Statement of Beliefs - Amana Area Fellowship
BIBLE
We believe the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, are the inspired word of God, without error in their original writings, and are our sole authority in all matters of faith and life. (Matthew 5:17-18, 2 Timothy 3:16-17, 2 Peter 2:20-21) We believe the central message of the Bible is the gospel: the account of God’s gracious work to redeem sinners which culminates in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. (1 Corinthians 15:3-4, Titus 3:4-7) The Old Testament promises and foreshadows Christ’s coming. (Genesis 12:1-3, Isaiah 53:4-6) The gospels describe Jesus’ work and the New Testament letters build upon this foundation while also calling us to joyfully worship God with our lives. (Romans 12:1-2)
GOD
We believe there is one living and true God, who is one in essence, with one indivisible will, while eternally existing as three distinct persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Though each person of the Trinity possesses the same nature, each functions differently but harmoniously in respect to God’s dealings with man. God is all-knowing, all-powerful, and everywhere present. (Deuteronomy 6:4, Psalm 139, Matthew 28:19, Mark 12:29, John 10:30, Acts 5:3-4, 1 Corinthians 12:4-6, 2 Corinthians 13:14, Hebrews 1:1-3)
THE FATHER
We believe the first person of the Trinity orders and directs all things according to His own purpose, pleasure and grace. He has decreed all things that come to pass for His own glory. He graciously involves Himself in the affairs of humanity, hears and answers prayer, and saves from sin and death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ. (Matthew 6:9, John 5:19-24, John 14:10, Ephesians 1:3-6)
THE SON
We believe Jesus Christ is God’s only eternal son, born of a virgin, and is fully God and fully man. Having led a sinless life, he satisfied by His substitutionary death the Father’s justice concerning sin. We believe in his bodily resurrection, his physical ascension, and his future visible return to this earth to establish his earthly kingdom. We believe that he is now in heaven at the right hand of God, where he personally advocates and intercedes on behalf of all who have put their faith in him. (John 1:14-18, Romans 3:24-26, 1 Corinthians 15, Philippians 2:6-8, Colossians 2:9, Hebrews 1:3, Hebrews 2:17-18, Hebrews 4:15, 1 John 2:1-2, Revelation 20:11-15)
THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe the Holy Spirit is sent by the Father and the Son to bring glory to the Son and convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment, and to regenerate, sanctify, and empower all who believe in Jesus Christ. We believe the Holy Spirit indwells and seals permanently every believer in Christ. He is an abiding helper, teacher, comforter and guide, empowering each believer to build up the body of Christ. (John 14:26, John 16:7-13, 1 Corinthians 6:19, 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, Ephesians 1:13-14, Ephesians 4:30)
MANKIND
We believe that all people, male and female, are created in the image of God to enjoy His fellowship and to fulfill God’s will on earth as his representatives. The fall of humanity was a once for all historical event, and since then, all humans are sinners by nature and choice. All are spiritually dead and subject to the certainty of both physical and spiritual death apart from Jesus Christ. In a fallen world, humans struggle against the sinful influences of the world, the flesh and the devil. (Genesis 1:26-27, Genesis 2:7,24, Genesis 3:3-4, Psalm 51:5, Psalm139:13-16, Romans 1:18-32, Romans 3:10-23, Romans 5:12, Ephesians 2:1-3, Titus 1:15)
SALVATION
We believe that salvation can only be obtained through God’s grace by faith, not by our own good works. Only by repenting and personally receiving, through faith, the substitutional act of Jesus Christ dying for our sins can we obtain justification before God. All who receive Christ are forever secure in their salvation. (John 1:12, John 10:28, John 14:6, Acts 4:12, Romans 3:21-22, Romans 6:23, Romans 8:38, Romans 10:9-10, Ephesians 2:8-9, Hebrews 7:25)
THE CHURCH
We believe in the universal church, a living spiritual body of which Christ is the head and all regenerated believers are members. We also believe in the local church, consisting of a body of believers in Jesus Christ who worship, pray, study the Scriptures together, build one another up in Christ, and meet one another’s needs. The church’s twofold responsibility is the task of bringing the gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost world and maturing them in Christ. We believe this local church is self-governing in function and free from interference by any external ecclesiastical or political authority. (Matthew 22:21, Matthew 28:19, Acts 2:41-47, Romans 12:3-8, 1 Corinthians 12:1-31, Ephesians 4:11-16, Colossians 1:27-28, Hebrews 10:25)
ORDINANCES
We believe that our Lord Jesus committed two ordinances to those who believe in him: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We believe that baptism is by immersion, thus serving not only as a public declaration of our faith in Christ, but a symbol of Christ’s (and by picture, our own) death and resurrection to new life. We believe that all Christians should be baptized in obedience to Christ. We believe that the Lord’s Supper commemorates our Savior’s death, and is open to all self-examined believers in Jesus Christ. (Matthew 3:15-17, Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 2:41, Romans 6:1-4, 1 Corinthians 11:17-32, Colossians 2:12)
THE GREAT COMMISSION AND COMMANDMENT
We believe that our purpose and mission in life as individual Christians and as a church are summed up in the Great Commandment and Great Commission which are spelled out in Scripture:
- (A) Great Commandment – God commands His people to love Him with all of our heart, soul, and mind and to love others as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-40)
- (B) Great Commission – Likewise, our mission is to go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey all Christ has commanded. (Matthew 28:19-20, Acts 1:8)
Christian Living
We believe that God’s justifying grace must not be separated from His sanctifying power and purpose. God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially, and to live out our faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor and justice for the oppressed. With God’s Word, the Spirit’s power, and fervent prayer in Christ’s name, we are to combat the spiritual forces of evil. In obedience to Christ’s commission, we are to make disciples among all people, always bearing witness to the gospel in word and deed.
CHRIST’S RETURN
We believe in the imminent physical return of Jesus Christ to gather his church to himself. We believe he will judge both the living and the dead. We believe in the bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust, the everlasting blessings of the saved in the new Heaven and the new Earth, and the everlasting punishment of the lost in Hell. (Matthew 25:41-46, Mark 13:34-37, John 14:1-3, Acts 1:10-11, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, 2 Thessalonians 1:3-10, Revelation 19:11-20:15)
Authority of Core Doctrine
These Core Doctrines do not exhaust the extent of our faith. The Bible itself is the sole and final source of all that we believe. We do believe, however, that the foregoing Core Doctrines accurately represent the teaching of the Bible and, therefore, is binding upon all members. All teaching in the church shall be in complete agreement with these Core Doctrines.