We are Christian 

We are united with all believers in proclaiming the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We believe that in divine love, God offers to all people forgiveness of sins and restored relationship. In being reconciled to God, we believe that we are also to be reconciled to one another loving each other as we have been loved by God, forgiving each other as we have been forgiven by God. We believe that our life together is to exemplify the character of Christ. We stand with Christians everywhere in affirming the historic Trinitarian creeds and beliefs of the Christian faith and deeply value our heritage in the Wesleyan-Holiness tradition. We look to Scripture as the primary source of spiritual truth confirmed by reason, tradition, and experience.

With all the people of God we confess and praise Jesus Christ the Lord. 
Jesus Christ is the Lord of the Church, which, as the Apostles' Creed tells us, is one, holy, universal, and apostolic. In Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit, God the Father offers forgiveness of sin and reconciliation to all the world. Those who respond to God's offer in faith become the people of God. Having been forgiven and reconciled in Christ, we forgive and are reconciled to one another. In this way, we are Christ's Church and Body and reveal the unity of that Body. As the one Body of Christ, we have "one Lord, one faith, one baptism." We affirm the unity of Christ's Church and strive in all things to preserve it (Ephesians 4:5, 3).

Jesus Christ is the holy Lord. For this reason, Christ's Church is not only one but also holy. It is to be holy in its parts and in its totality holy in its members as it is in its Head. The Church is both holy and called to be holy. It is holy because it is the Body of Christ, who has become for us righteousness and holiness. It is called to become holy by God, who chose us before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless. As Christ's one Body, our life together as a church should embody the holy character of Christ, who emptied himself and took on the form of a slave. We affirm the holiness of Christ's Church, both as a gift and as a calling.

Jesus Christ is the Lord of the Church. For this reason, the Church is not only one and holy but also universal, including all who affirm the essential beliefs of the Christian faith. We affirm the apostolic faith that has been held by all Christians, everywhere and at all times. We embrace John Wesley's concept of the universal spirit, by which we have fellowship with all those who affirm the vital center of Scripture, and we extend toleration to those who disagree with us on matters not essential to salvation.

 

We believe in new beginnings

We are called by Scripture and drawn by grace to worship God and to love Him with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbors as ourselves. To this end we commit ourselves fully and completely to God, believing that we can be "sanctified wholly," as a second crisis experience. We believe that the Holy Spirit convicts, cleanses, fills and empowers us as the grace of God transforms us day by day into a people of love and spiritual discipline, ethical and moral purity, and compassion and justice. It is the work of the Holy Spirit that restores us in the image of God and produces in us the character of Christ. Holiness in the life of be-lievers is most clearly understood as Christlikeness.

We believe in God the Father, the Creator, who calls into being what does not exist. We once were not, but God called us into being, made us for himself, and fashioned us in His own image. We have been commissioned to bear the image of God: "I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy because I am holy" (Leviticus 11:44).

Our hunger to be a Holiness people is rooted in the holi-ness of God himself. The holiness of God refers to His Deity His utter singularity of being. There is none like Him in majesty and glory The appropriate human response in the presence of such a glorious being is worship of God as God. God's holiness is expressed in His gracious redemptive acts. Encounter with the God who reveals and gives himself makes worship possible, and worship becomes the primary way of knowing Him. We worship the holy redeeming God by loving what He loves.

Our worship of the great and gracious God takes many forms. Often it is praise and prayer with the faith community. It also expresses itself in acts of private devotion, thanksgiving and praise, and obedience. Evangelistic sharing of the faith, compassion toward our neighbor, working for justice, and moral uprightness are all acts of worship before our God of blazing holiness. Even the ordinary tasks of life become acts of worship and take on a sacramental significance as worship of a holy God becomes our way of life.

Jesus Christ revealed the one holy God to us and modeled worshipful holy living for us. Jesus informs our understanding of holiness through His life, sacrifice, and teachings as found in the Gospels, particularly the Sermon on the Mount. As a Holiness people we seek to be like Jesus in every atti-tude and action. By His grace God enables believers who worship Him with their whole hearts to live Christlike lives. This we understand to be the essence of holiness.

