Below is a brief description of the basic
truths that we believe and teach.
We believe in God
· He
is the one true God. Creator of all things, infinitely perfect and
eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
(Genesis 1:1 and 26-27
3:22,
Psalm 90:2, Matthew 28:19, John 14:26, I Peter 1:2, II Corinthians
13:14)
We believe in Jesus Christ
· We
believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in his virgin birth,
in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His atoning death through
His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the
right hand of the Father, and in His personal return to power and
glory. (1 Corinthians 15:1-8)
We believe in the Holy Spirit
· That
His ministry is to glorify Jesus Christ and during this age, to
convict men of sin, indwell, guide, instruct, comfort and empower
the believer for godly living and service. We further believe that
all Christians have been promised the indwelling of the Holy Spirit
in their lives. The promise of His presence may be claimed at the
point of conversion (Acts 2:38). The Holy Spirit then gives gifts of
ministry to each one for the good of the body (I Corinthians
12:4-7).
We believe in the Scriptures
· Both
Old and New Testaments are the inspired Word of God, without error
in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for
the salvation of men, and the divine and final authority for all
Christian faith and life. We believe that Scripture should be
interpreted according to the author's intended meaning. We also
believe and encourage the wonderful discovery that each person can
have as they study and apply the Scriptures to their own personal
lives. (II Timothy 3:16, II Peter 1:20-21, II Timothy 1:13, Psalm
12:6, 19:105 and 160, Proverbs 30:5.)
We believe that sin separates us from God
· We
believe that every person has been created in the image of God, and
has worth as a creation but that all have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God. Sin is the free choice to disobey God and follow
our own desires. Sin drives a wedge of eternal separation between us
and God. (Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, James 1:14-15)
We believe that we are saved by grace, through faith, in baptism
· Salvation
means being brought back into eternal relationship with God. We
believe salvation is through the grace of Jesus only and paid for by
His blood on the cross (Ephesians 1:7). Jesus rose
literally from the dead to prove that that He has the victory over
death. We believe that those accepting Christ should repent
of sin, confess their faith, and be baptized into Jesus Christ for
the forgiveness of sin. (Romans 10:9 & Acts 2:38)
We believe that Satan is real
· He
desires to "kill, steal, and destroy" the Church and that he is
ruler over the present world system. The worldly way of thinking
and acting follows Satan. The Christian must reject worldly ways and
think and act the way God wants us to. (Job 1:6ff, Matthew 4:1, John
10:10, II Corinthians 11:14, II Thessalonians 2:8-9, Hebrews 2:14,
Ephesians 6:12, I Peter 5:8, I John 3:8, James 4:4)
We believe that the world needs to hear the message of Christ
· The
preaching and teaching of the gospel - that sinful man can find
renewal and salvation in Christ - is the most important message
there is. It is our responsibility as Christians to spread the
gospel message with all our available resources locally, nationally,
and globally. (Romans 10:8-15, Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 1:8)
We believe that Jesus will return for His Church
· All
the dead will be resurrected - the believer to everlasting joy with
the Lord - the unbeliever to everlasting punishment. Heaven and
Hell are both very real. Maranatha means "Come Lord" - found in 1
Corinthians 16:22. The hope and belief in His coming is
reflected in our Camp name. (II Thessalonians 1:9, II Peter 2:4-9
and 3:7, Jude 13, Revelation 20:15).
(Click here to see
the Wiki about the definition and origin of the word "Maranatha.")
