Typical Beliefs

In the early 1800's many new churches formed on the American frontier that became known as the “Restoration Movement.” The two best-known leaders of that era were Barton Stone and Alexander Campbell. Their passion was to honor Jesus’ prayer in John 17 seeking the unity of all his disciples.  Therefore they set out promoting world evangelism by practicing unity in the church based upon the restoration of Biblical authority and the essential elements of New Testament Christianity.

People in this fellowship refuse to embrace historical creeds as conditions or specific terms of fellowship and reject formal denominations or a clergy class as controlling over local congregations. Instead, they insist on relying on the Scriptures alone as the foundation for faith and practice. Furthermore, since each congregation is self-governing under Christ, individual churches may differ from one another on non-essentials. In these distinctions, a respectful appreciation of the different points of belief or practice of other Christians is maintained, while holding on to a higher ideal... the unity of the Church through faithful obedience to Jesus.

Many local churches have adopted statements of their core beliefs to inform the public about the nature and practice of their congregation. Grace Christian has not done that.  Instead, we are providing some examples of concise and readable statements of beliefs that we think are representative of what we teach and practice.

The statement below was published on the web by a leading Christian University, affiliated with independent Christian Churches and Churches of Christ. Grace Christian Church is one of the kind of local churches that support colleges of this sort.  The following points must be considered to be generally descriptive. Local congregations as well as colleges and other mission agencies commonly list their positions to help others understand them. This is what Lincoln Christian University (Lincoln, IL) once published on their web. Here at Grace Christian Church, we think this is a good description of what we believe, too.

God is one being in three persons—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. He is the source of all creation (Gen. 1:1; John 1:1-2), which He sustains (Col. 1:17) and is in the process of redeeming (Rom. 8:19-22). God the Father loves us and desires that we have fellowship with Him as His children (I John 1:3).

Jesus of Nazareth is the incarnation of God the Son. He is the Word become flesh (John 1:14), and He now holds all authority in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18). He is Savior and Lord. He made human salvation possible through His life, death on the cross, and resurrection. He ascended into heaven where He is now our high priest and advocate. He is head of the Church.

The Holy Spirit works actively in the world, seeking to glorify Jesus. The Holy Spirit convicts people of sin, righteousness, and judgment to come (John 16:5-11). The Holy Spirit indwells believers individually and corporately in the Church. The Holy Spirit develops within the Christian a pure heart which results in Christ-like character expressed in private and public conduct and action.

The Bible, the Old and New Testament Scriptures, is the uniquely inspired Word of God (2 Tim. 3:14-17; 2 Peter 1:16-21). The Bible is the rule of faith and practice for Christians. We affirm that Scripture is the authoritative revelation from God by which we know God’s will and Christ’s authority. We seek to assert what the Scriptures clearly assert and allow freedom in other cases. We seek to understand divine intent, through authorial intent, and we seek to apply its teaching to the contemporary church and culture.

The Church is the body of Christ on earth, the community of believers throughout the world. Upon surrender to Christ, a person is added to the Church. In addition, the priesthood of all believers means each Christian is called to be a serving minister (1 Peter 2:9-10). The Church’s mission is the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20).

Human beings were created by God to walk in fellowship with Him. However, all (except Jesus) have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23) and must rely on God’s grace and forgiveness. Every human from the moment of life is in the image of God (imago dei), a person to be nurtured, protected, and developed.

Salvation is by God alone through Jesus Christ alone. One accepts Christ as Savior through a conversion process that includes faith, repentance, confession, and baptism (Acts 2:38, 8:12, 10:47-48, Rom.10:9, etc.).

In baptism a believer is immersed, crucified and buried with Christ (Rom. 6:3-4), receives forgiveness of sin and the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38), is resurrected (Col. 2:12) and clothed with Christ (Gal. 3:27), and becomes saved (1 Peter 3:21) because of God’s free gift of grace received by faith.

The Lord’s Supper is the celebration of the New Covenant, in which the Christian community remembers Christ and celebrates the covenantal relationship they have with Him and with each other. Congregations in the fellowship typically celebrate the Lord’s Supper at least weekly (I Cor. 11:17-34; Acts 20:7).

The Final Coming of Jesus is a time when Christ will personally come again as savior and judge of the world. At that time there will be the bodily resurrection of the dead—believers to eternal life with God and unbelievers to eternal judgment. Sin will be no more and believers will live in fellowship with God forever (I Thess. 4:13-18 and Rev. 20:11-15).