Statement of Faith

Statement of Faith
NewLife Community Church

I. The Scriptures
The Bible (composed of the 66 books of the Old & New Testament) was written by men who were directed by God, who is Himself the ultimate author. The Bible shows over and over again God revealing Himself to humanity.  Unlike any other piece of written literature, the Bible is absolute truth, and its main purpose is salvation.  Since it is the only source of absolute truth, it - better than any other source - tells us how God relates to us, what we can believe, how we should conduct our lives, and what religious options we have.  All parts of the Bible ultimately point to Jesus Christ.
Exodus 24:4; Deuteronomy 4:1-2; 17:19; Joshua 8:34; Psalms 19:7-10; 119:11,89,105,140; Isaiah 34:16; 40:8; Jeremiah 15:16; 36:1-32; Matthew 5:17-18; 22:29; Luke 21:33; 24:44-46; John 5:39; 16:13-15; 17:17; Acts 2:16ff.; 17:11; Romans 15:4; 16:25-26; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; Hebrews 1:1-2; 4:12; 1 Peter 1:25; 2 Peter 1:19-21.

Some Practical Applications:

• We make our best effort to regularly read and study the Bible, both individually and as large & small groups, to better understand its message.
• We reject the belief that any person or church leader is necessary for us to know and relate to God... the Bible is God's "letter" to each one of us. Therefore, each one of us are individually responsible to learn what it says.
• Every corner of our life and conduct must be measured against what the Bible teaches about that area.  We must obey what we discover God has commanded.
• Messages given by teachers at NewLife must provide teaching supported by Scripture.
• We do not accept doctrines, no matter what is claimed as their source, if they do not square with what the Bible says: supposed "modern prophets", "new revelation", or any message even if it apparently given miraculously must be tested by the Bible.

II. God
There is one and only one God.  He is a being of infinite intelligence.  He is at the same time a spirit and personal.  He is the Creator and ruler of the universe, the one who saves it from its problems, and the one whose conscious will keeps it all going.  Humans owe him everything: love, respect, and the willingness to obey everything that he asks of us.  Although God is a single being, He reveals Himself as a father, a son, and a holy (perfect) spirit.

A. God the Father
God is the one in control of the universe and everyone who is in it.  All of history is directed by God and contributes to His ultimate purposes.  God has supreme power, love, and wisdom.  God is also our father in the sense that those who believe and follow Jesus become his children.  His fatherly love applies to all people.
Genesis 1:1; 2:7; Exodus 3:14; 6:2-3; 15:11ff.; 20:1ff.; Leviticus 22:2; Deuteronomy 6:4; 32:6; 1 Chronicles 29:10; Psalm 19:1-3; Isaiah 43:3,15; 64:8; Jeremiah 10:10; 17:13; Matthew 6:9ff.; 7:11; 23:9; 28:19; Mark 1:9-11; John 4:24; 5:26; 14:6-13; 17:1-8; Acts 1:7; Romans 8:14-15; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 4:6; Colossians 1:15; 1 Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 11:6; 12:9; 1 Peter 1:17; 1 John 5:7.

Some Practical Applications:

• Knowing God is our highest priority  giving anything else a higher place in our lives is idolatry.
• We treat creation as a gift from God... neither abusing it nor worshipping it.
• We cannot agree with any teacher or religious group that rejects God's revelation of Himself as Trinity (as is common amongst most "cult" groups).

