Our Beliefs
This section is provided to communicate what we hold to be true. You can read about our central beliefs, our philosophy of ministry, and our understanding of what it means to be a church of Jesus Christ. It is also designed to answer some common questions about what it means to be a believer in Christ, and what it means to be a Partner of Centerpoint Fellowship in particular.
OUR CENTRAL BELIEFS
The Scriptures
The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God's revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. (II Tim 3:16, 17; II Peter 1:20, 21; Matt 5:18; John 16:12,13).
God
There is one and only one living and true God. …The eternal God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being. (Deut 6:4; II Cor. 13:14)
God the Father
God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace. …God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
God the Son
Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ, He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His death on the cross made provision for the redemption of men from sin. We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man (John 1:1, 2, 14; Luke 1:35). We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice; and that our justification is made sure by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead (Rom 3:24; I Peter 2:24; Eph 1:7; I Peter 1:3-5). We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended into Heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God, where, as our High Priest, He fulfills the ministry of Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate (Acts 1:9, 10; Heb 7:25, Heb 9:24; Rom 8:34; I John 2:1-2).
God the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. …He exalts Christ. He convicts the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment …He regenerates the person alienated from God because of sin. He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service. (John 16:8-11; II Cor 3:6; I Cor 12:12-14; Rom 8:9; Eph 5:18)
Man
Man was created by the special act of God, in His own image, and is the crowning work of His creation. … but through Adam's sin all of humanity fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God; and that man is totally depraved, and of himself utterly unable to remedy his lost condition. Each and every person has sinned against God and is guilty of breaking his holy law. The sacredness of human personality is evident in God creating man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore every man possesses dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love. (Gen 1:26,27 Rom 3:22, 23, 5:12; Eph 2:1-3, 12)
Salvation
Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely by grace to all who believe in faith on Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, sanctification, and glorification. (Eph 2:8-10; John 1:12; Eph 1:7; I Peter 1:18-19).
Eternal security and assurance of believers
All the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God's power and are thus secure in Christ forever (John 6:37-40, 10:27-30; Rom 8:1, 38, 39; I Cor. 1:4-8; I Peter 1:5). We believe it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God's Word, which clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as an occasion to sin. (Rom 13:13,14; Gal 5:13; Titus 2:11-15).
The Church
A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a local body of baptized believers who are associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. The New Testament church is the body and espoused bride of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of all born-again persons of this present age (Eph 1:22, 23; 5:25-27; I Cor. 12:12-14; II Cor. 11:2). We believe that the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament scriptures (Acts 14:27, 18:22, 20:17, I Tim 3:1-3 & Titus 1:5-11). We believe in the autonomy of the local churches and their freedom of any external authority or control (Acts 13:1-4, 15:19-31, 20:28; Rom 16:1,4; I Cor. 3:9, 16, I Cor. 5:4-7, 13; I Peter 5:1-4). We recognize believer's baptism and the Lord's supper as scriptural means of testimony for the church in this age (Matt 28:19,20; Acts 2:41,42; Acts 18:8; I Cor. 11:23-26).
The ministry and spiritual gifts
God is sovereign in the bestowing of spiritual gifts. It is, however, the believer's responsibility to attempt to develop their sovereignly given spiritual gift(s). The baptism of the Holy Spirit occurs at conversion placing the believer into the Body of Christ. We also believe that particular spiritual gift(s) are neither essential (proving the presence of the Holy Spirit), nor an indication of deep spiritual experience (I Cor. 12:7, 11, 13 & Eph. 4:7-8). We believe that God does hear and answer the prayer of faith for the sick and afflicted, according to His will (John 15:7 & I John 5:14, 15). We believe it is the privilege and responsibility of every believer to minister according to the gift(s) and grace of God given to him (Rom 12:1-8; I Cor. 13; I Peter 4:10-11).
Baptism & the Lord's Supper
Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water. …It is an act of obedience that symbolizes the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior. It further symbolizes the believer's death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:1-4, Acts 8:12)
The Lord's Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming. (Luke 22:19, 1 Cor. 11:24, 25)
The Lord's Day
The first day of the week is the Lord's Day. It commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should be employed in exercises of worship and spiritual devotion. (Matthew 28:1, John 20:19, Acts 20:7)
If you would like a more in-depth discussion of our beliefs, you can go here to the Gospel Coalition for more information.
PHILOSOPHY OF MINISTRY
We believe that all persons whom God has called, regenerated, and justified have been given the task and ability to minister. God has also given some as leaders and equippers for churches (Ephesians 4:11-14). Therefore, we have a leadership team of biblically qualified elders who gracefully watch their iives and doctrine in helping others fulfill their ministry purposes. These leaders are under the leadership of Jesus, our lead pastor. This decentralizes our ministry fellowship and encourages all of our partners to engage in missional community leadership.
A CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST
As a church of Jesus Christ, we believe that He is to be the Centerpoint of all we do. The Bible calls the church the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:25-33). We exist to bring him worship.
A PARTNER OF CENTERPOINT FELLOWSHIP
Anyone who wishes to be a part of our faith community is welcome. This means we welcome those who are interested in exploring the truths of God's word and the Christian faith community. We open our Missional Community Groups, Worship Services, and Community Service Opporutunities to anyone. In order to keep the church aligned with scripture, we only allow baptized believers to become partners of Centerpoint. Partnership is a more formal relationship with expectations of prayer, involvement, giving, and sharing the Gospel.