STATEMENT OF FAITH

               This is a biblical statement of faith.  This statement borrows liberally from the great Christian statements of faith, particularly those of the Baptist, Methodists, and Catholics.  This is as it should be given that Kingdom Christian Center is rooted and grounded in Scripture and the best of the Christian tradition.

1. CHARITY: We believe that God is love. Loving God with all one has is the Great Commandment; the second one is like it: love one’s neighbor as one loves oneself.  We believe that our love for our neighbors manifests our discipleship, proves our love for God, and symbolizes our authenticity as the unique people of God in our dispensation. 
2. BIBLIOLOGY: We believe that the Bible is the infallible, inspired, inscribed word of God. Its sixty-six (66) books are the exclusive basis of authority in the church and their principles, properly applied, must resolve all important matters of faith and practice.
3. THEOLOGY: We believe in the personal triune God: Father, Son (Jesus Christ), and Holy Spirit. While manifested to us in three persons, God yet remains one.  It is at once a paradox and mystery naturally but perfectly consistent supernaturally.  The triune God functions as Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer of heaven and/or the universe.  Like children, we are taught in the Bible to simply call God “Father”.
4. CHRISTOLOGY: We believe that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God, very God of very God.  We believe that he was the Word at creation and that the Word became flesh: Jesus Christ.  We believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, lived to usher in the kingdom of God, and died for our sins.  We believe that God raised Jesus from the dead bodily, and that the risen Christ again taught and commissioned his disciples.  We believe in Jesus as our Savior and Lord, our Lord who will return in great power and glory to do the work that remains that only he can do.
5. PNEUMATOLOGY: We believe that the Holy Spirit (Greek: Pneuma) is the Comforter and Counselor who is God.  The Spirit was active in creation, as the brooding force that helped make everything that God spoke into existence by his Word.  We believe that the Spirit has been active in assisting God’s work in every dispensation.  The Spirit now guides the church, comforting and counseling it into the life and power of Christ, in order to advance the kingdom of God in the earth.   In order to advance the kingdom of God in us and through us, the Holy Spirit indwells, seals, and then regenerates every believer, causing us to manifest progressively in our lives the fruit of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit.
6. ANTHROPOLOGY: We believe that both the original man (Adam) and original woman (Eve) were created in the image of God and lived in holiness near God in a place of Delight (Eden). God made humans as his earthly likeness to have dominion over life in the earthly realm.  Adam and Eve’s residence in Eden and their proximity to the Tree of Life at Eden’s center were contingent on obeying God: humans simply had to choose not to eat of one tree near the Tree of Life, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  God told this to the   The Man told the Woman.  They lived in Eden for a while in holiness, walking with God, Adam naming the creatures, and Adam and Eve learning to communicate.   We believe that humans disobeyed by eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Specifically, Eve was deceived into eating; she gave the fruit of the forbidden tree to Adam who she was supposed to assist; Adam, the prototype who was given naming power in Eden, deliberately disobeyed.  The result is that Adam, if not both he and Eve, violated God’s decree.  They became sinners.  They fell from their exalted state, status, and estate.  They and their children were unable to live the kind of holy life.
7. SOTERIOLOGY: We believe that those who believe that Jesus Christ died for their sins and confess his lordship over their life shall be saved (Greek: soter). Thus, salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ and not by works of righteousness.  The requisites to regeneration are repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Upon such belief, righteousness is given as a gift, as are favor with God and salvation from eternal destruction.  Believers then maintain these gifts by continuing to believe. 
8. ECCLESIOLOGY: We believe that the church is the body of Christ, an extension of Christ’s life and ministry in the world today. We believe that Jesus Christ established His church during His ministry on earth.  The church is the local and yet international, visible assembly of baptized believers in covenant relationship to carry out the Commission of the Lord Jesus Christ globally.  The church of Jesus Christ is where God’s kingdom is being established and from whence God’s kingdom message shall be taught to the entire world as a witness.  We believe that Jesus is building his church and that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.  We believe that God has given the church apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers as gifts to equip the saints to do the person-to-person work of the global ministry.  We believe at the local level God has set up two offices: pastorate and deaconate.  The deaconate are to so assist the pastorate so as to free pastors to preach and pray, or otherwise shepherd God’s people.  In this way pastors, so susceptible to being mired in perfunctory and administrative work, will be able to properly join and facilitate the other leadership “gifts” in the essential preparatory work of equipping church members to do the global commission work. 
9. SACRAMENTS: We believe that there are two ordinances in the Lord's churches, as powerful as they are picturesque: Baptism and the Lord's Supper. Baptism is the immersion of penitent believers in water, in ways appropriate to the physical condition of the candidate, administered by the authority of a New Testament church in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (and for unity of the body, in the name of Jesus). The Lord's Supper is the consumption of bread first and then the wine (fermentation unnecessary) in celebration of Christ’s substitutionary death, in recognition of his life entering our life, and as a memorial that we are headed to a place where we will eat a more divine such supper with him in eternity. This Supper is an ordinance restricted to baptized believers and to be eaten consistent with the teachings of the Bible.  
10. ESCHATOLOGY: We believe that Jesus is coming again to restore God’s kingdom fully in the earth, usher in the millennial reign, bring final judgment on unbelievers, re-make heaven and earth, complete the total transformation of all who believe, invest all believers with every aspect of his divinity, and to divest himself of his final humanity so that God can be all in all 1 Corinthians 15:28.