Beliefs

Our Beliefs

At Community Life our name echoes our vision:
"Making the most of life through relationships."

It's who we are, a community of imperfect, authentic people seeking to live out our faith in community with others. Since the beginning, that's been our name. It remains our vision and pursuit. Our logo reflects that vision. Many people...different voices...living, walking, growing, and sharing our lives together.

IN ALL ESSENTIAL BELIEFS – WE HAVE UNITY.

“There is one Body and one Spirit… there is one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God and Father of us all…”
Ephesians 4:4-6

IN ALL NON-ESSENTIAL BELIEFS – WE HAVE LIBERTY.

“Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgement on disputable matters… Who are you to judge someone else’s servant?
To his master he stand or falls… So then each of us will be given an account of himself to God… So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God”
Romans 14:1,4, 12, 22

IN ALL OUR BELIEFS – WE SHOW LOVE.

“…If I hold in my mind not only all human knowledge but also the very secrets of God, and if I have the Faith that can move mountains – but have no love, I amount to nothing at all.”
1 Corinthians 13:2 (PH)

What We Believe

God

We believe that there is one true God. He has revealed Himself as having always existed without any outside cause or agent bringing Him into being. In the beginning God created everything out of nothing.

Isaiah 43;10-11
Genesis1:1
Deuteronomy 6:4

Jesus Christ

The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has always existed. He too is without beginning or end. In order to complete His earthly sacrificial mission, He became human by being born of a virgin, conceived by the Holy Spirit. He lived a life of perfect obedience to the Father and voluntarily atoned for the sins of all by dying on the cross as their substitute, thus satisfying divine justice and accomplishing salvation for all who trust in Him alone. He rose from the dead in the same body, though glorified, in which He lived and died. He ascended into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of the Father, where He the only Mediator between God and man Continually makes intercession for His own. He shall come again to earth, personally and visible, to consummate history and the eternal plan of God.

Matthew 1:23
Luke 1:31,35
Hebrews 7:26
I Peter 2:22
John 3:16
I Corinthians 15:3
2 Corinthians 5:21
Matthew 28:6
Luke 24:39
I Corinthians 15:4
Acts 1:9,11, 2:23
Philippians 2:9-11
Hebrews 1-3
John 1:14
Luke 1:26-35
Acts 4:12, 16:31

 

The Holy Spirit

The essential accompaniment of a genuine saving relationship with JesusChrist is a life of holiness and obedience, attained by believers as they submit to the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity. He was sent into the world by the Father and the Son to apply to man kind the saving work of Christ. He enlightens the minds of sinners, awakens in them a recognition of their need of a Savior and regenerates them. At the point of salvation He permanently indwells every believer to become the source of assurance, strength and wisdom, and uniquely endows each believer with gifts.

John16:13, I Corinthians 2:11
Genesis1:2
Acts 10:19, 13:2, 16:6, 13:4
John16:8
Ephesians 4:30
I Corinthians12

The Bible

The sole basis of our belief is the Bible, composed of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testament. We believe that scripture in its entirety originated with God, and that it was given through the instrumentality of chosen men. Scripture thus at one and the same time speaks with the authority of God and reflects the backgrounds, styles, and vocabularies of the human authors. We hold that the Scriptures are infallible and inerrant in the original manuscripts. They are the unique, full, and final authority on all matters of faith, belief, and manner of living, and there are no other writings similarly inspired by God.

II Timothy 3:15-17
I Thessalonians 2:13
II Peter 1:20-21
Psalms 119:105, 106, 112:6
Proverbs 31:5
James1:17

Salvation

The central purpose of God’s revelation in Scripture is to call all people into fellowship with Himself. Originally created to have fellowship with God, man defied God, choosing to go his independent way, and was thus alienated from and suffered the corruption of his nature, rendering him unable to please God. The fall took place at the beginning o f human history, and all individuals since have suffered these consequences and are thus in need of the saving grace of God. God provides salvation for all who believe and accept His free offer of forgiveness. Mankind’s only hope of redemption from the fallen sinful state is through the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son – blood that was shed as Jesus died on the cross. [The account of the crucifixion of Jesus is recounted by four of His contemporaries: Matthew (chapter 27), Mark (chapter 15), Luke (Chapter 23), and John (Chapter 19).] Salvation is received as a person repents before God for his sins and sinful nature and Believes or has faith in the fact that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ removes and brings forgiveness for his sin. In response to placing faith in God’s love and freely given salvation one experiences a spiritual rebirth and is declared right with God. At the moment of salvation, a person becomes heir to God’s promised hope of eternal or everlasting life.

Luke 24:47
John 3:3
Romans 10:13-15
Ephesians 2:8
Titus 2:11, 3:5-7
Romans 8:16
Ephesians 4:24
Titus 2:12

The Church

The corollary of union with Jesus Christ is that all believers become members of His body, the church. There is one true church universal, comprised of all those who acknowledge Jesus Christ as Savior andLord. The scripture commands believers to gather together to devote themselves to worship, prayer, teaching of the Word.

Romans 12:3-8
I Corinthians 12
Ephesians 1:22, 2:19-22, 4:3-6
Colossians 3:15
Hebrews 12:23

Sexualtiy & Gender

We believe that human life is uniquely created by God, in His image, and for His glory. Therefore, human life is sacred from conception to its natural end. We believe every human being has value and dignity. We believe that God created humans as male and female. God designed men and women to be biologically distinct, equal in worth, and made to complement each other. God establishes the immutable sex of each individual and calls everyone to righteously express their sexuality according to the guidelines in the Bible. God designed sexual intimacy as a gift to be enjoyed by one biological man and one biological woman within the covenant of marriage. God instituted monogamous marriage to be exclusively between one genetic male and one genetic female as the foundation of the family and basic structure of human society. God calls unmarried individuals to a life of celibacy and married individuals to a life of monogamy as they submit to Christ.

Genesis 1:26-28, 2:24, 5:1-2, 9:6
Job 33:4
Psalm 8:4-8, 100:3, 139:13
Isaiah 45:9-12, 64:8
Matthew 19:4, 22:37-39
Galatians 6:10
Ephesians 5:31
Corinthians 7:2
Hebrews 13:4
James 1:27

Eternity

People were created to exist forever. We will either exist eternally separated from God by sin, or eternally with God through forgiveness and salvation. To be eternally separated from God is Hell. To be eternally in union with Him is eternal life. Heaven and Hell are real places of eternal existence.

John 3:16, 2:25, 5:11-13
Romans 6:23
Revelations 20:15
Matthew 1:8, 2:44-46