B. God the Son
Through Jesus, God came in human form - with flesh and bones, just like any other person - to live among humanity.  He was born as the son of Mary, who was a virgin at the time of conception.  Mary was impregnated by a supernatural act of the Holy Spirit.  Jesus was completely human, but he differed from all other humans past and future in one way: He never did anything that would be considered morally wrong.  Instead, he perfectly lived out the law that God has commanded and obeyed God in every action that he did.  With his death - the death of the only perfect human - all of humanity was given a chance to be forgiven of sin.  After his death, Jesus was raised from the dead and appeared to hundreds of people, including many of those who knew him before his death.  After appearing to these people, he was taken to Heaven, where he now acts as the perfect mediator between God and humans.  Jesus will return to the earth in human form, and, when he does, he will come to judge all humans for their actions.  The return of Jesus will signal the end of human history.  Until that time, he continues to rule on earth as the master of all Christians.
Genesis 18:1ff.; Psalms 2:7ff.; 110:1ff.; Isaiah 7:14; 53; Matthew 1:18-23; 3:17;  8:29; 11:27; 14:33; 16:16,27; 17:5; 27; 28:1-6,19; Mark 1:1; 3:11; Luke 1:35; 4:41; 22:70; 24:46; John 1:1-18,29; 10:30,38; 11:25-27; 12:44-50; 14:7-11; 16:15-16,28; 17:1-5, 21-22; 20:1-20,28; Acts 1:9; 2:22-24; 7:55-56; 9:4-5,20; Romans 1:3-4; 3:23-26; 5:6-21; 8:1-3,34; 10:4; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2:2; 8:6; 15:1-8,24-28; 2 Corinthians 5:19-21; 8:9; Galatians 4:4-5; Ephesians 1:20; 3:11; 4:7-10; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 1:13-22; 2:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; 3:16; Titus 2:13-14; Hebrews 1:1-3; 4:14-15; 7:14-28; 9:12-15,24-28; 12:2; 13:8; 1 Peter 2:21-25; 3:22; 1 John 1:7-9; 3:2; 4:14-15; 5:9; 2 John 7-9; Revelation 1:13-16; 5:9-14; 12:10-11; 13:8; 19:16.

Some Practical Applications:

• We are believers in Christ (not merely "believers in God") because our message is about Christ. Any message that doesn’t focus on Christ, His full humanity & divinity, His forgiveness for sin & our need for forgiveness, is not the Gospel (good news).
• Because our salvation was secured by the perfect sacrifice of a perfect person, we live knowing we are totally and unconditionally forgiven from sin now, rather than hoping we will be forgiven at some future point; we are secure in the grace of God through Christ.

C. God the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit simply is the spiritual form of God.  It is important to note that the Holy Spirit is described in Scripture with personal pronouns... clearly indicating that He is God and not merely a force. In the past the Holy Spirit led humans to write what eventually became 'the Bible'. Presently he helps those who read the Bible to understand the truth that it contains.  The Holy Spirit, in all that he does, points to the perfection of Jesus.  He helps locate sin within a person, convicts the person for that sin, and calls the person to be saved from that sin by faith in Christ. Once a person has placed his/her faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit helps the person to become more like Christ, he comforts the believer during difficult times, and he gives the Christian spiritual gifts that are to be used to serve God through His church.  When the Holy Spirit has entered a person, it is an assurance that the person will ultimately be made perfect like Christ and will be safe from eternal judgment when Christ returns.  Until then, He gives power to the Christian to worship God, spread the message that Christ has come to save all humans, and serve God.
Genesis 1:2; Judges 14:6; Job 26:13; Psalms 51:11; 139:7ff.; Isaiah 61:1-3; Joel 2:28-32; Matthew 1:18; 3:16; 4:1; 12:28-32; 28:19; Mark 1:10,12; Luke 1:35; 4:1,18-19; 11:13; 12:12; 24:49; John 4:24; 14:16-17,26; 15:26; 16:7-14; Acts 1:8; 2:1-4,38; 4:31; 5:3; 6:3; 7:55; 8:17,39; 10:44; 13:2; 15:28; 16:6; 19:1-6; Romans 8:9-11,14-16,26-27; 1 Corinthians 2:10-14; 3:16; 12:3-11,13; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:30; 5:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:19; 1 Timothy 3:16; 4:1; 2 Timothy 1:14; 3:16; Hebrews 9:8,14; 2 Peter 1:21; 1 John 4:13; 5:6-7; Revelation 1:10; 22:17.

