Statement of Faith

ESSENTIAL BELIEFS

I. God

God is a Trinity. There is one true and living God, and this one God exists in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God is spirit. He is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, truth, goodness, justice, and love. He is all-knowing, all-powerful, and present in all places. God created and sustains all things. God rules over all his creation and is in complete control of everything.

II. God's Word

God has spoken to humanity through both general revelation and special revelation. General revelation is God's limited revelation to all of humanity through creation and the human conscience. General revelation is only enough to teach us that there is a God and that we fall short of his standard. It is not enough to give us the knowledge we need for salvation. Special revelation is God’s saving revelation through the Living Word, Jesus Christ, and the written Word, the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Jesus Christ came to reveal God to humanity. In his actions, we see the perfect representation of the character of God. The Bible, God's written Word, is inspired, infallible, and inerrant. It has truth, without any mixture of error, as its content. As God’s written word, it is the full and final authority for life, and is useful to the believer for teaching and training in righteousness.

III. Humanity

Human beings were created out of God’s infinite love, so that we could experience the love shared between the Father and the Son. Humans alone are made in the image of God. All humans equally bear God's image and are therefore worthy of being treated with love, dignity, care, and respect. The essence of humanity is the union of body and soul. Our bodies are good, and are not to be rejected or harmed, but stewarded as an act of worship to the Giver of our bodies. Human beings are made male and female. Biological sex is unchangeable and inherently good, and should not be rejected, but received as a gift. Humans are called to both singleness and marriage. Both are callings from the Lord for his glory and our good. Singleness reflects the earthly life of Jesus and allows believers freedom for service to the church and the world without the distractions of marriage. Marriage is the lifelong, monogamous, covenant relationship between one man and one woman, which reflects the relationship of Christ to his bride, the church. Married couples, if the Lord wills, will be fruitful and multiply by having children and living together as a family, a unit that is modeled after the church and is foundational to human societies.

IV. Sin and Brokenness

The first humans sinned by rejecting God’s authority and grasping for more authority and freedom for themselves. As a result, all people inherit two things from our first parents: guilt and corruption. We are all guilty before God, meaning we deserve his wrath and condemnation, and we are all corrupt, meaning we sin because our nature is sinful. Human sin is directly or indirectly responsible for everything that is wrong and broken in the world. Humans are powerless to save ourselves from this reality. We cannot do enough good to cleanse our guilt, and we cannot work hard enough to fix our corruption.

V. Christ

The Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, who is fully God, entered into the creation, adding to himself a human nature. In the one person Jesus Christ dwells a fully human and a fully divine nature. He is fully God and fully man—two natures in one person. Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived a perfect, sinless life, suffered under an unjust trial, was crucified, died a substitutionary death, was buried, and descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again from the dead, ascended to heaven, and is seated at the right hand of God the Father ruling and reigning over all. From there he will come again to judge the living and the dead. He is the only mediator between God and humanity, and the only name by which people can be saved.

VI. Salvation

God was not content to leave humanity in sin or sin's consequences. In his love for us, he planned from eternity past to save humans through Jesus Christ, to renew his creation and redeem all that sin has broken, and to bring the Kingdom of God to earth. The gospel is the good news about how God has accomplished this plan. The central point of the gospel is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus died on the cross in the place of sinners, bearing God’s wrath and paying the price for sin. Through his death and resurrection, he defeated the devil, sin, and death. This work of Jesus has made a way for sinful people to become citizens of the Kingdom of God. Through repentance and faith, people can be forgiven by God and be transferred from the kingdom of the world to the Kingdom of God. This is what Christians call salvation. The Kingdom of God is visible now on earth in the local church. God is not saving disconnected individuals through Christ; he is saving a church. Thus, when individuals are saved, they are saved into the universal church, and they join themselves to local churches. Salvation is totally of God's grace, received through faith, not by our good works. It includes election, regeneration, justification, reconciliation, adoption, sanctification, and glorification.

VII. The End

This world will end when Jesus Christ returns personally and bodily to the earth. The dead will be raised, and Christ will judge all people. Unbelievers will be separated from God in hell. Believers will receive their reward and will live forever in a new earth with the Lord. Then, the Kingdom of God, which has begun now, will be brought down from heaven to the new earth in its fullness.

DISTINCTIVE BELIEFS

I. The Church

The church is the people of God who have been saved and called out of the kingdom of the world. The universal church is made up of all believers, in all places, in all times. Local churches are specific groups of baptized believers who are called together by God, joined together by his Spirit, and mutually agree to be a church. Churches administer the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and gather together under the preaching of God's Word.

II. Baptism

Baptism is a command of Christ for his followers, and is received by Christians as an act of obedience and faith. It is a sign, a covenant entry ceremony, a pledge, and a means of grace in which the Lord is uniquely spiritually present with his people. A credible profession of faith is required for baptism.

III. The Lord's Supper

The Lord's Supper is a command of Christ for his followers and is received by Christians as an act of obedience and faith. The Lord's Supper is a sign, a covenant renewal ceremony, a visible proclamation of the gospel, a pledge, and a means of grace in which the Lord is uniquely spiritually present with his people. The Lord’s Supper is to be received regularly and often, and is reserved for baptized believers. Christians should only refrain from receiving the Supper if they are in willful, unrepentant sin, or if they are in unresolved, sinful conflict with another church member.

IV. Church Leadership

Jesus Christ is the head of his church. He is present with local churches when they gather for the preaching of the Word and the sacraments. He leads churches by his Spirit, through his Word, and through the people he has given to churches. Jesus leads his churches through the offices of pastors, deacons, and members. Pastors are the overseers of the church, who are tasked with guarding the church's life and doctrine through the ministry of the Word, and who are called to shepherd God's flock among them. Each church should ideally have multiple pastors. This office is reserved for qualified men, as judged by the standards in 1 Timothy 3:1–7, Titus 1:6–9, and 1 Peter 5:1–5. Deacons are men and women called to serve the church primarily by meeting the practical, logistical, and physical needs of the congregation. Deacons are qualified men and women, as judged by the standards of 1 Timothy 3:8–13. Members—all those who belong to a local church—are given the responsibility to oversee the purity of the church in regards to gospel proclamation, membership, and the sacraments. Members are committed to mutual submission, mutual discipleship, and, when necessary, mutual correction. Jesus also gives churches, by the Holy Spirit, spiritual gifts—passions, skills, and abilities that are meant for building up the congregation and are used for the common good. These gifts vary from person to person, but all believers have spiritual gifts, and churches need their members to exercise these gifts for the vitality and growth of the congregation.

V. Spiritual Gifts

The Holy Spirit is active in the community of believers, equipping individual members with spiritual gifts for the building up of the body. Any practical ability for service in a community could be a spiritual gift. The New Testament also lists certain "sign gifts." These are gifts that pertain to new revelation from God. They include the office of apostle, prophecy, speaking in tongues, healing, and performing miracles. We believe the Bible teaches that these gifts were related to direct revelation from God, that the church has been built upon the foundation of God's direct revelation through the apostles and prophets as contained in the Scriptures, and that therefore, the ongoing ministry of these gifts ceased with the closing of the apostolic age. While God does still perform miracles, the gifts mentioned above are no longer active in the church. Thus,. We do not affirm or practice the recognition of new apostles or prophets, speaking in tongues, or a ministry of miracles and healing.

In addition to our statement of faith, King’s Cross Church affirms the Apostles Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Chalcedonian Creed, and the Baptist Faith and Message, 2000.