Big enough for church . . .
Small enough for family
OUR STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
As Trinity Fellowship Church, we are seeking to be a God-honoring church through loving relationships, biblical discipleship, and true worship.
Relationships
Seeking to imitate the character of God by doing life relationally.
Christianity is a relationship with the God of the Universe and with others – individuals created in the image of a relational God. As we are essentially relational, along with the realization that sin has made us hopelessly self-interested and anti-relational, we commit ourselves to the high road of healthy and loving relationships in all we do as a church. We realize it is only in and through a committed relationship with Jesus Christ that truly loving relationships becomes possible.
Discipleship
Trinity Fellowship Church is committed to the fulfillment of the Great Commission (Matthew 29:18-20), going into all the world making disciples. Christ’s final word was the plan for building His kingdom on earth – by teaching and modeling the life that Christ lived in devotion to the Father. Dallas Willard (The Great Omission, pg.7) writes, “The disciple is one who, intent upon becoming Christ-like and so dwelling in his ‘faith and practice,’ systematically and progressively rearranges his affairs to that end.” In short, we want to live our lives the way Jesus would live it.
We want to be strategic in moving ourselves and our friends along the journey from dis-interested unbeliever to fully devoted follower of Christ. It is clear the key role Evangelism plays in the life of the church, as well as Mission being the destination.
Worship
We believe that in worship – whether individually or corporately – the curtain of cloudiness is pulled back a bit and we begin to see God more clearly, for Who He really is. We are crazy enough to believe that worship is “good” for us – it is part of our nature – and inspires us to know God better. We define worship, in simple terms, as making much of God, but as Robert Webber (Ancient-Future Faith, pg. 93) puts it,
Worship is a rehearsal of the saving deeds of God in history. God’s saving actions culminate in the work of Christ, the overthrow of the powers of evil, and the ultimate establishment of the kingdom in the new heavens and the new earth. This is the story of the meaning of history; it shapes the church, forms spirituality, and motivates the mission of the church. It is what we call the Christian metanarrative.
OUR BELIEFS
GOD
We believe in one God, Creator of all things, holy, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in a loving unity of three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Having limitless knowledge and sovereign power, God has graciously purposed from eternity to redeem a people for Himself and to make all things new for His own glory.
THE FATHER
The first person of the Trinity orders and directs all things according to His own purpose, pleasure and grace. He infallibly foreknows all that shall come to pass, and has decreed all things to come to pass for His own glory. He graciously involves Himself in the affairs of men, 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; Ephesians 1:3-6).
JESUS CHRIST - THE SON
We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully God and fully man, one Person in two natures. Jesus—Israel's promised Messiah—was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest and Advocate. We believe that Jesus Christ, as our representative and substitute, shed His blood on the cross as the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice for our sins. His atoning death and victorious resurrection constitute the only ground for salvation.
THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe that the Holy Spirit, in all that He does, glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He convicts the world of its guilt. He regenerates sinners, and in Him they are baptized into union with Christ and adopted as heirs in the family of God. He also indwells, illuminates, guides, equips and empowers believers for Christ-like living and service.
THE BIBLE
We believe that God has spoken in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, through the words of human authors. As the verbally inspired Word of God, the Bible is without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for salvation, and the ultimate authority by which every realm of human knowledge and endeavor should be judged. Therefore, it is to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises.
THE HUMAN CONDITION
We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His image, but they sinned when tempted by Satan. In union with Adam, human beings are sinners by nature and by choice, alienated from God, and under His wrath. Only through God’s saving work in Jesus Christ can we be rescued, reconciled and renewed.
SALVATION
We believe that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. All who believe in Him are declared righteous by the Father on the grounds of Jesus Christ’s life, death and resurrection, being regenerated by and baptized in the Holy Spirit. (John 1:12, 3:16, 14:6; Ephesians 2:8-9).
THE CHURCH
We believe that the true church comprises all who have been justified by God's grace through faith alone in Christ alone. They are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which He is the Head. The true church is manifest in local churches, whose membership should be composed only of believers. The Lord Jesus mandated two ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which visibly and tangibly express the gospel. Though they are not the means of salvation, when celebrated by the church in genuine faith, these ordinances confirm and nourish the believer.
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 personal, bodily and glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ. The coming of Christ, at a time known only to God, demands constant expectancy and, as our blessed hope, motivates the believer to godly living, sacrificial service, and energetic mission.
RESPONSE AND ETERNAL DESTINY
We believe that God commands everyone everywhere to believe the gospel by turning to Him in repentance and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that God will raise the dead bodily and judge the world, assigning the unbeliever to condemnation and eternal conscious punishment and the believer to eternal blessedness and joy with the Lord in the new heaven and the new earth, to the praise of His glorious grace. Amen.