Our Beliefs

As a church, Charis Community Church holds to our call to be a “pillar and buttress of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15). We hold to specific primary doctrines which are essential doctrines to the Christian faith and have been held throughout church history.

Our theological distinctives reflect what distinguishes Charis Community Church from other churches who would affirm the primary doctrines. These distinctives will be taught and will inevitably shape our church body. We do not expect all members to embrace all aspects of these distinctives, but to embrace that these distinctives are maintained in all ministry environments at Charis Community Church, and members may not teach contrary to them.

  • We believe there is one true and sovereign God who exists eternally in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  We believe all three persons of the Trinity have distinct personalities, yet are of the same substance, one God.

    (Gen. 1:1; John 10:30; John 4:24; Deut. 6:4; Matt. 28:19, 2 Cor. 13:14)

  • We believe the Father, the first person of the Trinity, initiates all things and is the ultimate source and author of creation.  We believe He has created humanity to bring Him glory and honor, through His grace. While He is transcendent, He is also actively involved in His creation, offering an eternal relationship with us through His Son Jesus Christ. 

    (Genesis 1:1-2, 1:31, Matthew 6:9; John 1:1-3; 5:19-24, 1 Corinthians 8:6, Ephesians 1:3-6; 2:1-10.)

  • We believe the Son, the second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ was begotten by the Father, conceived by the Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary, is true God and true man, and accomplishes our salvation through His substitutionary sacrifice and bodily resurrection.  We believe that the Son, Jesus Christ, ascended into heaven, where He is seated at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest and advocate, and that He will return to judge the living and the dead and finalize the fullness of His kingdom. 

    (John 1:1-3, Matthew 1:20, Colossians 2:9, 1 John 4:10, Hebrews 1:3, 4:14-16, 2 Timothy 4:1, John 5:26-29, Matthew 25:31, 1 Corinthians 15:24)

  • We believe the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, is the sustainer of all things and regenerates, baptizes, and seals all believers in Christ.  We believe all believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit at new birth once for all.  We believe all believers are continually to walk in the Spirit in order to be empowered to live godly lives. 

    (Titus 3:5, Romans 8:9, Romans 5:5, 2 Timothy 2:4, 1 Corinthians 12:13, Ephesians 4:30, John 16:12-14, Galatians 5:16)

  • We believe the Bible is God’s Word.  We believe both the Old and New Testaments are divine revelation, verbally inspired by the Holy Spirit, inerrant in their original autographs, and the final source of all authority in all matters of faith and godliness. 

    (2 Timothy 3:16-17, 2 Peter 1:21, John 17:17)

  • We believe man, male and female, were created in the image of God; therefore, every person from conception to natural death is sacred.  We believe that from the beginning God established the sacred covenant of marriage to be between one man and one woman faithfully joined together by God as one flesh until death.  We believe that sexual intimacy is to be pursued and enjoyed within the confines of marriage only. 

    We believe through Adam all mankind fell into sin and are depraved from birth.  We believe men are justly condemned to eternal judgment and can do nothing to merit salvation apart from the finished work of Jesus Christ alone. 

    (Genesis 1:27, 2:20-25; Romans 3:23, 5:12, 6:23; 1 Corinthians 6:16-20; Acts 4:11-12)

    Theological Distinctive:

    Divorce: We believe marriage was designed by God to be permanent until death, and at all costs broken marriages should exhaust all efforts to achieve reconciliation. Yet, we also recognize Scripture allows for divorce in the cases of adultery and abandonment. 

    (Malachi 2:16, Matthew 5:31-32, 19:9, 1 Corinthians 7:14-15)

  • We believe the only means of salvation is by grace through faith alone in the substitutionary death and resurrection of the Son of God.  We believe that those who trust in Christ and his finished work alone for salvation are eternally secure in Christ.  We believe every believer is promised positional, progressive, and final sanctification.  We believe in the bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust, eternal life for the believer, and eternal punishment for the unbeliever. 

    (John 6:37, 10:27-29, 16:8-14, Acts 4:11-12, 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, Hebrews 10:10, 1 John 3:2, Philippians 3:20-21, Revelation 21:7-8)

    Theological Distinctive: 

    Sovereignty of God in Salvation - We believe that salvation is given to those chosen by God and drawn to Christ by the Holy Spirit. God calls us and produces regeneration in us so that we respond with repentance, faith, and obedience. God’s sovereignty in salvation is comprehensive: from first to last, all of salvation is the work of God.

