About

Core Values

For a detailed summary of our beliefs, see our Confession of Faith. We do, however, hold core values that we are passionate to proclaim. We understand that not all Christians hold these beliefs, but they are significant and true as we understand the Scriptures. We aim to preach, teach, and counsel in accordance with these convictions.

1. WE VALUE THE CENTRALITY OF THE GOSPEL.

We believe the gospel is the good news of what God has graciously accomplished for sinners through the sinless life, sacrificial death, and bodily resurrection of His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, namely our forgiveness from sin and complete justification before God; this gospel is also the foundation for our confidence in the ultimate triumph of God’s kingdom, and the consummation of His purpose for all creation in the new heavens and new earth.

This gospel is centered in Christ, is the foundation for the life of the church, and is our only hope for eternal life; this gospel is not proclaimed if Christ’s penal substitutionary death and bodily resurrection are not central to our message. This gospel is not only the means by which people are saved, but also the truth and power by which people are sanctified; it is the truth of the gospel that enables us to genuinely and joyfully do what is pleasing to God and to grow in progressive conformity to the image of Christ.

The salvation offered in this gospel message is received by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone; no ordinance, ritual, work, or any other activity on the part of man is required in order to be saved.

Mark 1:1; Luke 24:46-47; John 3:16-18; Romans 1:16-17; 1:18-25; 1 Corinthians 1:18-25; 2:2; 15:1-4; 2 Corinthians 4:1-6; 9:13; Galatians 1:6-9; Ephesians 1:7-10; Colossians 1:19-20; 2 Timothy 1:8-14; 2 Peter 3:11-13; Jude 3-4; Revelation 21-22

2. WE VALUE THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD’S GRACE IN SAVING SINNERS.

We affirm that God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, not on the basis of foreseen faith but unconditionally, according to His sovereign good pleasure and will.

We believe that through the work of the Holy Spirit, God will draw the elect to faith in His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, graciously and effectually overcoming their stubborn resistance to the gospel so that they will most assuredly and willingly believe. We also believe that these, the elect of God whom He gave to the Son, will persevere in belief and godly behavior and be kept secure in their salvation by grace through faith.

We believe that God’s sovereignty in this salvation neither diminishes the responsibility of people to believe in Christ nor marginalizes the necessity and power of prayer and evangelism, but rather reinforces and establishes them as the ordained means by which God accomplishes His ordained ends.

John 1:12-13; 6:37-44; 10:25-30; Acts 13:48; 16:30-31; Romans 3-4; 8:1-17, 31-39; 9:1-23; 10:8-10; Ephesians 1:4-5; 2:8-10; Philippians 2:12-13; Titus 3:3-7; 1 John 1:7, 9

3. WE VALUE THE POWER AND PRESENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH.

The Holy Spirit is fully God, equal with the Father and Son, whose primary ministry is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ; He also convicts unbelievers of their need for Christ and imparts spiritual life through regeneration (the new birth). The Spirit permanently indwells, graciously sanctifies, lovingly leads, and empowers all who are brought to faith in Christ so that they might live in obedience to the inerrant Scriptures.

In His human nature, the Lord Jesus Christ was anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power. As the eternal Son of God, He did the will of His Father by the Spirit in every part of His earthly ministry. The same Spirit who rested on Christ now dwells in all who belong to Him.

The Holy Spirit gives gifts to every believer for the building up of the body of Christ. We believe these gifts are to be faithfully developed and lovingly exercised under the authority of Scripture, so that all things are done for edification and in an orderly manner. Because God has spoken to us in His Son and the Scriptures are complete, we do not look for new revelation. Every claim to speak for God is tested by the written Word.

