statement of faith

As Vineyard churches, we believe the fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith:

WE BELIEVE that God is the Eternal[1] King.[2]  He is an infinite,[3] unchangeable[4] Spirit,[5] perfect[6] in holiness,[7] wisdom,[8] goodness,[9] justice,[10] power[11] and love.[12]  From all eternity[13] He exists as the One[14] Living[15] and True[16] God in three persons[17] of one substance,[18] the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,[19] equal in power and glory.[20]

WE BELIEVE that God’s kingdom is everlasting.[21]  From His throne,[22] through His Son, His eternal Word,[23]God created,[24] upholds[25] and governs[26] all that exists:[27] the heavenly places,[28] the angelic hosts,[29] the universe,[30] the earth,[31] every living thing[32] and human beings.[33]  God created all things very good.[34]

WE BELIEVE that Satan, originally a great, good angel, rebelled against God, taking a host of angels with him.[35] He was cast out of God’s presence and, as a usurper of God’s rule established a counter-kingdom of darkness[36] and evil on the earth. [37]

WE BELIEVE that God created mankind in His image, male and female,[38] for relationship with Himself and to govern the earth.[39]  Under the temptation of Satan,[40] our original parents fell from grace,[41] bringing sin,[42] sickness[43] and God’s judgment of death to the earth.[44]  Through the fall, Satan and his demonic hosts gained access to God’s good creation.[45]  Creation now experiences the consequences and effects of Adam’s original sin.[46]  Human beings are born in sin,[47] subject to God’s judgment of death [48] and captive to Satan’s kingdom of darkness.[49]

WE BELIEVE that God did not abandon His rule over the earth[50] which He continues to uphold by His providence.[51]  In order to bring redemption, God established covenants[52] which revealed His grace to sinful people.[53]  In the covenant with Abraham, God bound Himself to His people Israel, promising to deliver them from bondage to sin and Satan and to bless all the nations through them.[54]   

WE BELIEVE that as King, God later redeemed His people by His mighty acts from bondage in Egypt[55] and established His covenant through Moses, revealing His perfect will and our obligation to fulfill it.[56]  The law’s purpose is to order our fallen race [57] and to make us conscious of our moral responsibility.[58]  By the work of God’s Spirit,[59] it convicts us of our sin[60] and God’s righteous judgment against us[61] and brings us to Christ alone for salvation.[62] 

WE BELIEVE that when Israel rejected God’s rule over her as King,[63] God established the monarchy in Israel[64] and made an unconditional covenant with David,[65] promising that his heir would restore God’s kingdom reign over His people as Messiah forever.[66] 

WE BELIEVE that in the fullness of time,[67] God honored His covenants with Israel and His prophetic promises of salvation[68] by sending His only Son,[69] Jesus, into the world.[70]  Conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary,[71] as fully God and fully human in one person,[72] He is humanity as God intended us to be.[73]  Jesus was anointed as God’s Messiah and empowered by the Holy Spirit,[74] inaugurating God’s kingdom reign on earth,[75] overpowering the reign of Satan by resisting temptation,[76] preaching the good news of salvation,[77] healing the sick,[78] casting out demons[79] and raising the dead.[80]  Gathering His disciples,[81] He reconstituted God’s people[82] as His Church[83] to be the instrument of His kingdom.[84]  After dying for the sins of the world,[85] Jesus was raised from the dead on the third day,[86] fulfilling the covenant of blessing given to Abraham.[87] In His sinless, perfect life[88] Jesus met the demands of the law[89] and in His atoning death on the cross[90] He took God’s judgment for sin[91] which we deserve as law-breakers.[92]  By His death on the cross He also disarmed the demonic powers.[93] The covenant with David was fulfilled in Jesus’ birth from David’s house,[94] His Messianic ministry,[95] His glorious resurrection from the dead,[96] His ascent into heaven and His present rule at the right hand of the Father.[97]  As God’s Son and David’s heir,[98] He is the eternal Messiah-King,[99] advancing God’s reign throughout every generation and throughout the whole earth today.[100] 

