Our Beliefs

1. The Bible: the Word of God, the sixty-six Books of the Old and New Testaments, verbally inspired in all parts, and therefore wholly without error as originally given of God.
2. The One True God: existing eternally as three persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
3. The Lord Jesus Christ: His pre-existence and deity, incarnation by virgin birth, sinless life, substitutionary death, bodily resurrection, ascension into heaven and present ministry, and coming again.
4. The Holy Spirit: His personality; and deity; and His work in each believer: baptism and indwelling at the moment of regeneration; and filling.
5. Man: his direct creation in the image of God, his subsequent fall into sin resulting in spiritual death, and the necessity of the new birth for his salvation.
6. Salvation: a complete and eternal salvation by God’s grace alone, received as the gift of God through personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work.
7. The Church: one true Church, the body and bride of Christ, composed of all true believers of the present age; and the organization of its members in local churches for worship, for edification of believers, and for world-wide gospel witness, each local church being autonomous but cooperating in fellowship and work.
8. Christian Life: a life of righteousness, good works, and separation unto God from the evil ways of the world, manifested by speaking the truth, maintaining the sanctity of the home, settling differences between Christians in accordance with the Word of God, not engaging in carnal strife but showing a Christ-like attitude toward all men, exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit, and maintaining a life of prayer, including the privilege, when sick, of calling for the elders of the church to pray and to anoint with oil in the name of the Lord.
9. Ordinances: the Christian should observe the ordinances of our Lord Jesus Christ, are (1) baptism of believers by triune immersion and (2) the threefold communion service, consisting of the washing of the saints’ feet, the Lord’s Supper, and the communion of the bread and the cup.
10. Satan: exists and has personality as the great adversary of God and His people, his judgment, and final doom.
11. Second Coming: the personal, visible, and imminent return of Christ to remove His Church from the earth before the tribulation, and afterward to descend with the Church to establish His millennial kingdom upon the earth.
12. Future Life: the conscious existence of the dead, the resurrection of the body, the judgment and reward of believers, the judgement and condemnation of unbelievers, the eternal life of the saved, and the eternal punishment of the lost.

This is a globally approved document by the Charis Fellowship (formerly Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches) and The Charis Alliance.
The Center
We declare that Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word of God, as revealed in the Bible, the written Word of God, is the only Savior and Lord.
This reality, the Word of God both incarnate and written, forms the center of our shared experience of true biblical unity. Therefore, we identify with all who share this common center in Jesus Christ and the Bible.

The Evangelical Core
We, believers in The Lord Jesus Christ associating as the movement of Charis International, have historically shared our commitment to these core truths of the Bible with other genuine believers in Jesus.
We seek to understand the Bible according to its own intent, as it was written, therefore we acknowledge that this declaration does not claim to have any particular authority distinct from the Holy Scriptures, which remain the unique and ultimate reference.

We therefore declare our commitment to these core biblical truths:

1. The One True God—There is one, and only one, true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is the Creator and Lord of all that is, existing eternally in three persons, never less and never more – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
2. The Lord Jesus Christ—Jesus Christ is God Himself, existing from eternity. Everything was created by Him and for Him. His incarnation took place in the womb of a virgin. He is fully human, and experienced humanity, but never sinned. He died a substitutionary death to atone for sin, resurrected bodily, and ascended into heaven where He is presently ministering until He will come again.
3. The Holy Spirit—The Holy Spirit is fully God and as such is personal. He was involved in Creation and the inspiration of Scripture. His works of convicting and regenerating are essential to the believers salvation. Believers are entitled to the benefit and joy of being filled and walking in the Spirit for empowerment in Christian life, service, and mission.
4. The Bible—The sixty-six books, and only these, known as the Old and New Testaments, are the written Word of God. God’s inspiration and superintendence of the writing of every word of the Bible guarantees that what was written is His Word and therefore authoritative, true, and without error. God’s Word is powerful and effective to accomplish His purpose of salvation among all nations. God’s Spirit illumines the minds of believers in every culture to understand, apply, and disclose the unchanging truth of Scripture in fresh and relevant ways for the benefit of the whole Body of Christ.
5. Humanity—God created the universe and all that is, including man and woman in His Own image, therefore all people are bearers of that image. However, Adam’s subsequent sin resulted in a condition of spiritual death which all people since Adam have experienced, marring the beauty of God’s image in them in every facet of life. This condition of spiritual death has rendered all people unable to save themselves, therefore the new birth is a necessity for salvation.
6. Salvation—The salvation brought by God is a complete and eternal salvation by His grace alone, received as the free gift of God through personal faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work.
7. Church—There exists one true church, which is called the Household of God, the Body of Christ, and the Temple of the Holy Spirit. It is comprised of all true disciples of Jesus Christ, and is created by the action of the Holy Spirit. Tangible expressions of this true Church are found in local churches.
8. Christian Life—While the believer is justified by faith alone, the faith that justifies is expected to result in the evidence of obedience and good works which are the products of the indwelling Holy Spirit. The dimensions of biblical ethics are both individual and social, and extend to every facet of life. God faithfully continues to finish the work of sanctification which He has begun in the life of each believer with the goal of Christ-likeness.
9. Angels, Satan, Demons—God created a multitude of spiritual beings called “angels”. Righteous angels continue to serve God and work both in the heavenly sphere and on earth. By his disobedience, Satan, a fallen angel, became the adversary of God and God’s people, carrying with him a procession of demons. Jesus Christ has overcome Satan so that the final judgment and doom of Satan and demons is certain.
10. Future Life—The dead will have a conscious existence in eternity and their bodies will be resurrected. Unbelievers, already under condemnation, will be sentenced and suffer eternal punishment in the Lake of Fire. Believers, already having been granted eternal life, will be judged and rewarded according to their works, and experience glorified bliss forever in the presence of the Lord.

