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STATEMENT OF FAITH

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Communion: 1st/3rd/5th Sunday's of the Month

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Because We Love God and All People, We Value:

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  • An intimate personal relationship with God our Father and Creator, whose image we bear.

  • An unconditional surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ who alone is the Savior of all
    Mankind.

  • A radical dependence on the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit today in every believer and the church body.

  • The Bible as Gods word – absolutely dependable, relational, and relevant in equipping all people for life.

  • Prayer for its power to bring us into God’s presence and to change realities.

  • Sharing the source of our hope and joy with others.

  • God’s healing power in our world today.

  • Serving and giving as the highest forms of witness and work.

  • Inspiring and joyful worship that engages the heart, mind, and spirit.

  • Relationships as the most important facet of human existence.

  • Pursuing a deeper daily walk with God through prayer, worship, study of His Word, service to others, and growing relationships with other believers.

  • The grace of God, freely given – the only way to be saved.

  • Unity as the true state of the body of Christ, striving to keep ourselves one in the Spirit and binding ourselves together in peace.

  • A balanced approach to our faith, worshiping with equal awe the Father, Son, and Holy
    Spirit.

  • The Sacrament of Baptism as a voluntary act of submission to the will of God representing our Death, Burial, and Resurrection in Jesus Christ.

    • Watch this sermon for a fuller exposition of our thoughts on baptism.

  • The Sacrament of Holy Communion, where the Real Presence of Christ is present in, with, and under the bread and drink.

    • Watch this 2 part message (Part 1 / Part 2) for a fuller exposition of our thoughts on communion. ​

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CORE VALUES

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As Living Water Church we are not seeking to reinvent the “wheel” for Christianity. We simply want to pass on the ancient apostolic faith. These core values we think accurately capture much of what Jesus gave the church.

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LOVE – Who God is and who we must become (1 John 4:7-8, Matthew 22:37-38, 1 Corinthians 13).

 

BIBLICALLY BASED AND HISTORICALLY INFORMED – The phrase “On essentials unity, non-essentials liberty, in all things charity” is often helpful in navigating the ancient faith from the various secondary beliefs that have emerged through the centuries. The essentials are largely found in the Apostles and Nicene Creeds. As far as ‘liberty’ is concerned, as a church we serve traditional, evangelical, and charismatic Christians. There are differences, but we don’t think these are good dividers. Then there is charity. We think that the Kingdom of God challenges us to love others regardless of one’s opinion. We hearken back to the historical meaning of tolerance on opinion based issues. Historical tolerance can love another and disagree with  them over ideas.  We seek to follow the ancient faith.

  • A good example of living together with difference is our pastor previous debating one of our elders (they are good friends) on the topic of God's foreknowledge. Both love Jesus, but disagree over the precise formulation of what constitutes "all knowledge."  Enjoy the debate here! 

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HOLY SPIRIT – Regardless of one’s background, the early church was guided by the Holy Spirit. A quick look through the book of Acts (1,2,4,5,8,13,16,18,19) easily conveys that the Holy Spirit leads the church into mission. The early church was missional in the sense that they follow God to reach the lost. We simply want to do the same. We also recognize that God has given his church/body gifts to accomplish this mission (see Ephesians 4:11), until we reach maturity in Christ.  We seek to be a Holy Spirit guided church. 

 

PRAYER – We are told to “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Jesus himself was witnessed going way from the group and praying for long periods of time (Luke 6:12 and Matthew 26:36). Christ taught his disciples to pray (Matthew 6), and the ancient hymnbook of the church (the Psalms) is filled with prayers. We seek to be a praying church. 

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DISCIPLESHIP – We desire to spread God’s blessing to all the world by teaching and baptizing the nations. See Matthew 28:18-20, Genesis 12:1-3, 2 Corinthians 5:17-21. We recognize and yearn for God’s kingdom to come and his will to be done. 

 

COMMUNITY FOCUSED – We seek to build Christians that are vibrant within the world they inhabit. This means we want to develop Christians who contribute to the common good. Our example is Jesus, who came and lived among us and reached others where they are at. John Wesley is accredited with saying, “The world is my parish.” 

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