WE BELIEVE that the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Church at Pentecost in power,[101] baptizing believers into the Body of Christ[102] and releasing the gifts of the Spirit to them.[103]  The Spirit brings the permanent indwelling presence of God to us[104] for spiritual worship,[105] personal sanctification,[106] building up the Church,[107] gifting us for ministry,[108] and driving back the kingdom of Satan[109] by the evangelization of the world through proclaiming the word of Jesus[110] and doing the works of Jesus.[111]  

WE BELIEVE that the Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Jesus Christ[112] and that He is our abiding Helper,[113] Teacher,[114] and Guide.[115]  We believe in the filling or empowering of the Holy Spirit,[116] often a conscious experience,[117] for ministry today.[118]  We believe in the present ministry of the Spirit[119] and in the exercise of all of the biblical gifts of the Spirit.[120]  We practice the laying on of hands for the empowering of the Spirit,[121]  for healing,[122] and for recognition and empowering of those whom God has ordained to lead and serve the Church.[123] 

WE BELIEVE that the Holy Spirit inspired the human authors of Holy Scripture[124] so that the Bible is without error[125] in the original manuscripts. We receive the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments[126] as our final, absolute authority, the only infallible rule of faith[127] and practice.[128]

WE BELIEVE that the whole world is under the domination of Satan[129] and that all people are sinners by nature[130] and choice.[131]  All people therefore are under God’s just judgment.[132]  Through the preaching of the Good News of Jesus and the Kingdom of God[133] and the work of the Holy Spirit,[134] God regenerates,[135] justifies,[136] adopts[137] and sanctifies[138] through Jesus by the Spirit[139] all who repent of their sins[140] and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord[141] and Savior.[142]  By this they are released from Satan’s domain and enter into God’s kingdom reign.[143] 

WE BELIEVE in the one,[144] holy,[145] universal Church.[146]  All who repent of their sins and confess Jesus as Lord and Savior are regenerated by the Holy Spirit[147] and form the living Body of Christ,[148] of which He is the head[149] and of which we are all members.[150] 

WE BELIEVE that Jesus Christ committed two ordinances to the Church: water baptism [151] and the Lord’s Supper.[152]  Both are available to all believers.

WE BELIEVE that God’s kingdom has come in the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ,[153] that it continues to come in the ministry of the Spirit through the Church,[154] and that it will be consummated in the glorious, visible and triumphant appearing of Christ[155] - His return to the earth as King.[156]  After Christ returns to reign,[157] He will bring about the final defeat of Satan and all of his minions and works,[158] the resurrection of the dead,[159] the final judgment[160] and the eternal blessing of the righteous and eternal conscious punishment of the wicked.[161]  Finally, God will be all in all[162] and His kingdom, His rule and reign,[163] will be fulfilled in the new heavens and the new earth,[164] recreated by His mighty power, in which righteousness dwells[165] and in which He will forever be worshipped.[166]

 

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[1]Deuteronomy 33:27; Isaiah 44:6; Romans 1:20

[2]Psalm 95:3; Isaiah 43:15

[3] Psalm 147:5; Job 11:7-9

[4] James 1:17

[5] John 4:24

[6]Matthew 5:48

[7]Isaiah 6:3; I Peter 1:15-16

[8]Psalm 104:24; Proverbs 2:6; Isaiah 28:29

[9]Exodus 33:19; Psalm 31:19

[10]Psalm 33:5; Psalm 89:14; Isaiah 30:18

[11]Exodus 15:6; Psalm 63:2

[12]1John 4:8

[13]Isaiah 43:13 (N.A.S.B.)

