What We Believe

Hope Community Church Vision comes from the passage of scripture from Matthew 28:19-20:

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything. I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

Our Mission Statement:

To glorify our Almighty God and Savior for who He is and for all that He has done for us (1 Corinthians 10:31). (And in that day you will say, “Praise the Lord, call upon His name; Declare His deeds among the peoples, Make mention that His name is exalted.” Isaiah 12:4)

To edify each other and to draw closer in relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, as members of one body in the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:3). (“And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10: 24-25)

To testify to others by sharing God’s love within our community and beyond. In our community we are a place of peace in the chaos and of hope for the hopeless (Romans 15:13). (“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” John 3:16-17; Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” John 14:6)

What We Believe:

God

That there is but one true God, an infinite, eternal, all-knowing Spirit, perfect in all His attributes, one in essence, revealing Himself in three equal Persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 45:5-7: Psalm 102:27)

God the Father

That God the Father, is the first Person of the Trinity. As the only absolute and omnipotent Ruler in the universe, He is sovereign, ordering and directing all things according to His own purpose and grace. As Creator, He is Father to all men, and spiritual Father to all who come to Him through His Son Jesus Christ, redeeming believers from sin and eternal death. (Psalm 90:2; 1 Corinthians 8:6)

God the Son – Jesus Christ

We believe in Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, who is coequal and one with the Father (John 10:30; 14:9), and that without altering His divine nature, was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary (Galatians 4:4-5). That in His incarnation, Christ’s divine and human natures were miraculously joined together in one person, fully God and fully man, yet the one Christ and only mediator between God and man (John 14:6), and by the shedding of His blood and substitutionary death on the cross, Jesus voluntarily accomplished the Father’s redemptive plan, with the purpose that the forgiveness of sins and eternity with God comes only through one’s faith in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:7).

God the Holy Spirit

We believe in the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, who is coequal and together with the Father and the Son, having sovereign activity in creation (Genesis 1:2), the incarnation of Jesus Christ (Matthew 1:18), the written revelation of Scripture (2 Peter 1:20-21), and the divine work of salvation in the world (John 3:5-7). We believe that the Holy Spirit’s work in this age, came forth from the Father as promised by the Son, Jesus (John 14:16-17; 15:26), to build of the body of Christ which is the church, to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and to regenerate, sanctify and empower for ministry all who believe in Christ; (Acts 1:8; 2 Corinthians 3:18; John 16: 8-11; Romans 8:26; 15:13; Hebrews 9:14). That the Holy Spirit dwells in every believer as an abiding helper, teacher, and guide, for the purpose of transforming believers into the image of Christ, sealing their salvation for the day of redemption (Romans 8:26-29; Ephesians 1:13), and administering spiritual gifts for the perfecting of the church saints today (1 Corinthians chaps. 12-14).

Man and Sin

We believe that in the beginning God created man in His image and likeness, with an intellect, a rational nature, and free from sin, yet with self-determination and volition (Genesis 1:26-27), and that in Adam’s sin of disobedience, man’s sinless innocence and fellowship with God was lost. Hence a nature corrupted by sin has been transmitted to all men, as all are sinners and subject to the wrath of God and the penalty of physical and spiritual death (Romans 3:23, 5:12). Therefore, with no restorative powers within ourselves, man’s salvation rests solely in God’s grace through the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ (1 John 1:8; Romans 6:23).

Salvation

We believe that salvation is solely of God’s grace on the basis of the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, shedding His blood on the cross, and dying for our sins, and not on the basis of any human merit or works (Ephesians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:18-19), and that all who receive the Lord Jesus Christ through faith are born again of the Holy Spirit and become children of God (John 1:12; Ephesians 2:8-9).

Holy Scripture

We believe that the Bible is God’s written revelation, constitutes the Word of God, and that the Holy Spirit inspired every word of Scripture (2 Peter 1:20-21; 2 Timothy 3:16-17), that the Bible is inerrant in the original writings, is infallible, and is fully trustworthy as the final authority on all of life. Believing that all Christians have the responsibility to study and obey God’s Word, we teach the literal, grammatical, historical method of interpretation, and believe the meaning of Scripture is understood by diligently applying this method under the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit (John 16:13-15).

