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A word about the words below…
We recognize that different folks come to a page about what a local church believes with different expectations and interests. What you will find below is our current best imperfect articulation of what we feel are some of our most significant understandings of God and life with Him. We make declarations that reflect our deepest convictions and most fervent hopes about who we are becoming as a group of Jesus followers. If you are interested only in the highlights, feel free to look for the bold print. If the details matter a great deal to you, you will probably want to read more thoroughly (and maybe even ask some questions, which we welcome).
In any case, know that we acknowledge (and invite!) God’s right to deepen and enhance our understanding of and experience with Him, and we reserve the right to amend this man-made document as He does that. In other words, we pledge our loyalty to God Himself above any creeds, doctrines, or dogmas. It’s not that God changes – we don’t think He does. It’s just that we are stubborn, slow-witted, and overloaded with baggage and bias, and we have great hope that God will heal us of those afflictions a little more every day. As He does, we believe we’ll better know Him and how He wants us to live.
A word about beliefs in community…
As a local expression of the universal Church, we are committed to seeking unity in Jesus Christ. We long for and work toward the day when, with God’s help, we become “completely one,” that the world may know the love of God in Jesus. We are eager to see this prayer of Jesus (recorded in John 17) realized among local believers and in the Body of Christ around the world.
As we grow toward and into that divine unity, we seek like-mindedness in essential belief and practice as we also celebrate the exercise of liberty in non-essential matters. We welcome the skeptic and embrace the unbeliever with the kind of grace and sincere humanity that Jesus modeled. In all things we will have the same love, in full accord and of one mind, as we humbly look to the interests of others rather than our own interests.
Beliefs matter, but they are hollow and powerless if they do not transform us and propel us into a new way of living. Based on the teachings of Scripture, the guidance of the Spirit, the history of the faith, and shared life as the Body of Christ, we are particularly convinced that our lives are to be fueled by these lived beliefs:
Jesus is King of the Universe.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. Colossians 1:15-20
The whole of mankind, creation, Scripture, and the Gospel finds root and meaning in the Jesus who walked the earth, died on a cross, left the grave fully alive, and reigns over everything now and forever. He is the supreme authority over all things created, written, believed, and imagined. He is the way, the truth, the life; the life that is really Life. He dined with the despised and disrespected, confounded the wise, and astonished the skeptics. He challenged his friends and loved his enemies. He spoke to power and exposed the earthly kingdoms of greed, self-righteousness, and false religion. He preached peace and accomplished reconciliation. He redefined love in his life and his death, conquered evil in his resurrection, and will ultimately wipe every tear from every eye, marking the end of death, mourning, crying, and pain. He is ultimate, unequalled, unrivalled, unmatchable, unsurpassable, utmost, and universal.
We exist to follow this Jesus and to proclaim His now-and-coming Kingdom. Our unity as a local body and our connection to the universal Church revolve around Jesus, one with Himself in the Triune God, and Him alone.
The Church is the Body of Christ and is both universal and local.
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 1 Corinthians 12:12-15
The Church, though the term has been used and misused in countless ways over the centuries, remains the living Body of Christ in the world. All who are in Christ are united in the universal Church, which expresses itself locally throughout the earth. Though now fragmented and flawed, the Church will be drawn to wholeness and unity under the Head. With God’s help, we seek to claim that territory, urging local believers to recognize and revel in their membership in the Church in Bryan/College Station. We also affirm the importance of real connection to the Church around the world and devote time, resources, and prayer to the perpetuation of the global Church.
The kingdom of God is near, here, and coming.
Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you. Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Luke 12:31-33
Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he [Jesus] answered them, "The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed, nor will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There!' for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you. " Luke 17:20-21
And proclaim as you go, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Matthew 10:7
Jesus spoke of a kingdom that is near, at hand, in our midst, and upon us. He spoke of a kingdom that exalts the humble and humbles the exalted; a kingdom that will be inherited by the poor in spirit (the simpleminded, untalented, and religiously unsophisticated) and those persecuted for doing what is right. He told folks to seek this kingdom and worry for nothing else (then he told them to do crazy things like take care of the poor before taking care of themselves). Paul said it was a kingdom not of words, eating, or drinking, but of power, right living, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. The writer of Hebrews says it’s a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and John prophetically and mystically describes a kingdom that consumes all other kingdoms and powers.