Some Practical Applications:

• The Christian life is more than just "being good" - we need the Holy Spirit to bear His fruit in us; therefore, our daily lives must be yielded to the Spirit in a moment-by-moment surrender or our self-improvement will be useless.
• When we share Christ with others, the message we present is effectual not because of our superior reasoning or irresistible presentation, but because of the Spirit being free to work through us and in the heart of the person we're talking to; therefore, we depend ultimately on His invisible activity through our limited understanding of what will reach the person.

III. Humanity
Humans were especially created by God "in His own image" as the most important part of His universe.  At first humans had no sin but were given a free choice to choose it if they wanted.  The first humans did choose to do wrong against God, and consequently they brought sin into the entire human race.  With the loss of this original innocence, all people are born into a world and a human nature that is inclined toward sin.  As soon as a person is old enough to realize the difference between right and wrong, s/he becomes liable for his/her actions.  Only the grace of God can remove that liability.  All sin is rooted in a self-centered desire that is equal to rebellion against God and His desire for humans.  Because of this rebellion, sin separates man from God, because a perfect God cannot allow even the smallest amount of sin to taint His holiness.  God desires to cleanse humans from their wrongdoings, so that He may once again have a love relationship with those whom He has created.  This restoration of fellowship is known as 'salvation.'
Genesis 1:26-30; 2:5,7,18-22; 3; 9:6; Psalms 1; 8:3-6; 32:1-5; 51:5; Isaiah 6:5; Jeremiah 17:5; Matthew 16:26; Acts 17:26-31; Romans 1:19-32; 3:10-18,23; 5:6,12,19; 6:6; 7:14-25; 8:14-18,29; 1 Corinthians 1:21-31; 15:19,21-22; Ephesians 2:1-22; Colossians 1:21-22; 3:9-11.

Some Practical Applications

• As we relate to people throughout life, we see them as the "eternal beings" that they are and accord them due respect; we have never related to an "average" person.  Everyone matters to God and deserves to be treated lovingly.

IV. Salvation
Salvation is available to anyone who believes completely that Jesus is the one and only Savior, who died as a sacrifice in substitute for the believer. This salvation comes only by grace (that is, as an undeserved gift) through faith in Jesus Christ; good works are certainly desirable, but they never are enough to provide salvation.  No person, no matter how hard s/he tries to do right, is able to achieve salvation on his/her own, because no one is able to obey God's law perfectly.  And, since even one sin - a single infraction against God's law - is enough to separate a person from God, God had to offer salvation for every human, because all humans without exception are guilty of at least one sin (and usually many, many more). Unfortunately, not everyone accepts this offer.
Genesis 3:15; Exodus 3:14-17; 6:2-8; Matthew 1:21; 4:17; 16:21-26; 27:22-28:6; Luke 1:68-69; 2:28-32; John 1:11-14,29; 3:3-21,36; 5:24; 10:9,28-29; 15:1-16; 17:17; Acts 2:21; 4:12; 15:11; 16:30-31; 17:30-31; 20:32; Romans 1:16-18; 2:4; 3:23-25; 4:3ff.; 5:8-10; 6:1-23; 8:1-18,29-39; 10:9-10,13; 13:11-14; 1 Corinthians 1:18,30; 6:19-20; 15:10; 2 Corinthians 5:17-20; Galatians 2:20; 3:13; 5:22-25; 6:15; Ephesians 1:7; 2:8-22; 4:11-16; Philippians 2:12-13; Colossians 1:9-22; 3:1ff.; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; 2 Timothy 1:12; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 2:1-3; 5:8-9; 9:24-28; 11:1-12:8,14; James 2:14-26; 1 Peter 1:2-23; 1 John 1:6-2:11; Revelation 3:20; 21:1-22:5.

