The Word of God
We believe that the Bible (both Old and New Testaments) is the Word of God, fully inspired by Him and without error in the original manuscripts. The Scriptures contain the complete revelation of His will and plan for salvation. They are intended to teach, guide, correct, and nourish the believer, and are the final, divine authority for all matters of Christian faith and life.
2 Timothy 3:16; 1 Peter 2:1-2; 2 Peter 1:20-21
The Godhead
We believe in one living and true God, creator of all things, perfect in every way, without beginning or end, and eternally existing in three persons – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – and that these are equal in every divine attribute and perfection.
Genesis 1:1, 26; Psalm 90:1-2; Isaiah 45:5-6, 21-22; Acts 17:24-28; 2 Corinthians 13:14
Jesus Christ
We believe that Jesus Christ is true God and true man, having been conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. We believe in His sinless life, miracles, and teachings. We believe in His substitutionary and atoning death on the cross, His bodily resurrection from the dead, His ascension into heaven where He is now exalted at the right hand of God and intercedes for His people as our High Priest, and His personal visible return to earth as promised in the Scriptures.
John 1:1-3, 14; Luke 1:26-37; Romans 3:21-25, 6:23; 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, 20-24; 1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 4:14-16
The Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is a person who convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, regenerates the believer into new life in Christ at the moment of salvation, sanctifies the believer in Christ-likeness, and seals the believer unto the day of redemption. We believe that the Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Christ, and that He guides, instructs, and empowers them for godly living and service.
John 14:16, 26; Acts 1:8, Romans 8:16, 26-27; 1 Corinthians 2:4, 10-16; 1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 1 Corinthians 12; Ephesians 1:13-14, Titus 3:5-6
Mankind
We believe that mankind was created in the image and likeness of God, but that through Adam’s sin mankind fell, and thereby incurred physical, spiritual, and eternal death. As a result, all human beings are born with a sin nature and are under the just condemnation of God. Because of sin mankind is alienated and separated from God and unable to remedy his lost condition.
Genesis 1:26; Genesis 3; Romans 5:12-19; 1 Corinthians 15:22; Ephesians 2:1-10
Salvation
We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to man by grace and received through personal faith in Jesus Christ, whose blood was shed on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. We believe that those who repent of their sin and trust Jesus Christ as Savior are regenerated by the Holy Spirit, become new creatures in Christ, are freed from condemnation, and receive eternal life as God’s children.
John 1:12-13, 3:3-6, 3:16, 14:6; Romans 10:9-13; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Ephesians 2:8-10
The Church
We believe in the universal church, which is a living, spiritual body of Christ made up of all persons who have been regenerated and baptized by the Holy Spirit through saving faith in Jesus Christ, of which Christ is the head. We believe that God’s design is for the universal church to manifest itself in local churches as patterned in scripture, and that every believer is to be a part of a local church. We believe in the autonomy of each local church under the headship of Christ to decide and govern its own affairs. We believe that God has given the local church the primary task of taking the good news of Jesus Christ to the world and helping believers grow and glorify the Lord.
1 Corinthians 12:12-14; Ephesians 1:22, 2:19-22, 4:14-16; Acts 1:8; 1 Peter 2:9-10; Matthew 28:18-20; Ephesians 4:15-16
Last Things
We believe in the personal, glorious, and bodily return of our Lord Jesus Christ with his holy angels, when he will exercise his role as final Judge. We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the just and the unjust—the unjust to judgment and eternal conscious punishment in hell, as our Lord himself taught, and the just to eternal blessedness in the presence of him who sits on the throne and of the Lamb, in the new heaven and the new earth, the home of righteousness. On that day all believers will be faultless before God by the obedience, suffering and triumph of Christ, all sin purged and its wretched effects forever banished. God will be all in all and his people will be enthralled by the immediacy of his ineffable holiness, and everything will be to the praise of his glorious grace.
Matthew 16:27, 24:4-31; John 14:3; 1 Corinthians 15:40-58; Philippians 1:23; 1 Thessalonians 1:10, 4:13-18, 5:1-11; Titus 2:13; Revelation 20:4-6, 11-15
Ordinances
We believe that baptism and the Lord’s Supper are ordained by the Lord Jesus himself. The former is connected with entrance into the new believing community, the latter with ongoing spiritual remembrance and gratitude. Together they are simultaneously God’s pledge to us, divinely ordained means of grace, our public vows of submission to the once crucified and now resurrected Christ, and anticipations of his return and of the consummation of all things. Without in any way diminishing the importance of baptism or its necessity for Christian obedience, we deny that water baptism regenerates or that it causes the new birth. In the Bible, uniformly, covenant signs, sacraments, or ordinances signify and confirm the spiritual realities that they represent; they do not produce those realities.
Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 2:38-41, 8:12-13, 10:47; Matthew 26:26-29; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26
Marriage
We believe that “marriage” means only a biblically authorized union between one man and one woman as husband and wife in which such union is a lifetime commitment. We believe the word “spouse” refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife. We do not affirm, support, or advocate two people of the same sex getting married and thus would not allow for a same-sex marriage to be performed on our church premises or by one of our pastors.
Genesis 2:18-25, Romans 1:24-27, 1 Corinthians 7:1-4
Human Sexuality
God-ordained sexual relations are exercised solely within marriage. Hence, sexual activities outside of marriage (referred to in the New Testament as “porneia” — porneia) including, but not limited to, adultery, premarital sex, homosexuality, pedophilia, polyamory, and polygamy are inconsistent with the teachings of the Bible. Further, lewd conduct, and the creation, distribution, and/or viewing of pornography, are incompatible with a biblical witness.
Genesis 19:1-22; Judges 19:1-21; Leviticus 18:22, 20:13; Romans 1:24-28; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, 18; 1 Timothy 1:10
Transgenderism
God originally created two distinct and complementary sexes, a distinction evident in the physiological makeup of the human race. Any understanding of gender as self-defined or self-determined stands in sharp opposition to the created order and to the Word of God. God, in his wisdom, made humankind “male and female.”
Genesis 1:27; Matthew 19:4
Sanctity of Human Life
We believe that all human life is sacred and created by God in His image. Human life is of inestimable worth in all its dimensions, including pre-born babies, the aged, the physically or mentally challenged, and every other stage or condition from conception through natural death. We are therefore called to defend, protect, and value all human life.
Psalms 139
Note: This Statement of Faith does not exhaust the extent of our beliefs. The Bible itself, as the inspired and infallible Word of God that speaks with final authority concerning truth, morality, and the proper conduct of mankind, is the sole and final source of all that we believe. For purposes of Windsor Community Church’s faith, doctrine, practice, policy, and discipline, our pastor board is Windsor Community Church’s final interpretive authority on the Bible’s meaning and application.