What we Believe & Teach
We believe it is vital that those looking for a new church home and those presently attending our church understand clearly what we believe and teach. Therefore, we present our doctrinal statement from two perspective: What we DO NOT believe and what WE DO believe. We trust this is helpful to you.
WHAT WE DO NOT BELIEVE:
• We reject a man-centered worship and gospel message that denies the sovereignty of
God in all things especially in salvation.
• We reject that a person must speak in tongues to be saved, or to know that they are filled
with the Holy Spirit.
• We reject that a Christian can be demon possessed.
• We reject the faith movement teaching of “positive confession” or these “health/wealth”
teaching that is prevalent today. This false teaching says that we, like God, have the
ability to create our own reality by the confession of our lips and that God is obligated to
heal because of the positive confession of our lips.
• We reject the notion that a person living in sickness or poverty is settling for less than
his full inheritance in Christ. It is our desire that people be healed of sickness and
delivered from poverty, but they are not second-rate citizens of the Kingdom if they are
experiencing one or both of these life situations.
• We reject that “prophecy” given through the gift of prophecy is equal to or supersedes
the Word of God. The Bible, the Word of God, is the completed Word of prophecy given
by the Holy Spirit. It is not being added to today or superseded!
• We reject teaching based upon humanistic secular psychology and philosophy. While
we respect our fellow believers who work in mental health related fields, we at Grace
Chapel believe that the central mission of the church is to proclaim God’s Word to a lost
and hurting world. It is God’s Word that changes lives for the better.
WHAT WE DO BELIEVE:
• We believe in the Tri-unity of the Godhead — Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Each existing
as separate Persons yet one in essence. There is only one God. — Isa. 45:21; John 1:1-3;
Rev. 1:8; 1 John 5:7
• We believe in the inerrancy of Scripture; that the Bible, Old and New Testaments is the
inspired, infallible, inerrant Word of God. — 2 Tim. 3:16,17; 2 Peter 1:21; 1 Thess. 2:13
• We believe that all mankind is sinful by nature and under the condemnation of God,
thus, being unable to come to God apart from salvation through the shed blood of Jesus
Christ and His bodily resurrection from the dead, that Salvation is received by faith
alone apart from any works, that it is a gift of God’s grace and mercy which are neither
earned nor deserved. — John 3:14-16; Rom. 5:8,9; Heb. 9:11,12; 1 Peter 2:18,19; Rom. 10:9,10;
Rom. 5:1; Rom. 4:4,5; Eph. 2:8,9; John 14:6; Luke 13:3
• We believe that God the Father is the personal, transcendent and sovereign God over all
things. — Isa. 45:21
• We believe that Jesus Christ is fully God and human, that He was born of a virgin, lived a
sinless life, and provided our eternal salvation through His substitutionary death on the
cross, and bodily resurrection, that He ascended back to the right hand of God the
Father and ever lives to make intercession for us. — John 1:1-3
• We believe that the Holy Spirit is fully God, that He indwells all those born-again, that
He fills believers for service and that He convicts the world of sin, righteousness and
judgment, that He is the moving cause of salvation in that He draws us unto the Father
and Jesus Christ so as to be saved, that He is the indwelling power for victory over the
sins of the flesh. — 1 Cor. 6:19; Eph. 5:18; Eph. 1:13,14
• We believe that the gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in the Scriptures are valid for
today if they are exercised within the Scriptural guidelines, that the Holy Spirit gives
these gifts as He wills and that no believer will have all the gifts, nor that every believer
must manifest any one particular gift so as to evidence the baptism (filling) of the Holy
Spirit. As believers we are to covet the best gifts, seeking to exercise them in love that
the whole Body of Christ might be edified. We believe that love is more important than
the most spectacular gifts and without love all exercise of spiritual gifts is worthless.
— 1 Cor. 13:1-3; 1 Cor. 12-14; Rom. 12
• We believe that there are two church ordinances — Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
Baptism is by immersion in water, and is a testimony of faith in Jesus Christ as Savior
and Lord. The Lord’s Supper is the commemoration of our Lord’s death until He comes.
It should always be done after careful self-examination. — Acts 8:36-39; 1 Cor. 11:23-32
• We believe that church government should be simplistic rather than a complex
bureaucracy, and we depend on the Holy Spirit to lead, rather than on fleshly
promotion. — Col. 1:18; Eph. 1:22-23; 1 Cor. 12:27,28. The church is governed by an
Eldership made up of godly men in accordance to the qualifications found in ! Timothy
3 and Titus 1.
• We believe that the Church is the Body of Christ expressed both universally and locally,
that Jesus Christ is the head of the Church both locally and universally. — Col. 1:18; Eph.
1:22,23
• We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in
outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. We believe that any form of
homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication,adultery, and
pornography are sinful perversions of God’s gift of sex. We believe that God disapproves
of and forbids any attempt to alter one’s gender by surgery or appearance. -- Gen. 2:24;
Gen. 19:5,13; Gen. 26:8-9; Lev. 18:1-30; Rom.1:26-29; 1 Cor. 5:1; 6:9; 1 Thess. 4:1-8; Heb. 13:4
• We believe that the only Scriptural marriage is the joining of one man and one woman. -
-Gen. 2:24; Rom. 7:2; 1 Cor.7:10; Eph. 5:22-23
• We await the rapture of the church, and we believe that the second coming of Christ
with His saints to rule on the earth will be personal, pre-millennial, and visible. —
1 Thess. 4:13-18; Matt. 25:31-46; Rev. 19:11-21.
• We believe that in our services we must focus on a personal relationship with God
through worship, prayer, and the teaching of the Word of God. We teach both
expositorally and topically.