The process of salvation has three stages:
A. Regeneration
Regeneration means that the Holy Spirit creates a new heart within the believer.  The new heart is one that recognizes and admits sin and then strives to go in the opposite direction.  From God's perspective, the newly regenerated believer is forgiven of all sins - past, present, and future - and those sins are no longer counted against the believer.  Jesus Christ took the full burden and penalty of the sin upon himself when he was crucified.  This acquittal of sin is known as 'justification.'
B. Sanctification
Sanctification is the process by which the believer, beginning at the first moment of regeneration, grows in holiness.  This is a gradual process of moral and spiritual improvement throughout the life of the Christian with the assistance of the Holy Spirit.  The less sin a person has in their life, the easier it is for that person to serve God.
C. Glorification
Glorification is the final, perfect state that the Christian reaches in Heaven.  Every person will enjoy the glory of Heaven to his/her full capacity.  However, that capacity will be determined according to his/her service to God in this present life.

Some Practical Applications:

• Our message to seekers contains the call to turn from fruitless attempts to earn God's favor and to throw themselves without reservation on the perfect and reliable provision of God in Christ.
• Knowing that our eternity is infinitely longer and more significant than our 70 or so years on earth, we order our lives here so that they take into account this eternal perspective; we choose our activities and priorities based on God's pleasure,  recognizing His approval supersedes every other consideration.

V. Grace
God loves all humans and saves them fully apart from any effort of their own.  Because of sin, each person deserves eternal punishment, but God offers the gift of salvation to all who will believe in his Son, Jesus Christ, as Savior.  Since salvation begins with God's forgiveness of all sins, even those in the future will not be held against the Christian; they are already forgiven.  As such, no sin will ever be able to erase the salvation of the person whom God truly has forgiven.  Although the eternal consequences are taken care of once-and-for-all by salvation, a Christian will never completely be able to escape the influence or results of sin in this temporary life.  Humans have the right to accept or reject God's offer of salvation according to their own wills, although God knows beforehand the decision that each person will make.
Genesis 12:1-3; Exodus 19:5-8; 1 Samuel 8:4-7,19-22; Isaiah 5:1-7; Jeremiah 31:31ff.; Matthew 16:18-19; 21:28-45; 24:22,31; 25:34; Luke 1:68-79; 2:29-32; 19:41-44; 24:44-48; John 1:12-14; 3:16; 5:24; 6:44-45,65; 10:27-29; 15:16; 17:6, 12, 17-18; Acts 20:32; Romans 5:9-10; 8:28-39; 10:12-15; 11:5-7,26-36; 1 Corinthians 1:1-2; 15:24-28; Ephesians 1:4-23; 2:1-10; 3:1-11; Colossians 1:12-14; 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14; 2 Timothy 1:12; 2:10,19; Hebrews 11:39-12:2; James 1:12; 1 Peter 1:2-5,13; 2:4-10; 1 John 1:7-9; 2:19; 3:2.

Some Practical Applications:

• We live secure in the knowledge that the Christian life we live is a "thank you" to God for the salvation He has fully and completely provided: we neither think our obedience "enhances" His provision for us (as if we could add something to His death) or treat His grace in a cavalier way (as an excuse to live sinfully).
• Knowing we are all sinful, we will never naively assume we're immune from temptation or evil; though confident of being rescued from the penalty of sin, we prudently conduct our lives mindful of sin's ongoing potential to misdirect us.
• We reject the teaching of reincarnation - we must make good choices with the one life we have.

VI. The Church
The local church is composed of a group of Christians who have been baptized and regularly commemorate the gift of salvation from Christ through the Lord's Supper.  Each local church (also called a 'congregation') is independently governed by its pastor and other recognized spiritual and administrative leaders; God is the ultimate leader of each church, and the foundation of each individual church is Jesus Christ alone.  For this reason, each church should cooperate with and be concerned for other local church bodies.  Each member of the church is equal: equal in rights, responsibilities, and value.

Since the church is at the center of God's plan to save humanity, participation in the church should be at the center of each Christian's life.  Although neither church membership nor church participation saves a person from his/her sins, no Christian can fulfill his/her ultimate potential apart from the work of the church.

