Renaissance Church Statement of Belief

The Bible

We believe in the Scriptures consisting of the Old and New Testaments, and that they are inspired by God, without error in the original manuscripts. We believe God used men, inspired by the Holy Spirit, to write the Scriptures, and they are set within a literary genre and historical context, reflecting the authors’ backgrounds, styles, and vocabularies. While we do not claim exhaustive knowledge, we do believe that true and accurate interpretations are possible and are to be fervently pursued.

Furthermore, we believe the Bible to be a mosaic of individual stories which come together to form one meta-narrative telling the story of God’s redemptive pursuit of humanity which is to the praise of his glory forever. Finally, we believe that all of the scriptures point to the person and work of Jesus Christ.

God

God is the creator, sustainer and ruler of the universe. He has eternally existed in three persons: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The nature of the trinity while a profound mystery is both relational and missional in its essence. God is both transcendent and immanent, loving, and just. He is unchanging in his nature, holy, righteous, slow to anger and quick to show mercy.

Jesus Christ

We believe that Jesus Christ is fully human and fully divine, that he was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary; that he lived a sinless life, and died a substitutionary death on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins according to the Scriptures. We believe that on the third day he rose from the dead, that he ascended into heaven and now stands as the only mediator between God and Man. He is the epicenter of the Christian faith, the primary example for how life is to be lived and the clearest revelation of the glory and character of God. We believe that he will come again to claim his church, raising the dead in him to everlasting life, and ushering in his eternal Kingdom.

The Holy Spirit

We believe the Holy Spirit to be the third person of the trinity, equal to God the Father and Jesus Christ in essence but distinct in personhood. He convicts people of their need for forgiveness and awakens them to the new birth, indwelling them as a seal and deposit of their future inheritance. His continuing work is to lead, guide and empower the church for Christ-likeness and Missional living.

Humanity

We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but through Adam’s disobedience fell and inherited a sinful nature. The effects of the fall were complete affecting both body and soul. In short, as a race and as individuals we are broken. We believe that while man is still capable of incredible achievement and noble acts of service, he is however, having been utterly alienated from God, totally incapable of rectifying his hopeless condition and therefore completely dependent on God’s grace.

Salvation

We believe that Jesus Christ died as a substitution for the death penalty we owed. No amount of good works or religious duty can bring us back from our present state of alienation. In the cross our sins were forgiven, the wrath of God which burned against us was satisfied; death, sin and Satan were defeated; and we were restored to relationship with God. In addition to this the life of perfect obedience that Jesus lived was credited to us as righteousness. This salvation comes by grace alone and is a gift to be received through faith in Christ alone. Those who receive him by faith will be welcomed to eternal life in heaven, and those who don’t will be condemned to eternal torment and separation from God in Hell. True believers can rest in the assurance of their salvation knowing that they can never be snatched from the hand of their loving Father.

* As concerning those who have never heard the name of Jesus, we recognize disagreement on this issue and submit to the fact that salvation belongs to our God and it is his work from first to last. He will act justly.

The Church

We believe that there is one true church universal, made up of those who have placed faith in Christ Jesus alone for salvation through out every age. The local church is the physical expression of God’s people on earth in the here and now. In the church all racial, religious social and economic barriers are torn down as God builds us into one body that stands on one foundation, that is Jesus Christ who is its head.

We believe that the church is missional in its nature, having mission as its organizing principle and the glory of God its ultimate aim and desire. The scripture commands that we meet regularly, worship, pray, receive instruction, take the Lord’s Supper and use our spiritual gifts in order to serve and build one another up in love.

Baptism

We believe baptism to be a sign and symbol of the new birth that takes place within the believer. It is the public proclamation of the new internal reality. Baptism was modeled for us by Christ, and it is the first step of obedience for those wishing to follow in his footsteps. We believe that it is to be administered by immersion and only after someone has come to faith.