture, times and people’s manners as long as they build up the Church and do not contradict God’s Word.