    (Ephesians 1:4-5; 2:8-9, Romans 8:39-40)

  • We believe the church is composed of all believers.  We believe the church is the body and the bride of Christ, formed by the baptism of the Holy Spirit and existing in two aspects: universal (or global) and local.  We believe the church exists to make disciples by proclaiming, baptizing, and teaching.  We believe Scripture established two sacraments to be carried out within the church: baptism and communion. 

    (Ephesians 1:22-23, Romans 12:4-5, Matthew 28:19, 1 Corinthians 11:17-26)

    Theological Distinctives:

    Baptism -  We believe that all believers, upon a profession of faith, should be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit by full immersion.  We believe baptism is an outward washing with water, symbolizing the cleansing from sin, death to sin, and resurrection to a new life. We believe this signifies the believer’s identification with Jesus Christ and His church. 

    (Acts 22:16, Colossians 2:12, 1 Corinthians 12:13, Matthew 28:19, Acts 20:17, 28)

    Communion - We believe communion is the partaking of bread and cup in remembrance of the broken body and poured out blood of Jesus, as well as proclaiming His death until He comes. This is reserved for believers only.  We believe Jesus’ statement that the bread is His body and the wine is His blood should be taken figuratively and not literally. Yet, when we partake of the elements, Christ is present with us spiritually (not physically).  There is a true spiritual communion that takes place between the Lord and His church as it is celebrated. The word “is” retains a symbolic (and not literal) meaning, but at the same time, there is a true “sharing” in Christ that takes place. 

    (1 Corinthians 11:23-26, John 6:54-56, Luke 24:30-31)

    Governance (Polity) - We believe that Jesus Christ is the head of our church, and any and all other offices in our church submit first and foremost to Him.

    We believe that throughout the New Testament, there are clear instructions as to the organization and government of the local church. We see two offices established: elders and deacons. We also see the congregation involved in exercising oversight in the church. Therefore, our church governance structure at Charis is Elder-led congregationalism.

    We believe that elders are charged with the spiritual oversight of the church, prayer, and the ministry of the Word, that deacons are charged to attend to the practical details of church life, and that the congregation as a whole has the final responsibility, in three significant matters of church life—personal disputes, membership and discipline, and doctrine.

    (Colossians 1:18, 1 Peter 5:1-2, Luke 22:25-27, Acts 6:1-6, 11:22, 14:23, 15:22)

    Ministry of the Word (Preaching) - We believe the preaching of the Word of God is the central component of the weekly gathering and all other components are supplemental. We believe in Christ-centered preaching, or that all preaching should seek to reveal Christ in all His multifaceted splendor. We believe in expositional preaching, or that all truths taught in a sermon come from the text itself.

    (Hebrews 10:24-25, 2 Timothy 4:1-2, Colossians 3:16, 2 Timothy 3:14-17, Luke 24:27, 1 Timothy 2:12-15)

    Men & Women - We believe that God's design in the home and in the church is for men to lead, serve, and protect selflessly as Christ first perfectly did for them and that women come alongside men as a helpmate, to nurture, serve, and support selflessly as Christ first perfectly did for them.

    We believe that within the church the role of elder/pastor and the corporate preaching of the Word over men and women should be reserved for men only. All other leadership and serving roles here at Charis should be balanced with both men and women.

    (Genesis 1-2; 1 Timothy 2:9-15, 3:2, Titus 1:6; 1 Corinthians 11:3; Ephesians 5:22-28)

    Spiritual Gifting - We believe that God has used miracles or so-called “sign gifts” throughout Scripture to demonstrate His power and authenticate His message.  The inauguration of Christ’s kingdom was accompanied by Jesus performing miracles and it was followed by signs and wonders from the Apostles in the formative years of the church.  The close of the Apostolic era confirmed the gospel as God’s ultimate and final “sign” (Matthew 12:39) and the foundation upon which Christ will build His church.  Therefore, we do not recognize the exercise of the specific “sign gifts” of speaking in tongues, healing, and prophecy to be prescriptive practices for the church in authenticating the gospel message, nor do we practice them in our corporate worship gathering.

    (Ephesians 2:20, Ephesians 4:7-12, Romans 12:5-8, 2 Corinthians 12:11-12, 1 Corinthians 13:8-12, 1 Peter 4:10-11)

  • We believe that the next great event in human history will be the return of Jesus Christ for His church. This is the blessed hope for all followers of Jesus Christ. While this event is a prophetic truth of Scripture, we acknowledge that the point of Christ’s return is not for believers to passively await this event, but to labor with all of our might in the power of the Spirit to fulfill His will in our lives through righteous living, evangelism and discipleship. After the return of Christ, those who received God’s gracious gift of salvation will worship God forever in heaven. Those who did not will spend an eternity separated from Him in hell. 

    (Matthew 24:36; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17; John 14:1-3; Matthew 24-25)