Our Beliefs.
The Bible
We believe the Bible to be the voice of many who have come before us, inspired by God to continue to speak to us today. We believe the Bible is infallible, this means that it is the unique, full, and final authority on all matters of faith and practice (2 Timothy 3:16; 1 Peter 1:25). Scripture both speaks with the authority of God and reflects the backgrounds, styles, and vocabularies of its human authors. It is composed of the 66 books of the Old and New Testament. There are no other writings similarly inspired by God. Scripture is a complete and unified witness to God’s redemptive acts culminating in the incarnation of Christ (1 Thessalonians 2:13). God calls us to immerse ourselves in this authoritative narrative and to continue to faithfully live out that story today as we are led by the Spirit.
One God
We believe God, the author of all things good, created humans in his image to live in fellowship with him, others, ourselves, and creation. God is in a communal relationship with himself and his creation, and he created us to be relational as well (2 Corinthians13:14; 1 John 4:7). God eternally exists in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit— co-eternal in being, co-eternal in nature, co-equal in power and glory, having the same attributes and perfections (Matt. 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14). God is the object of our worship.
Jesus Christ
We believe that the eternal Son of the Godhead, became a man Jesus Christ, without ceasing to be God (Philippians 2:5-8). He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary in order that he might reveal God and redeem sinful humanity (John 1:1–2, 14; Luke 1:35). Jesus preached good news to the poor, bound up the broken hearted, and set captives free (Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:18). He lived a perfect life proclaiming the arrival of the Kingdom (Luke 4:43; 1 John 3:5). He was rejected by many, crucified, buried, and rose again. We believe that Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through his death and resurrection and this news brings hope to all creation. Through Jesus we have been forgiven. God is reconciling us to himself, each other, ourselves, and creation (Romans 5:10). Jesus is the only mediator between God and humans (1 Timothy 2:5). He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where he fulfills the ministry as Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate (Acts 1:9, 10; Romans 8:34; 1 John 2:1–2).
The Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin and draws us to the Savior. All who accept Christ’s sacrifice are given the Holy Spirit. He leads us into all truth through a communal life of worship and a missional expression of our faith. The Holy Spirit is the Supernatural Agent in regeneration: baptizing all believers into the body of Christ, indwelling us, giving us new life, granting us gifts for service, and sealing us unto the day of redemption (John 16:8–11; 2 Corinthians 3:6; 1 Corinthians 12:12–14; Romans 8:9; Ephesians 5:18).
Salvation
We believe that when sin entered the world our relationships with God, others, ourselves, and creation were broken and distorted. Because of this estrangement our salvation is wholly dependent upon the work of God (Ephesians 2:8–10). We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to us by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose precious blood was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins (John 1:12; Ephesians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:18–19). By receiving Jesus Christ we become children of God and heirs of eternal life. (Romans 3:22-23; 5:12; Ephesians 2:1–3, 12). Sharing this good news of salvation is the calling every believer. In the great commission Christ calls his disciples to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world and to make disciples of all kinds of people (Matt 28:19-20). Every single person who receives Christ as Lord is a disciple, and has the privilege of participating in inviting others into a relationship with him.
The Church
We believe that the church is a spiritual organism made up of all born-again persons. We believe that the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in Scriptures (Acts 14:27; Titus 1:5–11). The Church finds her visible, yet imperfect, expression in local congregations where the word of God is preached, believers are baptized, and the Lord’s Supper is observed (Matthew 28:19, 20; 1 Corinthians 11:23–26). The church is to follow the example of our head, Jesus Christ, in humbly serving all humanity, and proclaiming the gospel. Loving fellowship is the mark of the church, which is both the body of Christ and His bride (1 Corinthians 12:12–14; Ephesians 5:25-27).
The Return of Christ
We believe Jesus Christ will come again to the earth—personally, visibly, and bodily (John 14:3; Hebrews 9:28; Acts 1:11; Titus 2:13; Revelation 1:7). The second coming of Christ is the blessed hope of the church. John 5:28 says that “a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice.” Jesus will reclaim this world, the earth’s groaning will cease, and God will dwell with us in a new and restored creation! Christ, our Advocate and Savior, will judge the living and the dead, consummate history, and fulfill the eternal plan of God (1 Peter 4:5; Romans 14:9; 2 Timothy 4:1).
Eternity
Over and over again the Bible describes our eternal options this way: either we can accept God’s gift of eternal life or we will die (Romans 6:23; James 5:20). Since the beginning it has been clear, life comes from following God and death from following Satan (Genesis 3; James 1:15). 1 Timothy 6:16 tells us immortality is something God alone possesses. God is gracious in giving immortality to people at salvation: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Christ is said to have come to “abolish death and bring life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Timothy 1:10). Each of these texts lay out the same understanding that ultimately we will either receive eternal life from Christ, or we will die. We do not take damnation lightly, Christ himself spoke of hell often and warned us to take it seriously. However, we reject a belief that hell will be a place of eternal conscious torment. We believe that God is consistent (Numbers 23:19), and we take Scripture at its word that God will ultimately destroy those who do not choose Christ (Hebrews 2:14; James 4:12; Philippians 3:18-19; Matthew 10:28).
