Statement of Beliefs

*Note - Attempting to sum up the entirety of the basics of Christian beliefs which we founders share is tedious and awkward. One has to figure out: What points of the faith are most foundational? What points are most necessary to stress? Thus, this is only the first draft and will likely be revised next meeting, which is Sunday night. I also wanted to word it in such a way as to not exclude those of us who may be wrestling with what we believe, since, that's probably all of us.

To join this community means to believe the following statements enough to make them the basis for how one lives his or her life:

- God exists and who He is has been accurately revealed to people through the Old and New Testament in the Bible.
- The Bible is an authoritative, God-inspired source for discovering who God is and what that had to do with ancient people and what that has to do with us now.
- God is one but has three manifestations – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
- God loves us. God loves everyone.
- We are in need of God to save us from the mess we made of this world and our own lives. This “mess” is called evil or sin. We cannot save ourselves.
- Jesus is fully human and fully God.
- Jesus’ death and resurrection demonstrate God’s triumph over evil.
- Even though we deserve death because of our sin, Jesus, the only perfect human to have ever lived, took our place and bore the punishment of sin for anyone who accepts this - whether they were pre-destined to accept it or not.
- The story is not over and evil has not been fully eradicated from the world. Jesus is coming back to finish the job. In the meantime, we are His followers and are working to establish His kingdom (or God’s will) here on earth.
- When one agrees to accept God's grace shown through Jesus' death, one is agreeing to live life God's way, instead of their own way, from that point on. Emulating Jesus’ life and teachings and following the principles laid out in the whole Bible is what it means to do that.