[14]Isaiah 45:5; Corinthians 8:4

[15]Psalm 42:2; Psalm 84:2

[16]Jeremiah 10:10

[17]John 1:18 (N.A.S.B.); John 10:30; John 14:9; John 14:16-17; John 14:26; John 15:26; 2Corinthians 3:17-18

[18]John 1:1; John 1:14; 2Corinthians 3:17

[19]Matthew 28:19-20; 2Corinthians 13:14; Revelation 1:4

[20]Revelation 5:13; Ephesians 3:14-21

[21]Psalm 45:6; Psalm 145:13; Daniel 4:3

[22]Psalm 93:1-2

[23]John 1:1-3; 1Corinthians 8:6; Colossians 1:15-16; Hebrews 1:1-2

[24]Genesis 1:1; Psalm 95:3-5

[25]Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3

[26]Psalm 103:19; Psalm 104:24-29

[27]Psalm 96:4-6

[28]Psalm 89:11

[29]Psalm 103:20-21

[30]Colossians 1:16-17

[31]Psalm 104:5

[32]Psalm 103:22

[33]Psalm 22:28; Psalm 47:8

[34]Genesis 1:31

[35]Revelation 12:7-9

[36] 2Corinthians 11:14; Colossians 1:13-14; Ephesians 6:12

[37]Mark 3:22-26; Ephesians 2:1-2; 1John 5:19

[38]Genesis 1:26-27

[39]Genesis 1:26

[40]Genesis 3:1; Revelation 12:9

[41]Genesis 3:8; Romans 1:21; Romans 5:16

[42]Romans 5:12

[43]John 5:14

[44]1Corinthians 15:22

[45]John 8:44; I John 5:19

[46]Romans 8:20-23

[47]Psalm 51:5

[48]Ezekiel 18:4; Romans 2:5; Romans 2:12; Hebrews 9:27

[49]Galatians 1:3-5; Galatians 4:8-9; Colossians 1:13

[50]Psalm 24:1

[51]Psalm 96:10; Isaiah 40:22; Hebrews 1:3

[52]Romans 9:4

[53]Ephesians 2:12

[54]Genesis 17:3-8; Genesis 12:2-3; Genesis 15:4-6; Romans 4:3-5; Romans 4:16; Romans 4:20-25; Galatians 3:6-9; Galatians 3:13-14

