What kind of church are we?

  •  We are evangelical and proclaim to all the world the Essentials;  one God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Salvation found in Jesus Christ alone, regeneration by the Holy Spirit, the physical return of our Lord Jesus Christ.
  •  We are a church who is Biblical and theological.  We want to know what the Bible says and what it means. Our beliefs and the life of worship we encourage can stand up to scrutiny even if in our humanity we fall short.
  •  Because we love our Lord and Savior, we are a church where men and women passionately lead worship that is authentic, contemporary, expressive, and free.
  •  In our worship men and women pray, speak words of encouragement,strengthening, and comfort. We sing, dance, clap and raise our hands with all our hearts, souls, and emotions being moved by the Holy Spirit. 
  • We are a church proclaiming the real spiritual blessing that comes when we participate in Remembering Signs: communion, baptism, and Sabbath.  More participation, more blessing!
  • We are a church who is passionate in witness gathering worshipers.  It is the job of each of us. We may gather them in libraries, soccer fields, homes, at events, and at church.  We go to where they are with whatever we can to draw them into relationship with Jesus and teach them to worship with their life.
  • We are a church who has experienced grace so we pass it on.  We bear with each others faults, forgiving offenses. We are a church of repentance and restoration.
  • We are a church constantly learning humility and we have more to learn.
  • We meet in Gig Harbor as a starting place.  But it will not be our only place. As the church is the church wherever it is and wherever it gathers worshipers, we will spin off new churches!
  • We meet in the afternoon because it is a time when families are free from obligation so they can be free to come to church and we like how it slows us down resting on the Sabbath.

The Essentials

  • We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.
  • We believe that there is one God, who eternally exists as: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
  • We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in his virginal conception, in his sinless life, in his miracles, in his vicarious and atoning death through his shed blood, in his bodily resurrection, in his ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in his personal return in power and glory.
  •  We believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful man regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.
  • We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.
  •  We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.
  • We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

 

Remembering Signs and Our Expression of Worship

Remembering signs are prophetic sign acts established and made effectual by God.  Our interactive participation in them (worship) spiritually connects us backwards to God’s active redemption of humanity in history and forward to his future completed work, declaring the present presence of Christ with his people through the Holy Spirit. In our worship we emphasize three primary Remembering Signs; namely, Conversion-Baptism, Lord’s Supper, and the Sabbath.*  

We believe that every believer should personally participate in conversion-baptism as the effectual way in which God through the Church (or its representative) joins the life of the candidate with that of Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection.  Conversion-Baptism is a sign indicating; God’s complete forgiveness in Christ, the entrance into the resurrection community with a new identity marked by the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the reception of the Gift of the Holy Spirit.

We believe that in the Lord’s Supper we are joined together in solidarity to Christ and each other as we gratefully participate in and proclaim “until he comes..”  the redemption Christ provides through his broken body and spilled blood of the new covenant.

We believe the Sabbath is a gift for mankind as a day of physical and spiritual rest.  In unity with the witness of scripture, on the seventh day we participate in God’s rest at creation, our rest in Christ’s redemption, and our future rest in the Kingdom.  

We believe our expressions of worship celebrating the birth and resurrection of Christ should avoid modern consumerism and greed and ancient pagan mythology and symbolism.

We believe that Biblical Covenant marriage is only legitimate between a man and woman.

 

*See McClendon Vol2:328