What Kind of Church Are We?
Protestant & Baptist
Broadly speaking, we are a Protestant Church, standing in the tradition of the Reformation of the 16th century. Within Protestantism, we’re Baptist’s. We baptize only believer’s in Jesus Christ. We do not practice infant baptism. And like many Baptist’s, we are also committed to the autonomy of the local church. Currently, we don’t identify with any particular Baptist denomination. Why is that? Well, primarily because we believe our final authority is the scriptures. We don’t feel bound to any confession like the Westminster confession or the Baptist faith and message. We learn from these documents and appreciate them. But, we don’t feel any unconditional allegiance to them. We embrace Sola Scriptura, the belief that scripture alone contains God’s full and final authoritative revelation of His will for His people.
Charismatic
We are also Charismatic in our view of the work of the Holy Spirit. We believe in the validity and operation of all spiritual gifts today including healing, prophecy and speaking in tongues to name a few. At the same time, we differ from classic Pentecostals when it comes to the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We believe that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is something Jesus Himself does for every believer at the moment of conversion.
Word & Spirit
To summarize: We are a “Word” and “Spirit” church. We value reason, tradition and all experiences must bow to the authority of the scriptures.
Soft-Complementarian
We are also complementarian in our view of men and women. By that, we mean that men and women, are equally made in the image of God, enjoy equal access to God by faith in Jesus, and are meant to compliment each other. God ordains that in marriage they assume distinctive roles which reflect the loving relationship between Christ and the Church, with the husband exercising headship in a way that displays the caring, sacrificial love of Christ, and the wife submitting to her husband in a way that models the love of the Church for her Lord. In the ministry of the church, both men and women are encouraged to serve Jesus and to be developed to their full potential in service. Men are exclusively called to the role of elder. Women are encouraged to preach, pray, prophesy, teach and operate in any ministry under the authority of the “elders.”
Humble
We don’t begin to assume that we have all the answers and we value and cherish and always hope to learn from all our fellow believers, regardless or the denomination or movement they participate with. We’d love to have you join with us in lifting up the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!