|
To
Life
River Fellowship's
Vision
and Belief Statements
Personal
Relationship with Jesus
1. Every
person is created in the image of God,
to have a living, personal relationship with God, through the atoning,
reconciling blood of Jesus Christ.
From this relationship flows all
other relationships,
or in other words, without a strong vertical
relationship with our heavenly Father, we will not have any truly holy
relationships with anyone else. We commit to making each person’s
personal relationship with Jesus a number one priority. (Gen. 1:27,
Rom. 3:23, 2Cor. 5:20-21, 1Jn. 4:19)
Fellowship
2. We
believe in the exhortation in Hebrews to “not forsake the assembling
of the brethren”. Therefore
we place a high priority on congregational meetings for the purposes
of worship, exhortation, comforting one another, reaching the unsaved,
service to the community, and preaching and teaching the Word of God.
(Heb. 10:23-25)
The Word of
God
3. We
believe that the Bible is the Word of God, and it is the final
authority on issues of doctrine.
Our experiences in this world, the prophetic ministry and the
teaching ministry should always line up with the Word of God. Our
standards that we esteem and strive for will always be held to the
Word of God. In other words, our ‘plumb-line’ for our lives will
be the Word of God. (2 Tim. 3:16)
Witness
4. We believe in Jesus’ command
to “go into all the world and make disciples”,
so we place a high priority on preaching
the gospel to the unsaved as well as the “back-slidden” Christian. We believe it is our
responsibility to reach as many people with the gospel
as the Lord would give us. We will be faithful
to reach our Jerusalem (our neighborhood),
our Judea (city and county), our Summaria
(our nation) and the “uttermost parts” (other nations). (Acts 1:8)
The Gifts
5. We
believe every believer is given a gift from God that is to be
stewarded and matured. We
will strive to make sure that these gifts are recognized, employed and
grown to full maturity. (1 Cor. 12, Rom. 12)
The Offices of
God
6. We
believe in the five-fold ministry of God
(Eph. 4:11-13), and these offices are at work today in the body of
Christ, to bring into maturity every believer into the fullness of the
stature of Christ.
Servants Heart
7. We
believe that Jesus gave us the example of being “the greatest”
among his friends by being “the servant of them all”.
Therefore we will strive to place a high priority on servant hood;
to the community of believers as well as the unsaved community.
(John 13:14)
Unity
8. We
believe strongly in the unity of the body of Christ,
and we will earnestly strive to maintain it. We do not believe
doctrinal unity to be the basis for fellowship, but rather a common
ground of having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. (Ps. 133)
Right Relating
9. We
will maintain unity by
not taking part in backbiting, gossip, slander or evil reports. We
strongly believe the exhortation in the book of James to “bridle our
tongue”. When we are offended with anyone we will follow the
principles that are set forth in Matthew 18.
Prayer
10. We strongly believe in the
power of prayer and intercession.
We believe that nothing is released into this world
unless it has been born through prayer and
intercession.
Holy Spirit
Leading
11. We
hold precious the moving and leading of the Holy Spirit,
and will strive to
always be led by the Spirit rather than agendas or schedules. (1Thess.
5:19)
Holiness &
Sanctification
12. We
believe in the sanctification of all believers.
We are called to holiness through conviction of the Holy Spirit
and the process of repentance. We hold in high esteem the freedom to
confess our sins to one another and release one another from offenses
and to pray for one another. (James 5:16)
Grace
13.
We believe in the grace of God,
and that we are to extend that same grace
to one another in an atmosphere of learning and
maturing as we step out in faith with our
gifts and callings. We believe the exhortation in 1
Cor. 13 about having faith for our brothers and
sisters and to “believe all things, hope all things”.
Submission to
Authority
14. We
believe in authority, and all authorities that are in place are there
because of God. We
believe in loyalty to authority, but it should never cross our
personal convictions. Elders should never be dominating in the
lives of believers, but rather labor in teaching, governing the body
and living Godly lives for examples to the flock. (Rom. 13:1, 1Tim.
5:17)
Importance of
Authority
15. We believe in God-ordained
eldership, and that elders are active in the
body to exercise government, leadership,
disciple and shepherding the flock. We do
not believe that the government of the body of Christ is a democracy, but rather a governing body of elders that are appointed and
ordained as God raises them up. (Tit. 1:5)
Leading Through
Example
16. We
believe that the eldership will commit themselves to walking in unity
and vision, doctrine and leading of the Holy Spirit,
and will strive through prayer and seeking God to be of one heart
and mind. (1 Pet. 5:1-4)
Worship
17. We
believe in praise and worship, and
we place one of our highest priorities on this issue. We will strive to
always make a place for praising and worshipping our God with “all our
heart, soul, mind and strength”. God’s people were created to
celebrate His goodness and faithfulness. (Ps. 30:4, 34:1)
Purity
18. We believe in purity.
We will strive to never minister from a place
of impurity, whether it would be preaching a
sermon, laying hands on someone for prayer, playing or singing on a worship team, or some
other form of impartation. (1 Tim.
5:22)
Family &
Family Intimacy
19. We
believe that ultimate responsibility for the nurturing and salvation
of the next generation is in the hands of the parents.
Whatever programs or events that are church-sponsored are only to
be a supplement to that which the parents are implementing at home.
(Deut. 6, Prov. 22:6)
Mentoring &
Discipleship
20. We
believe that we as a community of believers have a responsibility to
the upcoming generations to
declare God’s awesome deeds, raise them up into their gifts and
callings (both spiritual and natural) through discipleship, training
and mentoring. (Ps. 78: 4-6)
 |
