Jesus is everything he claims to be, everything his followers said he is, everything the Bible shows him to be: the Alpha and Omega, the author and finisher of our faith, our Savior and Lord, the Son of God and God the Son, the forgiver of our sins, the leader of our life, the living Word of God, and the Risen King of our Kingdom.  God always looks like Jesus, and all scripture is properly read through him.  Jesus is the center, so when in doubt, always go back to Jesus. 

At the core of Christianity is the understanding that God is Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - one God.  This is the only place in the world where 1+1+1=1. 

Humans are made in God’s image and likeness, made by Love for love. Jesus shows us a God who values us enough to create us, pursue us, and restore us to who we were made to be.  The God of the universe actually celebrates with us when we come home.

The Bible teaches, history demonstrates, and experience shows that something is wrong with everything. We are all deeply imperfect, we are in over our heads, and we are unable to self-rescue.  The Bible calls this “sin.”  Jesus came to heal our hearts, save us from sin, and show us a better way forever.

It’s not about what we do for God, it’s about what God (in Jesus) does for us.  Through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, God offers us eternal and abundant life now, all as a gift. Grace is never earned, only received, and always transformational.  God gives all believers a new heart, a second chance, and God’s own Holy Spirit to lead us and change us from the inside out. This is pure grace, which we receive by simple faith, expressed in following Jesus.

We believe in truth.  But we want to go beyond “believing the right things,” we actually want to live like Jesus and become like Jesus.  Christians pledge our ultimate allegiance to King Jesus as Lord, Leader, Messiah, and Master. We are not believers only, but disciples, apprentices of Jesus, learning together how to obey everything he commands. Baptism is not only about our death to and cleansing from sin, but also about us rising again into a new life of faithfulness to and intimacy with Christ.

Like John the Baptist and the star of Bethlehem, the Bible points people to Jesus. The Bible, Old and New Testaments, is in a class by itself.  Though it contains 66 individual books, it is a unified story that leads to Jesus.  It is our God-given window to see Jesus most clearly, and is priceless in preparing us to live as his disciples. We believe in the divine inspiration and delegated authority of all Scripture.  We read and interpret the Bible together, with Jesus at the center. The Bible helps us know Jesus, and Jesus helps us interpret, understand, and apply the Bible.

God is Love, and we can’t love alone.  The Bible clearly shows a personal God with a personal Gospel, a living relationship with a living God.  It is this core relationship, our relationship with God, that changes every other relationship in our lives.  Relationships are messy, but it’s not good for us to be isolated, so we make relationships a priority. Following Jesus is a team sport and a group project.  And the priorities Jesus gives us are clear: we love God with everything we have, we love our neighbors as we love ourselves, and we invite our neighbors into a relationship with us and with God.  

This is our best effort at summarizing our heart for Jesus, but we know that no list is perfect.   Jesus didn’t come to give us a list, he came to give us a life, abundant and eternal.  So if you want the better, fuller, more excellent version of what Christians believe, then read the BIble.  Especially the New Testament.  Especially the Jesus parts.  And walk with us.