Statement of Beliefs
God is One, revealed in the Scriptures as three persons, the Father, the source and creator of all, The Son, our Savior and Lord, and the Holy Spirit, who calls us to faith and empowers us for effective service.
Jesus Christ, the true God and true Man, through His virgin birth, sinless life, sacrificial death on our behalf, and resurrection from the dead, offers eternal life to all who believe. The whole human race has fallen and cannot be rescued from bondage to sin and to Satan without Christ. We are justified by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and the same grace that saves also empowers for victorious living.
The Word of God, the Bible, is true, and we can therefore trust in it without reservation. We accept all the Old and New Testaments as a whole and in all their parts as the divinely inspired and revealed Word of God and joyfully submit to it as the only infallible authority in all matters of life and faith.
The Church is composed of all those who have been born of the Spirit by believing in the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Church is the Body of Christ, with Jesus Christ as the Head. We submit to Him. The church’s purpose is to carry out His ministry and mandates through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Baptism unites us with Christ’s death and resurrection and the Lord’s Supper gives us fellowship with the living Christ in His true body and blood.
The Holy Spirit gives gifts to all members of the Church to do the supernatural ministry of Christ until He returns therefore we expect miracles. Christ will return for His Bride, the Church, and true believers will live forever with Christ, while unbelievers will be sent to eternal punishment. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ worldwide we affirm the historic Apostle’s and Nicene
The Lord’s Supper
At The Lakes, we celebrate the presence of our Risen Christ in The Lord’s Supper, remembering the great sacrifice He made for us. Through this meal we participate in the New Covenant, which is ratified by the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Lamb of God. In the Lord’s Supper we are reconciled as one family of believers, who declare Jesus to be the Lord of our lives, looking forward to Christ’s glorious return. (Matthew 26:26-29 • Mark 14:22-25 • Luke 22:14-20 • 1 Corinthians 11:17-34 • 1 Corinthians 10:14-22 • Acts 2:42-43)
Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Church at Pentecost in power, baptizing believers into the Body of Christ and releasing the gifts of the Spirit to them. The Spirit brings the permanent indwelling presence of God to us for spiritual worship, personal sanctification, building up the Church, gifting us for ministry, and expanding the Kingdom of God for the evangelism of the world through the works and words of Jesus.
We believe that the Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Jesus Christ and that the Spirit is our abiding Helper, Teacher, and Guide. We believe in the present ministry of the Spirit and in the exercise of all the biblical gifts of the Spirit.
Marriage
The Bible promotes, celebrates and affirms marriage as a covenantal union between a man and a woman. (Genesis 2:24 • Matthew 19:4-6 • Mark 10:2-9) We affirm that God created us male and female (Genesis 1:27), and that it is God’s will and intention that human sexual expression takes place only within the boundaries of marriage. Marriage, however, is not the highest purpose of humanity. Both marriage and singleness are honored as a gift from God. We believe that outside of the boundaries of marriage, the Bible calls for abstinence. (Ephesians 5:3 • 1 Peter 2:11 • Hebrews 13:4 • 1 Corinthians 6:13-7:2) We know that in our culture, premarital sex, along with many other forms of non-marital sex, is normative. We want to lovingly help people of any sexual orientation to live up to this standard (Romans 12:2). We recognize that it can be a difficult journey, and there must be grace along the way. The powerful, beautiful gift of human sexuality must be stewarded with seriousness and compassion.
Baptism
Baptism is the appropriate response to our acceptance of the Gospel and shows our allegiance to Jesus Christ. Baptism signifies our entrance into the Kingdom of God and the washing away of our sins. (Acts 2:38, Titus 3:5, Acts 22:16) In baptism we associate with the death of Christ and thus also his resurrection; our old self dies and is buried, setting us free from sin so that we can live a new life for Jesus. (Romans 6:1-11) The importance of baptism as an aspect of salvation and the reception of the Holy Spirit is clearly demonstrated in the New Testament. Acts 2:38 1 Pet 3:21 • Mk 16:16 • Mt 28:19 • Acts 22:16 • Gal 3:27 • 1 Cor 12:13. (Belief, repentance, allegiance, the Holy Spirit, community, trust and assurance of forgiveness are also aspects of conversion.)
Because this is what we believe here at The Lakes, we practice infant dedication and believer baptism.
Women in Ministry
In some areas of the church, a person’s stance on this issue is seen as an indicator of whether or not that person holds a high view of the authority of the Bible. While we realize there is room for sincere disagreement on this topic, we want it to be evident that our position is not a compromise or an accommodation to current trends. Rather, it is heart-felt obedience to what we believe the Bible says. We believe that God calls and gifts leaders within the church as He chooses and that this is not limited by gender, age, ethnicity, economic status, or any other human distinction (1 Cor. 12:11 • Gal. 3:28 • Acts 2:17-21). The role of the church community is to discern God’s gifting and calling for leadership and also to discern the maturity, character and competencies required for leadership. In the Jesus-following community, leadership centers around serving the body of Christ in humility and self-sacrificial love (Matt. 20:25-28). In the New Testament church, we see a call to servanthood in imitation of Jesus – with gifts for the building up of the body of Christ given to both men and women equally. We believe we are better together. (Eph 4:4-7 • Eph 4:11-13)