[55]Exodus 15:3-18

[56]Exodus 19:3-6; Exodus 24:3-4; Exodus 24:7; Romans 8:3-4; Romans 8:12-14

[57] Deuteronomy 5:1-3; Deuteronomy 30:15-18; Galatians 3:23-25

[58]Psalm 25:8-10; Romans 7:7

[59]John 15:26; John 16:8-11; 2Corinthians 3:14-17

[60]Romans 7:13; Galatians 3:19; Galatians 3:21-22

[61]Romans 2:1-11

[62]Galatians 3:24; Philippians 3:8-9

[63]1Samuel 8:6-8

[64] 1Samuel 8:21-22; 1Samuel 9:15-16; 1Samuel 10:1; 1Samuel 10:24

[65]2Samuel 7:11b-16; Psalm 89:34-37

[66]Isaiah 9:6-7; Isaiah 11: 1-5; Jeremiah 23:5-6; Ezekiel 34:23

[67]Mark 1:15; Galatians 4:4

[68]Romans 1:2-4

[69]John 1:14

[70]John 1:17-18

[71]Luke 1:30-35

[72]John 1:14; Philippians 2:5-7

[73]Romans 5:19; 1Corinthians 15:22; I Peter 2:22; Corinthians 5:21; Romans 8:29

[74]Luke 3:21-22; Luke 4:16-21

[75]Mark 1:14-15; Luke 11:20; Luke 17:20-21

[76]Luke 4:1-13

[77]Luke 4:43

[78]Luke 4:40

[79]Luke 4:41

[80]Luke 7:14-17

[81]Mark 1:16-17

[82]Mark 3:13-15

[83]Matthew 16:18

[84]Luke 9:1-2; Luke 10:1-17

[85]John 1:29; John 6:51; 1John 4:9-10

[86] Mark 8:31; 1Corinthians 15:3-5

[87]Galatians 3:13-14

[88]Acts 3:14-15; Hebrews 4:15

[89]Romans 5:18-19

[90]1Peter 2:24

[91]Galatians 3: 13; 2Corinthians 5:21

[92]Romans 1:18; Romans 1:32; Romans 2:12; 2Thessalonians 1:6-10

[93]Colossians 2:13-15

[94]Matthew 1:1

[95] Luke 1:68-72; Luke 2:10-11; Matthew 9:27

[96]Acts 2:24-28

[97]Acts 2:29-36

[98]Romans 1:1-4

[99]Hebrews 1:1-3

[100]1Corinthians 15:24-26; Ephesians 1:19-23; Revelation 5:5

[101]Acts 1:8; Acts 2:1-4

[102]1Corinthians 12:13

[103]1Corinthians 12:4-7

[104]John 14:16-17

[105]Romans 12:1; Ephesians 5:18-20

[106]Romans 8:3-4

[107]1Corinthians 14:12; 1Corinthians 14:26

[108]Romans 12:4-6

[109]Luke 11:20; 1John 3:8b

[110]Ephesians 6:10-20

[111]John 14:12-13; Romans 15:18-19; 1Corinthians 4:20

[112]Romans 8:9-10

[113]John 16:7

[114]John 14:26

[115]John 16:13-15; Romans 8:14

[116]Luke 24:49; Acts 4:31

[117]Acts 8:18-19; Acts 19:1-2

[118]1Corinthians 2:4-5; 2Corinthians 4:7; 2Corinthians 6:4-7

[119]Joel 2:28-29; Acts 2:15-17

[120]1Corinthians 12:7-11; 1Corinthians 14:1; 1Corinthians 14: 5; 1Thessalonians 5:19-21

[121]Acts 8:14-17; Acts 19:6

[122] Mark 1:41; Luke 6:18b-19; Mark 16:18

[123]Acts 13:1-3; 1Timothy 4:14; 2Timothy 1:6

[124]2Timothy 3:16-17; 2Peter 1:20-21; 1Corinthians 2:12-13; John 14:26

[125]Psalm 19:7-9; Psalm 119:11; Matthew 5:17-18; John 3:34; John 10:35; 1Thessalonians 2:13; Revelation 22:6

[126] Luke 24:44; II Peter 3:15-16; Revelation 22:18-19

[127]Isaiah 40:8; Matthew 24:35

[128]Matthew 7:21; Matthew 7:24; Luke 1:38 [N.A.S.B.]; James 1:22-25

[129]Luke 4:5-7; I John 5:19

[130]1Corinthians 15:22; Ephesians 2:1-3

[131]Romans 1:21-23; Romans 1:32

[132]Romans 1:18; Romans 2:5; 2Corinthians 5:10; Ephesians 5:6

[133]Mark 1:14-15; Acts 8:12; Acts 28:31; Ephesians 5:5

[134]John 16:7-11

[135]John 3:5-8; I Peter 1:23

[136]Romans 5:1-2; Romans 5:9

[137]Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6

[138]Ephesians 5:25; Hebrews 13:12

[139]1Peter 1:1-2

[140] Acts 2:38

[141]Romans 10:9

[142]1John 4:13-15

[143]Colossians 1:13-14; Philippians 3:20

[144]John 17:20-21; Ephesians 4:3-6

[145] 1Corinthians 3:16-17

[146]Matthew 16:17-18; 1Corinthians 1:2; Ephesians 2:18-19; 1Peter 2:9-10

[147]Titus 3:4-7

[148]Romans 12:4-5

[149]Ephesians 1:22; Ephesians 5:23

[150]1Corinthians 12:27

[151]Matthew 28:19-20

[152]1Corinthians 11:23-26

[153]Daniel 7:13-14; Matthew 4:23; Matthew 12:28

[154]Matthew 6:10; Matthew 10:7-8; Matthew 24:14; Mark 13:11; John 15:26-27; Romans 14:17-18

[155]Mark 13:26; Acts 1:9-11; 2Thessalonians 2:8

[156]Revelation 19:11-16

[157]Matthew 25:31-32; 1Corinthians 15:23-25

[158]Revelation 20:10

[159] 1Corinthians 15:51-52

[160] John 5:28-30; Revelation 20:11-15

[161]Matthew 25:31-46

[162]1Corinthians 15:24-28

[163]1Timothy 6:13-16

[164]2Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:5

[165] Revelation 21:27

[166] 1Timothy 1:17; Revelation 7:9-12