The Bible

We believe the whole Bible is God-breathed, useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Jesus

We believe Jesus is God the Son (John 10:30), co-equal with God (John 1:1) and the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:17), the head over all the Church and all creation (Colossians 1:15-20).

We believe God loves every, single person on earth to the extent of sending Jesus - fully God and fully human (Colossians 2:9) - into history to die sacrificially on our behalf, so that all might believe His Word and come into a right relationship with Him (John 3:16).
 
We believe that Jesus ultimately desires for all Christians to obey all His teachings (John 8:31-32, John 15:10).

Sin & Salvation

We believe that all have sinned and need salvation (Romans 3:23).
 
We believe the Bible teaches that eternal salvation from our sin comes through personal faith in and confession of Jesus as Savior and Lord, as one repents of sin and is baptized into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).

More on baptism →

We believe salvation is made sure by continuing to grow in and live life trusting in Jesus (2 Peter 1:5-11).
 
We believe we cannot save ourselves by works, since salvation is by grace through faith in Christ. Rather, we were created in Christ to do the works of God (Ephesians 2:8-10). Thus, authentic faith is demonstrated in works (James 2:17and Matthew 7:20-21)

The Holy Spirit

We believe that God gives His indwelling Holy Spirit to every believer during water baptism (Acts 2:38). God’s Spirit is given to comfort and encourage, convict and strengthen against sin, guide, and the Spirit gives spiritual gifts for the common good of the church (1 Corinthians 12:7).

The Church

We believe that "the Church" is not a "building" but rather a local and global "body" made up of people as its members. At First Christian, we call our members "partners" - because everyone is expect to take an active part in helping the local church become more healthy, generous, and diverse (1 Corinthians 12:12-27).

More on partnership →

The mission and vision of First Christian is to work together on-mission to make disciples of Jesus by winning them to Christ, training them to obey the Bible, and sending them out to serve others.  (Matthew 28:19-20).

More on our mission & vision →

Gifts & Leadership

We believe the Lord gave leaders in the church to prepare all Christ followers for works of service. Because of this, there are no “inactive” members of the Church (Ephesians 4:12).
 
We believe elders are to lead the church and shepherd the flock along  with the pastoral staff (Acts 20:28-35). They mutually share in responsibility and authority in the church. They exercise discipline on the disobedient as needed. This is to be done in love and humility for the sole purpose of restoring members to the church (Galatians 6:1).

Doctrine

We believe we are to seek unity in doctrine, allow liberty in opinions, and exercise love in all situations. This means being bold to speak where the Bible speaks while not making commands where the Bible is silent (a Restoration Movement principle).

We strive to be "simply Christian" and treat the Old and New Testaments of the Bible - and no other written or spoken words - as the only source of special revelation, authority, and prophecy from God.

End Times

We believe Jesus will literally return to earth someday to bring a final judgement unto heaven and hell (2 Timothy 4:1). Jesus instructed  His followers to be ready for His coming at a time that nobody on earth knows (Matthew 24:44).