Matthew 3:11; 12:28; Luke 4:1, 14, 18; 5:17; 10:21; John 1:12-13; 3:1-15, 34; 14:12; 15:26-27; 16:7-15; Acts 2:14-21; 10:38; Romans 8:9; 12:3-8; 1 Corinthians 12:4-13; 12:28-31; 14:26, 40; 2 Corinthians 1:21-22; Galatians 3:1-5; Ephesians 1:13-14; 4:11-16; 5:18; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; Hebrews 1:1-2

4. WE VALUE THE FUNDAMENTAL SPIRITUAL AND MORAL EQUALITY OF MEN AND WOMEN, AND THE CALLING OF MEN TO SERVE AS RESPONSIBLE SERVANT-LEADERS IN THE HOME AND CHURCH.

Both men and women are together created in the divine image and are therefore equal before God as persons, possessing the same moral dignity and value, and have equal access to God through faith in Christ. Men and women are together the recipients of spiritual gifts designed to empower them for ministry in the local church and beyond. Therefore, women are to be encouraged, equipped, and empowered to utilize their gifting in ministry, in service to the body of Christ, and through teaching in ways that are consistent with the Word of God. Both husbands and wives are responsible to God for spiritual nurture and vitality in the home, but God has given to the man primary responsibility to lead his wife and family in accordance with the servant leadership and sacrificial love modeled by Jesus Christ.

The pastors (also called elders or overseers) of each local church have been granted authority under the headship of Jesus Christ to provide oversight and to teach and preach the Word of God in corporate assembly for the building up of the body. The office of pastor is restricted to men. We hold to the complementarian view of manhood and womanhood.

Genesis 1:26-27; 2:18; Acts 18:24-26; 1 Corinthians 11:2-16; Galatians 3:28; Ephesians 5:22-33; Colossians 3:18-19; 1 Timothy 2:11-15; 3:1-7; Titus 2:3-5; 1 Peter 3:1-7

5. WE VALUE THE MISSION OF THE LOCAL CHURCH.

The local church is the primary means through which Christ gathers and displays His kingdom on earth. We live in obedience to the Great Commission, which commands us to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to observe all that Christ commanded. Mission is not an optional program of the church; it belongs to who we are. Every week we go out into our own community to make Christ known through the gospel, and we pray for and support the spread of the gospel to the nations. We neither retreat from our culture nor conform to it. We engage it with humility, through the Spirit and the truth of the gospel.

Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 24:46-47; Acts 1:8; Romans 10:14-15; Colossians 1:13; 1 Peter 2:9-10

6. WE VALUE LOVING OUR NEIGHBOR.

God is the Creator and Judge of all people. Every person, of every ethnicity, class, sex, and age, is made in the image of God and has dignity that is to be respected and served, not exploited. Because the great commandment is to love God, and the second is like it, to love our neighbor as ourselves, we care for the needs of the people around us and stand against injustice.

We hold this together with the gospel and never in place of it. Serving our neighbor is not the same as reconciling them to God, and no social or political change is salvation. Only the gospel saves. Faith without works is dead, and works without the gospel cannot give life.

Genesis 1:26-27; 18:25; Leviticus 19:18; Isaiah 1:17; Matthew 22:37-39; Luke 6:27, 35; Acts 17:26, 31; James 2:14-26; 3:9

7. WE VALUE MULTIETHNIC AND MULTIGENERATIONAL COMMUNITY.

Through our reconciliation to God, we are reconciled to one another, to love and serve one another as Christ dwells in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. His design for us is to freely give the same love, grace, and mercy that has been freely given to us in Christ. This reconciliation breaks down every wall of ethnicity, nationality, and socioeconomic status that once separated us, and it gives men and women equal standing before God, so that we can live together in genuine community. We are a multiethnic church that embraces and celebrates our ethnic and cultural distinctions. Our identity in Christ transcends our ethnicities, but it does not negate them.

We value multigenerational community. That means that we are made up of people who are at different stages in life. We welcome older believers who have much wisdom and life experience, as well as younger believers in all of their zeal and passion. Our church is a home for people of all ages and stages of life. We are fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters. Antioch Fellowship is a family, not an institution.

Galatians 3:28