As a Holiness ament and the Early Church. Our articles of faith clearly place us in the tradition of classical Christianity We identify with the Arminian tradition of free grace (Jesus died for all) and human freedom--the God-given capacity of all to choose God and salvation. We also trace our ecclesiastical heritage to the Wesleyan Revival of the 18th century and to the Holiness Movement of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Through the centuries the Holiness people have had a "magnificent obsession" with Jesus. We worship Jesus! We love Jesus! We think Jesus! We talk Jesus! We live Jesus! This is the essence and overflow of holiness for us. This is what characterizes Holiness people.

 

We are Mission-minded

The mission of the church in the world begins in worship. It is as we are gathered together before God in worship-singing, hearing the public reading of the Bible, giving our tithes and offerings, praying, hearing the preached Word, baptizing, and sharing the Lords Supper--that we know most clearly what it means to be the people of God. Our belief that the work of God in the world is accomplished primarily through worshiping congregations leads us to understand that our mission includes the receiving of new members into the fellowship of the church and the organizing of new worshiping congregations.

Worship is the highest expression of our love for God. It is God-centered adoration honoring the One who in grace and mercy redeems us. The primary context for worship is the local church where God's people gather, not in self-cen-tered experience or for self-glorification, but in self-surrender and self-offering. Worship is the church in loving, obedient service to God.

Worship is the first privilege and responsibility of God's people. It is the gathering of the covenant community before God in proclamation and celebrative response of who He is, what He has done, and what He promises to do.

As people who are consecrated to God, we share His love for the lost and His compassion for the poor and broken. The Great Commandment and the Great Commission move us to engage the world in evangelism, compassion, and justice. To this end we are committed to inviting people to faith, to caring for those in need, to standing against injustice and with the oppressed, to working to protect and preserve the re-sources of God's creation, and to including in our fellowship all who will call upon the name of the Lord.

Through its mission in the world, the church demonstrates the love of God. The story of the Bible is the story of God reconciling the world to himself, ultimately through Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:16-2 1). The church is sent into the world to participate with God in this ministry of love and reconciliation through evangelism, compassion, and justice.

Both the Great Commission and the Great Commandment are central to the understanding of our mission. They are two expressions of a single mission, two dimensions of the one gospel message. Jesus, who directs us to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.., and your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22:37, 39), also tells us to "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you" (28:19-20).

The mission of the church in the world extends to all humanity as all people, being created in the image of God, have ultimate value. It is our mission to love and value people as they are loved and valued by God, who seeks to bring them peace, justice, and salvation from sin through Christ. It is our mission to have compassion upon and to care for those in need. It is our mission to oppose social systems and policies that devalue or disempower people.

We are committed to being-and inviting others to become-disciples of Jesus. With this in mind, we are committed to providing the means (Sunday School, Bible studies, small accountability groups, etc.) through which believers are en-couraged to grow in their understanding of the Christian faith and in their relationship with each other and with God. We understand discipleship to include submitting ourselves to obeying God and to the disciplines of the faith. We believe we are to help each other live the holy life through mutual support, Christian fellowship, and loving accountability Wesley said, "God has given us to each other to strengthen each other's hands." Christian discipleship is a way of life. It is the process of learning how God would have us live in the world. As we learn to live in obedience to the Word of God, in submission to the disciplines of the faith, and in accountability to one another, we begin to understand the true joy of the disciplined life and the Christian meaning of freedom. Discipleship is not merely human effort, submitting to rules and regulations. It is the means through which the Holy Spirit gradually brings us to maturity in Christ. It is through discipleship that we become people of Christian character. The ultimate goal of discipleship is to be transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 3:18).

By studying and meditating on the Scriptures, Christians discover fountains of refreshment in every thirsty valley on their discipleship journey Invigorated by the washing of the Word, refined by immersion in the Word, drinking deeply the truths of the Word, the disciples discover to their happy surprise that they are being "transformed by the renewing of [their] mind" (Romans 12:2). The Christian way opens before them like a high and open road. Nerved by God, they proceed on a way of life that eclipses mere human and cul-tural values. Refreshed by the fountain of the Word, disciples give their life away in self-transcending service.