Marriage

We hold to the belief that marriage as God has established it, is to be exclusively between one man and one woman (Genesis 2:18, 2:24 - 25; Ephesians 5:31), and that biblical marriage constitutes the foundation for the family and is an essential structure for society. We believe that marriage is exclusively the legal union of one genetic male and one genetic female, sanctioned by the state and evidenced by a marriage ceremony; that legitimate biblical sexual relations are exercised solely within marriage, so that any sexual activities with another person outside of the biblical marriage is sin.
We believe the purpose of marriage is for companionship as well as procreation. As such, God created man and woman different so as to complement and complete each other. For this reason homosexuality and all other sexual preferences or orientations are unnatural, sinful, and unacceptable to God. Accordingly, this ministry will not perform any marriage ceremonies between two individuals of the same sex, nor condone or recognize same-sex marriages, civil unions, or domestic partnerships, even if the state passes laws that recognize those unions. Further, lascivious behavior in other activities such as transgenderism, cross-dressing, bestiality, viewing or distribution of pornography, and the like are inconsistent with the teaching of the Bible and the Church. (Genesis 2:24-25; Matthew 19: 4-6, 9; John 4: 16-18; Romans 1: 18-32; 1 Corinthians 5:11, 6: 9-11, 6: 18-20, 7: 1-3 and 7: 8-9; Galatians 5: 1- 21; Ephesians 5: 3-7; 1 Timothy 1: 9-11).

Holding true to these stated beliefs, and while recognizing that we all sin and need a Savior, all are welcome to come and praise and worship with us, and seek His mercy and grace together.

Death, Heaven, and Hell

We believe in a literal Heaven and a literal Hell, where all those who place their faith, and trust in Jesus Christ will spend eternity in Heaven with the Lord (1 Peter 1:4, Hebrews 12:23; John 3:3, 5:24), while those who reject Jesus’ free gift of salvation will spend eternity separated from the Lord ( Luke 12:5; John 3:18; Revelation 14:10-11). We believe that upon physical death, the soul and consciousness live on (Revelation 6:9-11), with the souls of the redeemed continuing immediately into the presence of The Lord (Luke 23:43; Philippians 1:21-24; 2 Corinthians 5:8), that at physical death, the body and the soul are parted; for saved believers this separation remains until the rapture when our soul and new bodies will be reunited to be glorified with The Lord forever (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17; 1 Corinthians 15:35-44, 50-54), and that until that time, the souls of the redeemed in Christ remain in joyful fellowship with the Lord Jesus (heaven), while the souls of those who rejected Christ are immediately in a state of punishment (hell) until the time known as the second resurrection, when the souls of the lost and their resurrected bodies will be united (Luke 16:19-26) when they appear at the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15) to be cast into hell, separated from the life of God forever (Daniel 12:2; Matthew 25:41; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9).

The Resurrection and Last Things

We believe that Jesus Christ truly died and was raised from the dead, appearing to His disciples and many others as the same person He was among them before His crucifixion (1 Corinthians 15:3-8), That by raising Jesus from the dead, God confirmed the deity of His Son, giving proof that God the Father accepted the atoning work of Christ on the cross, and that Jesus then ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God, serving as an advocate for all believers (Mark 16:19; Hebrews 7:25).
We believe that Jesus’ bodily resurrection also guarantees a future resurrection life for all believers (Romans 6:5; 1 Corinthians 6:14), that Christ will return before the seven-year tribulation period as he promised in the rapture, to receive all believers (His bride the church) to Himself the air, back to the Father’s house in heaven, that His return is imminent, and that it has essential bearing on every believer’s mission in this life (1 Thessalonians 4:16; John 14:1-3; Titus 2:13; 1 Corinthians 15:51-53).
We believe that in the time directly following the tribulation period, Christ will come in His visible, physical return to the earth in all His power and glory with His church, establish His millennial kingdom, and remove Satan from the world. We believe that our Lord’s 1,000-year reign on earth will be characterized by righteousness, justice, peace, and long life (Isaiah 65:17-25; Ezekiel 36: 33-38), and will be brought to an end with the release of Satan. (Revelation 20:7).
We believe that upon his release (Revelation 20:7), Satan will be able to deceive the nations of the earth once again, bringing them together to do battle against the saints, but only to be devoured by fire from heaven (Revelation 20:9) and all be thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:10), and that Christ as the judge of all men, at the Great White Throne Judgment, will resurrect the unsaved dead (John 5:22), and upon receiving their judgment they will be committed to their eternal punishment (Matthew 25:41; 2 Thessalonians 1:9; Revelation 20:11-15).
We believe that the saved will enter the eternal state of glory with God, that the elements of this earth will be dissolved (2 Peter 3:10) and replaced with the new earth and the new Jerusalem, where all will dwell in righteousness and enjoy unending fellowship with God and one another.

Ordinances

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ instituted two ordinances for the church: baptism of believers, and the Lord’s Supper (communion). 1) Baptism is an outward expression of an inward belief. We believe baptism is a form of worship and is not required for salvation, but is instead a public declaration of one who has accepted Christ as Lord and Savior. 2) The Lord’s Supper is the commemoration of our Lord’s death until he returns (1 Corinthians 11:26), so should not be taken casually. One should personally examine and confess any unrepentant sins prior to taking part in communion. (Matthew 28:19, Luke 22: 19 - 20; Acts 2:38; 1 Corinthians 11: 23 -26)