The local church has the right and the responsibility to encourage its members and protect them from sin.  In order to do this, sometimes the church must employ church discipline.  The purpose of church discipline is always the restoration of the individual and the protection of the church's reputation.  Church discipline should always be based entirely upon love for God and his people.

The universal church is composed of all Christians in every nation past and present. The mission of both the local and the universal church is to spread to message of salvation, the Gospel, to everyone.
Matt. 16:15-19; 18:15-20; Acts 2:41-42,47; 5:11-14; 6:3-6; 13:1-3; 14:23,27; 15:1-30; 16:5; 20:28; Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:2; 3:16; 5:4-5; 7:17; 9:13-14; 12; Ephes. 1:22-23; 2:19-22; 3:8-11,21; 5:22-32; Phil. 1:1; Col. 1:18; 1 Tim. 3:1-15; 4:14; 1 Peter 5:1-4; Rev. 2-3; 21:2-3.

Some Practical Applications

• Disunity hurts the body of Christ and His cause. We guard our unity and diligently seek to honestly confront and work through differences in God-honoring ways that both respect the individual (made in God's image) and preserve the oneness in Christ we need to manifest.
• Every gathering of believers is a gathering of the Church; every small group is in fact the Church meeting together in its smallest unit.

VII. Faith & Practice
Scripture is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice. This church recognizes it cannot bind the conscience of individual members in areas where Scripture is silent. Rather, each believer is to be led in those areas by the Lord, to whom he or she alone is ultimately responsible.

We believe the Statement of Faith to be an accurate summary of what Scripture teaches. All members shall refrain from advocating doctrines that are not included in the Statement of Faith in such a way as to cause dissension.

Some Practical Applications:

• No person ever has the right to dictate the beliefs of another person; we submit to God's authority through His word - it stands over and judges all of us, including our leaders.
• We do not take stands on controversial issues about which the Bible is silent; individuals are left to their own conscience before the Lord rather than depending on the church to tell them what to think or do.
• We are free to express our own opinions among our brothers & sisters, but we don't want to ever harm the church by gathering a following around ourselves (or an interpretation of a controversial issue) to create a splinter-group.
• We value the well-being of Christ's body above our desire for self-expression; though no authority has a right to police our thoughts, we agree not to speak with unwarranted conviction when our opinions pertain to non-biblical matters or when our views differ from this Statement of Faith.

VIII. Denominational Statement
NewLife Community Church is a Southern Baptist church which seeks to cooperate with other churches to bring the truth of Jesus Christ to the whole world. The choice of denomination identification is one born not of convenience, but conviction. The Southern Baptist heritage of emphasizing the priesthood of all believers (that each person is responsible individually for his/her own relationship with Christ), the autonomy of the local church (that each local church governs itself and is not subject to city, state, or national church authorities), the symbolic but significant act of baptism, and the security of the believer (that any person who has an authentic relationship with Christ cannot lose that relationship by their actions) are all reasons for our choice as a church denominationally to be Southern Baptist. As well, Southern Baptists have worked cooperatively to become one of the largest missionary organizations in the world - a work we are glad to participate in. We are voluntarily affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, California Southern Baptist Convention, and Mid-Valley Baptist Association, in order to spread the gospel more effectively around the world, supporting that work through both the Cooperative Program and associational offerings.

Our denominational affiliation does not prevent us, however, from allying with churches of other denominational backgrounds in order to spread the good news of Jesus Christ. Therefore, we are also work with local churches in order to reach people with the truth of God.

Finally, we realize that denominational labels can be used not only to define what we believe, but also to wall ourselves off from the rest of the Church. NewLife Community Church is not primarily about being a Southern Baptist church but about being a church that honors and glorifies God. It is our desire to incorporate the best of a variety of Christian traditions into our faith & practice, as long as they line up with the teachings of Scripture and the vision of this church to reach people with the truth about Christ's love in the context of contemporary culture.

[The statement is firmly rooted in the 1963 Baptist Faith & Message, with insights from the Statement of Faith of the Willow Creek Community Church in Barrington, IL.]