A church, a community, and a world continually made new by the grace of Christ
What would it look like for our church to be continually made new by the grace of Christ?
What would it look like for our community to be made new?
What would it look like for our world to be made new?
Our vision is to see ourselves, our community, and our world made new by the grace of Christ. We want to see the Kingdom of God become more and more present all around us. This vision comes Revelation 21.5. John writes that he saw Jesus, seated on the throne, saying: Behold, I am making all things new.
This is the reality toward which God's people, and, indeed, the entire world, are headed (Romans 8.18-25). Scripture is punctuated with the truth that, in the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Christ, a newc reation has begun (2 Corinthians 5.17, Galatians 6.15, Revelation 3.14, Colossians 1.18, Ephesians 2.15, 2 Peter 3.13, 2 Corinthians 4.6). The church is called both to proclaim this new creation as a present reality and to make it evident in this world. We do this by following Jesus' commission to make disciples (Matthew 28.18-20) and the command to love God and neighbor (Mark 12.28-34). In this way,
we live out the prayer that Jesus taught us - your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6.10). First Christian church is a church “making disciples that make disciples!”
We play our part in this vision by focusing especially on our worship, teaching, relationships, and outreach. Here are the values that we want to have driving our worship, work, and life together:
1. The Gospel.
The Gospel is our most cherished belief; it is our identity. The Gospel is the centerpiece of the life and ministry of the church. The Gospel is the good news that God, in His infinite love, became a human like us in the person of Jesus in order to be our representative (Galatians 4.4-5). He lived a perfect life and, instead of being ushered back into glory, died on our behalf, for our sins (John 1.29). The Gospel is the good news that if we repent of our sins and put our trust in the perfect work of Christ, our sins are forgiven, we are adopted into God's family, and the Holy Spirit comes into our life to change us – making us more like Christ (Mark 1.14-15, 1 Peter 2.23-24, Romans 8.14-15, Colossians 3.10). This is the good
news that the whole world needs to hear, and that we, as God's people, need to hear again and again. The Gospel is not only the way of entrance into the family of God; it is also the means of growth within that family.
2. The Glory of God.
We believe that the purpose of all of life is to glorify God, our Creator and Redeemer (1 Corinthians 10.31, Romans 11.36). Everything that First Christian does is intended to make God's worth more evident to all people.
3. The Community.
While God has sent people to our congregation from various parts of the country, we recognize that God has placed us in this community for a reason. We strive for the welfare of our community (Jeremiah 29.7) and are committed to having a local presence that is manifested through all of the particular ministries of the church, as well as in partnerships with other area ministries.
4. Strong Relationships.
Relationships are the context in which growth in the grace of Christ is both experienced and measured. We are all in relationships – with individuals, with communities, and with our Creator. As a church, we are in relationships with other churches, our neighborhood, and our city. FCC wants to foster and support healthy, redemptive relationships both individually and corporately.
5. Gospel Outreach.
The good news of the grace of Christ is the greatest thing that any of us has ever heard. We are called to minister that grace not only to ourselves, but also to the community and the world in which we live. FCC is committed to a robust and comprehensive gospel outreach that encompasses both the Great Commission and the Great Commandment.
6. The Scriptures.
We believe that "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God,” by which we understand the whole Bible is inspired in the sense that holy men of God “were moved by the Holy Spirit” to write the very words of Scripture. We believe that this divine inspiration extends equally and fully to all parts of the writings— historical, poetical, doctrinal, and prophetical—as appeared in the original manuscripts. We believe that the whole Bible in the originals is therefore without error. We believe that all the Scriptures center about the Lord Jesus Christ in His person and work in His first and second coming, and hence that no portion,
even of the Old Testament, is properly read, or understood, until it leads to Him. We also believe that all the Scriptures were designed for our practical instruction (Mark 12:26, 36; 13:11; Luke 24:27, 44; John 5:39; Acts 1:16; 17:2–3; 18:28; 26:22–23; 28:23; Rom. 15:4; 1 Cor. 2:13; 10:11; 2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:21).
7. The Godhead.
We believe that the Godhead eternally exists in three persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—and that these three are one God, having precisely the same nature, attributes, and perfections, and worthy of precisely the same homage, confidence, and obedience (Matt. 28:18–19; Mark 12:29; John 1:14; Acts 5:3–4; 2 Cor. 13:14; Heb. 1:1–3; Rev. 1:4–6).
8. Man, created and fallen
We believe that man was originally created in the image and after the likeness of God, and that he fell through sin, and, as a consequence of his sin, lost his spiritual life, becoming dead in trespasses and sins, and that he became subject to the power of the devil. We also believe that this spiritual death, or total depravity of human nature, has been transmitted to the entire human race of man, the Man Christ Jesus alone being excepted; and hence that every child of Adam is born into the world with a nature which not only possesses no spark of divine life, but is essentially and unchangeably bad apart from divine grace (Gen. 1:26; 2:17; 6:5; Pss. 14:1–3; 51:5; Jer. 17:9; John 3:6; 5:40; 6:35; Rom. 3:10–19; 8:6–
7; Eph. 2:1–3; 1 Tim. 5:6; 1 John 3:8).
9. Salvation Through Christ
We believe that, owing to universal death through sin, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless born again; and that no degree of reformation however great, no attainments in morality however high, no culture however attractive, no baptism or other ordinance however administered, can help the sinner to take even one step toward heaven; but a new nature imparted from above, a new life implanted by the Holy Spirit through the Word, is absolutely essential to salvation, and only those thus saved are sons of God. We believe, also, that our redemption has been accomplished solely by the blood of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who was made to be sin and was made a curse for us, dying in our room and stead; and that no repentance, no feeling, no faith, no good resolutions, no sincere efforts, no submission to the rules and regulations of any church, nor all the churches that have existed since the days of the Apostles can add in the very least degree to the value of the blood, or to the merit of the finished work wrought for us by Him who united in His person true and proper deity with perfect and sinless humanity (Lev. 17:11; Isa. 64:6; Matt. 26:28; John 3:7–18; Rom. 5:6–9; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3:13; 6:15; Eph. 1:7; Phil. 3:4–9; Titus 3:5;
James 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:18–19, 23).
We believe that the new birth of the believer comes only through faith in Christ and that repentance is a vital part of believing, and is in no way, in itself, a separate and independent condition of salvation; nor are any other acts, such as confession, baptism, prayer, or faithful service, to be added to believing as a condition of salvation (John 1:12; 3:16, 18, 36; 5:24; 6:29; Acts 13:39; 16:31; Rom. 1:16–17; 3:22, 26; 4:5;10:4; Gal. 3:22).