WHAT WE DO NOT BELIEVE:
• We reject a man-centered worship and gospel message that denies the sovereignty of
God in all things especially in salvation.
• We reject that a person must speak in tongues to be saved, or to know that they are filled
with the Holy Spirit.
• We reject that a Christian can be demon possessed.
• We reject the faith movement teaching of “positive confession” or these “health/wealth”
teaching that is prevalent today. This false teaching says that we, like God, have the
ability to create our own reality by the confession of our lips and that God is obligated to
heal because of the positive confession of our lips.
• We reject the notion that a person living in sickness or poverty is settling for less than
his full inheritance in Christ. It is our desire that people be healed of sickness and
delivered from poverty, but they are not second-rate citizens of the Kingdom if they are
experiencing one or both of these life situations.
• We reject that “prophecy” given through the gift of prophecy is equal to or supersedes
the Word of God. The Bible, the Word of God, is the completed Word of prophecy given
by the Holy Spirit. It is not being added to today or superseded!
• We reject teaching based upon humanistic secular psychology and philosophy. While
we respect our fellow believers who work in mental health related fields, we at Grace
Chapel believe that the central mission of the church is to proclaim God’s Word to a lost
and hurting world. It is God’s Word that changes lives for the better.
WHAT WE DO BELIEVE:
• We believe in the Tri-unity of the Godhead — Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Each existing
as separate Persons yet one in essence. There is only one God. — Isa. 45:21; John 1:1-3;
Rev. 1:8; 1 John 5:7
• We believe in the inerrancy of Scripture; that the Bible, Old and New Testaments is the
inspired, infallible, inerrant Word of God. — 2 Tim. 3:16,17; 2 Peter 1:21; 1 Thess. 2:13
• We believe that all mankind is sinful by nature and under the condemnation of God,
thus, being unable to come to God apart from salvation through the shed blood of Jesus
Christ and His bodily resurrection from the dead, that Salvation is received by faith
alone apart from any works, that it is a gift of God’s grace and mercy which are neither
earned nor deserved. — John 3:14-16; Rom. 5:8,9; Heb. 9:11,12; 1 Peter 2:18,19; Rom. 10:9,10;
Rom. 5:1; Rom. 4:4,5; Eph. 2:8,9; John 14:6; Luke 13:3
• We believe that God the Father is the personal, transcendent and sovereign God over all
things. — Isa. 45:21
• We believe that Jesus Christ is fully God and human, that He was born of a virgin, lived a
sinless life, and provided our eternal salvation through His substitutionary death on the
cross, and bodily resurrection, that He ascended back to the right hand of God the
Father and ever lives to make intercession for us. — John 1:1-3
• We believe that the Holy Spirit is fully God, that He indwells all those born-again, that
He fills believers for service and that He convicts the world of sin, righteousness and
judgment, that He is the moving cause of salvation in that He draws us unto the Father
and Jesus Christ so as to be saved, that He is the indwelling power for victory over the
sins of the flesh. — 1 Cor. 6:19; Eph. 5:18; Eph. 1:13,14
• We believe that the gifts of the Holy Spirit mentioned in the Scriptures are valid for
today if they are exercised within the Scriptural guidelines, that the Holy Spirit gives
these gifts as He wills and that no believer will have all the gifts, nor that every believer
must manifest any one particular gift so as to evidence the baptism (filling) of the Holy
Spirit. As believers we are to covet the best gifts, seeking to exercise them in love that
the whole Body of Christ might be edified. We believe that love is more important than
the most spectacular gifts and without love all exercise of spiritual gifts is worthless.
— 1 Cor. 13:1-3; 1 Cor. 12-14; Rom. 12
• We believe that there are two church ordinances — Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
Baptism is by immersion in water, and is a testimony of faith in Jesus Christ as Savior
and Lord. The Lord’s Supper is the commemoration of our Lord’s death until He comes.
It should always be done after careful self-examination. — Acts 8:36-39; 1 Cor. 11:23-32
• We believe that church government should be simplistic rather than a complex
bureaucracy, and we depend on the Holy Spirit to lead, rather than on fleshly
promotion. — Col. 1:18; Eph. 1:22-23; 1 Cor. 12:27,28. The church is governed by an
Eldership made up of godly men in accordance to the qualifications found in ! Timothy
3 and Titus 1.
• We believe that the Church is the Body of Christ expressed both universally and locally,
that Jesus Christ is the head of the Church both locally and universally. — Col. 1:18; Eph.
1:22,23
• We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in
outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. We believe that any form of
homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication,adultery, and
pornography are sinful perversions of God’s gift of sex. We believe that God disapproves
of and forbids any attempt to alter one’s gender by surgery or appearance. -- Gen. 2:24;
Gen. 19:5,13; Gen. 26:8-9; Lev. 18:1-30; Rom.1:26-29; 1 Cor. 5:1; 6:9; 1 Thess. 4:1-8; Heb. 13:4
• We believe that the only Scriptural marriage is the joining of one man and one woman. -
-Gen. 2:24; Rom. 7:2; 1 Cor.7:10; Eph. 5:22-23
• We await the rapture of the church, and we believe that the second coming of Christ
with His saints to rule on the earth will be personal, pre-millennial, and visible. —
1 Thess. 4:13-18; Matt. 25:31-46; Rev. 19:11-21.
• We believe that in our services we must focus on a personal relationship with God
through worship, prayer, and the teaching of the Word of God. We teach both
expositorally and topically.