Equality
Each of us have been given the privilege of speaking with God directly. The Book of Hebrews elaborates: “We have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens…. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” 4:14,16). Before Christ, ancient priests had to present blood sacrifices to qualify for access to God. But we are no longer under that system. Jesus’ own sacrifice provided a once-for-all, access-qualifying atonement for every one of us. Since he died for our sins, we are now each empowered to converse with God confidently, even boldly. As Galatians 3:28 says “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Egalitarianism declares that all of us have access to the Father through the Son directly. This statement is in no way meant to imply that we are all the same. There are qualifications for teaching, leading, and mentoring yet these standards have noting to do with race, age, gender, or other physical characteristic. We do not believe that God’s creation of humanity was hierarchical, neither should God’s church be. Those who hold positions of leadership are to examples of servanthood to the rest of the congregation (1 Peter 5:1-5). Because we embrace equality we invite both men and women to use their spiritual gifts for the edification of the church. Scripture is rich with examples of God using the gifts of women (Ex. 15:20-21; Micah 6:4; Judges 4-5; Rom. 16:1-13). Gen. 1:17 makes clear that the image of God is represented in male and female together. At TLC the ministry and gifts of women are to be affirmed and celebrated along with the ministry and gifts of men (Rom. 16:1-13). The Spirit does not discriminate based on gender (Galatians 3:28; Acts 2:18; Joel 2:28-32) and we will not either.
The Ministry and Spiritual Gifts
The church is called to put the resurrected Christ, who lives in and through us, on display to a broken and hurting world. God bestows the spiritual gifts we need to do this. It is the privilege and responsibility of every believer to minister according to the gifts and grace of God that is given (Romans 12:1–8; 1 Corinthians 13; 1 Peter 4:10–11). Every believer is given gifts to help him or her contribute to the mission of God on earth! We should eagerly pursue understanding of how God wants to uniquely use us for ministry. We also believe that particular spiritual gift(s) are neither essential, nor prove the presence of the Holy Spirit, nor are an indication of deep spiritual experience (1 Corinthians 12:7, 11, 13; Ephesians 4:7–8).
Sexuality
Sexuality is part of the mystery of being human. While the church wrestles with homosexuality, we can be certain that God does not struggle to love homosexuals. God loves those whose sin is judgment or presumption as well as those whose sin is lust or perversion. Our sins are not who we are, we are Children of God. All of us have a relationship with God only because no sinner is beyond God’s grace. While the church has obsessed over sexual sin, God has used polygamists (Abraham, Solomon), adulterers (Judah, David), and sexual anorexics (Paul, Augustine) to build the church. Yet, there a never a hint in the Bible that God intended sexuality to be shared in any relationship other than between a consenting husband and wife (Genesis 2:23-25; Matthew 19:4-6). Sex is a good gift of God to be enjoyed within the committed covenant of marriage. This is not to spoil our fun, but to protect us. For it is only in this relationship that partners can fully experience the true blessing of sexuality. All other forms of sexual behavior are counterfeit distortions of God’s glorious gift. We acknowledge that people do not choose their feelings including sexual orientation, but they do choose what they do about those feelings. For those committed to Jesus Christ, this sin like all of the others. God will show compassion on us and hurl it into the depths of the sea (Micah 7:19).
Rest
The Genesis account tells us that when God created the world he rested on the Seventh day (Genesis 2:1-2). After the children of Israel were delivered from Egypt God gave them the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20:8) and in these top ten God included the command to rest on the Seventh day of the week as a memorial to creation, and also a memorial to their redemption (Deuteronomy 5:12). Sabbath, for Israel was a gift. After enduring slavery God worked into their constitution an acknowledgement that we are not capable of going without stopping. Sadly, in our fast paced culture the concept of Sabbath has all but gone extinct. Our compulsion to produce and not waste time invades the space God gave for us to rest. Children’s athletics, national sporting events, round-the-clock accessibility to work, e-mail, and stores also fill up the Sabbath day. And so we let everything work against our slowing down and we do not stop. At TLC we have reclaimed this sacred gift of rest. Sabbath was given by God to bless each of us, not to burden us (Matt. 2:12, John 9:16). We want to experience the blessing of taking one day each week to celebrate our dependence on God. We believe we regularly need this time to remember who really runs the world. We delight in this time to enjoy our relationships with God, creation, and each other.
Creation
We celebrate God as creator. From His mere words the world was formed. He made humans and everything else in creation good. Genesis 1-2 tells us about God’s love: God formed the earth, the plants, animals, and took particular care when he formed humans (Genesis 2:7, 21-22). God provided for us from the beginning and continues to do so (Genesis 1:29-30; Matthew 5). We are of great value to God, and so He calls us good (Genesis 1:31). The church proclaims that God is the creator of life, and that all things are possible with Him (Isaiah 66:2; Matthew 19:26).
The Existence of Evil
We believe in the existence of both angels and demons. Both are created beings. Angels are messengers of God (Genesis 19:15; Daniel 8:16; Luke 2:13; Matthew 28:5). Angels also worship God (Nehemiah 9:6; Revelation 19:10). Demons are the angels that sided with Satan. Satan was a beautiful angel but he wanted to be like Christ and so he was thrown out of heaven (Revelation 12:9). He continues to sin by afflicting God’s people (Job 2:7), accusing (Zachariah 3:1), and tempting (Mark 1:14). Satan and his evil angels work against God’s purposes on this earth influencing people to do evil (Genesis 3:1-5; Matthew 16:23; John 13:2; 1 Timothy 4:1; 1 Peter 5:8). Demons are capable of physically possessing those without the Holy Spirit who make themselves vulnerable. Many times during Jesus ministry he delivered people from demon possession (Matthew 9:32-33; Mark 5:1-20; Luke 4:31-37). God’s power is greater than that of Satan or his angels (Romans 8:37-39). Though human power cannot match that of Satan or his angels we can take comfort in the apostle’s words: “the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). God has given believers power and authority to resist Satan and his angels by the Holy Spirit (Luke 9:1). When Christ returns the conflict between God and Satan will end. Satan will be defeated and Christ will reign forever.
As an evangelical church that emphasizes the authority of the Bible and salvation through the personal acceptance of Jesus Christ, we are unique as a church in the following doctrines which we believe more fully display God’s character.