OUR BELIEFS

Essentials

Everything we are and do is affected by what we hold as truths:
• We believe that men and women are spiritually lost and can only be saved in Jesus Christ
• The infallibility of the scriptures
• The deity of Jesus Christ
• The virgin birth of Christ
• Historical creation of man
• Sinful nature of man
• Substitutionary death of Christ on a cross
• Bodily resurrection of Jesus
• Literal return of Christ on earth
• Resurrection and assignment of all people to heaven or hell
• God is one being with three co-equal and co-eternal persons

What We Believe

Everything we are and do at New Hope is affected by what we believe.

We believe:
• in the one God who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
• God is the creator of all things.
• in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son and Savior of the world.
• in the Holy Spirit, who indwells each Christ follower and encourages, guides,  
   comforts, and transforms in the way of Christ.
• the Bible is the inspired written Word of God and the authoritative rule for all 
   matters of faith and practice.
• that man, created by God, willfully sinned and, as a result, is lost and without
   hope apart from Jesus Christ, whose death, burial, and resurrection opened the
   way for salvation.
• that salvation – the forgiveness of sins – comes by grace through the blood of
   Jesus Christ. It is offered to all persons, all of whom are created in the image of
   God.
• the Bible clearly outlines the pattern to follow to receive Christ as Lord: to believe
   in Christ as God’s Son and Savior of the world, to repent of personal sin, to
   confess Christ publicly, and to be immersed in baptism.
• the Church is the body and bride of Christ, was founded on the day of Pentecost,
   and consists of all Christians everywhere.
• death seals the eternal destiny of each person. The saved will be assigned eternal
   life with God; the unsaved will suffer eternal separation from God.

The foundation of our belief
New Hope Christian Church does not require that members subscribe to a formal creed. In a very real sense, “we have no creed but Christ, no book but the Bible.” The base of our unity is our faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and our adherence to the Bible as the inspired Word of God.

Unity
We seek a unity of understanding in the essentials of our faith, yet we do not suggest that we must agree on all things pertaining to our walk in Christ. On many issues we have the freedom to disagree. We do ask, however, that all who accept and hold a leadership or teaching position at New Hope respect the following guidelines and resist any temptation to use their position as a forum from which to teach other views. Unity in the body depends upon harmony and mutual trust in the leadership.

Who is God?
The Bible teaches that God is Creator of our world and Sustainer and Lord of our lives.

What about Jesus?
Jesus Christ is the one and only Son of the living God and our Savior. Through His death, burial, and resurrection, He opened the way of abundant and eternal life to all who call on His name.

Who is the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit is God Himself encouraging, guiding, and transforming us in the way of Christ.

The Bible
The Bible is the inspired written Word of God. It is the authoritative rule of faith and practice for Christians and the Church, Jesus instituted a new covenant with God that succeeded and transcended His former covenant with the People of Israel; hence we accept the Old Testament as preparatory to the New, and we rejoice that we are related to God through the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and not through the Law.

Baptism
We practice baptism of the repentant believer by immersion in water, confident that this expresses the form and purposes of the New Testament precedent. The New Testament teaches that all believers receive the gift of the Holy Spirit in relation to their faith, repentance, and baptism.

The New Testament teaches the ministry of all believers, recognizing that the Holy Spirit gives various gifts to members of the body so that every member can make a contribution to the effective ministry of the entire church.

We are a Spirit-filled church seeking to do God’s will and to become more like His Son, Jesus Christ. While we do not presume to dictate one’s private worship practices, we have agreed that for the sake of the unity of the body, in our public worship and other sanctioned church meetings, we will not teach or practice what is commonly called speaking in tongues.

Prayer
We are a praying church. We daily lift before God fervent prayers of praise, confession, thanksgiving, and petition.

The Future
God, who created the heavens and the Earth, will one day bring life on Earth to a conclusion. While accepting various understandings of how God will bring this about, we trust that Christ will come again and will call His own to Himself.

Communion
We celebrate the Lord’s Supper each weekend, as we find the New Testament Christians did. In partaking of the bread and the wine, we remember our Lord’s sacrifice for us and we strengthen our relationship with Him. All persons of all races have been created in the image of God and stand in need of the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

Missions
We are a mission-minded church. We send missionaries and support evangelistic and benevolent missions throughout the world. We encourage our finest people to accept the call to great Kingdom service, and we support them through generous mission offerings.

The church exists to serve the world. Therefore, we send evangelists to reach out to the perishing of the world; we participate in efforts to improve community life – we feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, offer hospitality to the stranger, clothe the naked, minister to the sick, and visit the imprisoned, as Jesus has instructed.

Finances
God expects wise management of our money and other resources in both our personal and our congregational lives. We encourage the tithe (ten percent) as the minimum the Bible teaches us to return to the Lord. In fact, we understand the governing principle to be that everything we have and are belongs to God. We do not hesitate to teach principles of Christian stewardship, agreeing with Jesus that “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”