When Jesus instructed his followers to proclaim “the gospel of the kingdom,” this is the kingdom He was talking about. We want it all. We cannot settle for a gospel that is less than this. We will not neglect the presence of the kingdom by dwelling only on the prophecy of the kingdom. It is coming, but it is indeed here, around us and within us. We desire to acknowledge, participate in, and advance this kingdom as it subverts, exposes, overcomes, and miraculously redeems darkness, violence, selfishness, sorrow, and suffering with light, peace, rightness, joy, and love.
The Bible is true, reliable, and unfailing in its purposes.
The whole Bible was given to us by inspiration from God and is in our lives; it straightens us out and helps us to do what is right. 2 Timothy 3:15
The Scriptures tell God’s story with creativity and purpose, reflect His character without error, and communicate His Word and desire for His creation with authority and power. We read, teach, preach, interact with, and live the words of the Bible, trusting the Spirit to illuminate the text and guide us into all truth.
The Spirit of God is real, powerful, and still up to all kinds of active good.
If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. … But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. John 14:15-17, 26
And Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself." Acts 2:38-39
To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 1 Corinthians 12:7
The Scriptures call God’s Spirit by many names – Holy Spirit, Helper, Comforter, Counselor, among others. The presence of God in the person of the Spirit is both real and mysterious; powerful and unpredictable. Jesus says those born of the Spirit are like the wind, coming and going with no discernable pattern. He said this Spirit will guide us into all truth, teach us all things, and remind his followers of his words. Paul said the Spirit guarantees what we inherit from God; that it seals us as His children. The Spirit is repeatedly described as a gift, gladly given to those who ask for it. The Bible records many miraculous and powerful events and phenomena unfolding when the Spirit arrives on the scene.
We believe all of that, and we think it means this Spirit is completely trustworthy. We pray for the eyes to see the Spirit’s work, the ears to hear the Spirit’s words, and the faith to believe the Spirit’s presence. We enjoy a God who chooses to regenerate, sanctify, comfort, help, counsel, teach, and live in us through a Spirit who, if it makes plodding and clumsy humans “like the wind,” must be all the more mysterious, indefinable, and well, God-like.
We recognize and submit to the authority of the Spirit, whose presence in and among us enables us to trust God with what we do not see or understand. We hope to refrain from trying to replace the dynamic activity of the Spirit with man-made boundaries or answers, and we seek to always invite the life-giving, unpredictable true work of the Spirit.
God is inherently relational and designed us to live in deep community.
I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ... I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. John 17:20-21, 23
The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don't, the parts we see and the parts we don't. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance. 1 Corinthians 12:25-26
The Scriptures describe this God we follow as a wholly unified being who relates to us in three distinct manifestations – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. At His very essence, God is relational and communal as these three aspects of His being operate in perfect harmony. Inviting us into that community, Jesus prays, just as he and the Father are one, that we will all be completely one (or perfectly one, or perfected in unity, depending on which version you read). If that’s not enough, we have the early church living together, sharing everything and Paul telling us that we are all to suffer when any among us suffers and rejoice when any one of us rejoices. Our connection to one another matters a great deal to God.
We endeavor to live as one body, valuing every member equally, treating those who seem weak as indispensable, honoring those who are normally overlooked, protecting the vulnerable, and having the same care for one another. We denounce celebrity and favoritism among us, rejecting any way of life that unfairly and dangerously exalts or devalues any individual or group. We treat one another as joint heirs in the kingdom of God and treat all people as image-bearers of the Creator.
We are on a journey of learning and living this radical notion of community which unsettles many of the values our culture saddles us with – privacy, pride, accumulated wealth, position, independence, among others. This is a hard and tremendously rewarding way of life, and we are merely inches into the eternal path of living as the community of God. We pray for the grace to persevere.