God’s Word on the Christ-Follower’s View of Marriage, Gender and Sexuality
We believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as male or female. These two distinct, complementary genders together reflect the image and nature of God (Gen. 1:26-27). Rejection of one’s biological gender is a rejection of the image of God within that person.

We believe that the term “marriage” has only one meaning: the uniting of one man and one woman in a single, exclusive union, as delineated in Scripture (Genesis 2:15). We believe that God intends sexual intimacy to occur only between a man and a woman who are married to each other (1 Cor. 6:18; 7:2-5; Heb. 13:4). We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of marriage between a man and a woman.

We believe that any form of sexual immorality (including adultery, fornication, homosexual behavior, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, attempts to “alter gender” by surgery or appearance, and use of pornography) is sinful and offensive to God (Matt. 15:18-20, 1 Cor. 6:9-10).

We believe that in order to preserve the function and integrity of Grace Church as the local body of Christ, and to provide a biblical role model for the members of Grace Church and the community at large, it is imperative that all persons employed by Grace Church in any capacity, or who serve as volunteers, agree to and abide by this Statement on Marriage, Gender, and Sexuality (Matt. 5:16, Phil. 2:14-16, 1 Thess. 5:22).

We believe that God offers redemption and restoration to all who confess and forsake their sin, seeking His mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ (Acts 3:19-21, Ro. 10:9-10, 1 Cor. 6:9-11).

We believe that every person must be afforded compassion, love, kindness, respect, and dignity (Mark 12:28-31, Luke 6:31). Hateful and harassing behavior or attitudes directed towards any individual are to be repudiated and are not in accord with Scripture or the biblical convictions of Grace Church.

God’s Word on the Christ-Followers Role to Promote Justice
We, the leaders of Grace Church, believe that racism is a sin and is appalling to God. It is clear from His Word, God never intended racism or discrimination to be a part of the dynamic we see in this world. Yet as a result of the sin of man and the brokenness of this world, these values have formed in the minds of many and have felt justified even though they are not.

In Genesis, we see from the very beginning that God made human beings in His image (1:27) and from the first man, Adam, came all of the races of the world (Genesis 9,10 and 11).  Therefore, all of the races of the world are a representation of the image of God.
In Revelation, we see a vision of the very end of the ages when there is a new heaven and earth populated by the kings and the nations of the earth.  John says they will “bring their glory into it” (21:24) and “they will bring into it the glory and honor of the nations.” (21:26)  From the beginning to the end, God shows His approval of and His desire to be surrounded by the diversity of the nations.

When the nation of Israel was freed from Egypt and were given by God certain laws to by which to live. Those laws included directives to be fair and generous to those who were of different heritage and dwelling among them since Israel was also in bondage and under oppression at one time (Deuteronomy 24:17-18). Later in Israel’s history, the prophet, Isaiah, spoke the words of God to His chosen people Israel. He condemned them for pursuing spiritual “looking” activities and yet not looking out for or correcting injustices and removing oppressions in their world. (Isaiah 1:13-17 and 58:5-7)
Additionally, Jesus and the apostles taught us regarding our relationships with others. (Luke 6:31, Matthew 7:12, Ephesians 4:31-32, 1 Peter 3:8-12, 1 John 4:20-22) Each of these passages and many more indicate that our pattern should be love, compassion, grace and mercy while looking out for those who are overlooked and underserved.

Therefore, we will not accept, promote or tolerate racism within the bounds of our church family and we will speak against it. In being a light to the world, we will also not accept this sort of value within our community where it is within our power to shed light.
Ultimately, we know that aside from the transforming power of the gospel message nothing will permanently change this world or fix its problems. Jesus Christ came to offer change to our condition but we will still battle sin within the world each day.   While evil is present, the Good News of Jesus as our Savior is the only Hope of the World to initiate true change.