Our Beliefs

What We Believe About Scripture

We believe the Bible, consisting of the 39 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament, is the written Word of God. The Bible is the only true record of God revealing His heart to mankind as it leads us to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.

2 Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

What We Believe About God

We believe that God is not a human invention. He is not made in our image. In fact, He was not “made” at all. He always was, is, and will be. He is separate from us. He is unlike anything we can create. How do we know this? He told us all about Himself. God went out of His way to tell us who He is and what He’s like. Virtually every misunderstanding of God, Jesus, The Holy Spirit, and Christianity in general, stems from a misunderstanding of what God tells us about Himself in nature (Romans 1:20), in the Bible, and through His Holy Spirit.

The traits that make God who He is are like the many facets of a diamond. Each facet highlights a different aspect of God’s nature and character. Do the individual facets tell the whole story? No, but together they paint a picture of God that helps us to know Him as He wants to be known.

Because we are limited and God is not, we cannot know everything there is to know about Him. However, this is not an excuse for being ignorant. God decided to reveal Himself to our hearts (emotion) as well as our heads (intellect) so we could know Him. It is both our delight and our duty to receive this knowledge as best we can for His glory and for our good.

What We Believe About Man

We believe that the Bible teaches that mankind was and is the creative work of the one, true God. Contrary to popular belief, man is not the result of an accident or a mindless evolutionary process. If we are just evolutionary accidents, there’s no difference between your value and a slug’s value and there’s no difference between Hitler’s mission and Mother Teresa’s mission. It’s all just evolutionary processes, randomly acting on mobile matter. We know that’s not true. Incidentally, the world knows that too (Romans 1:20).

The Bible says that after God had created all other creatures He formed the first man, Adam, from “the dust of the ground” and “breathed life” into him. From Adam, God then formed the woman, Eve, to be his companion and helper. In His image God created them both male and female (Genesis 1:26-27). Unique among all other creatures, only humans were created in the “image of God.” What does it mean to be created in His image? Are we mirror images? No, not at all. To be created in His image simply means that we share some of His attributes, but in a lesser way. Unlike other created things, men and women are self-aware, spiritual, logical, rational, reasonable, loving, hating, creative beings with emotions, intellects, wills, and souls.

Mankind was created, in God’s image, by God and for God. Mankind was created to share in God’s love, to have dominion over the garden, and to bring God glory. No meaning can be found for man’s existence outside of loving God, obeying God, and glorifying God.

What We Believe About Salvation

We believe that because we are made right in Jesus, God has saved us from all His wrath and condemnation (Romans 5:9). God is holy, perfect, and righteous in every way, shape, and form. Because of our sins, God should pour down His wrath on each and every one of us (Romans 1:18-32, Psalm 11:4-7, John 3:36). However, because He is holy, perfect, and righteous He made salvation possible through His Son Jesus Christ.

The Bible is clear that there is no salvation apart from Jesus.

We believe the gospel message in its simplest form is this: It is the birth, life, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

We believe:

What We Believe About Stewardship: Money

We believe it is important to have a God-perspective of money.

God does bless us, but it is for the purpose of giving Him the glory and not ourselves. It is so easy to fall prey to the love of money. At Bethel we teach on this subject because the Bible has much to say about our money and possessions.

Money and Worship

Our money is linked to our worship both corporately and individually. As a body of believers, we worship corporately by contributing financially to our local church. We respond to God’s gifts and kindness by giving in return, so that the Gospel can continue to reach others through the work of the church. We worship by loving our family and loving others with our money. Our whole lives are to be marked by worship; and, how you use your money plays a role in this every day. Worship does happen on the weekend, but it does not stop there. It is giving God every aspect of our lives, including money.

What We Believe About The Gifts of the Holy Spirit and His Role in the World Today

We believe in the Holy Spirit and the power He gives us to walk out our everyday lives. The Trinity is made up of the Father (God), His Son (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit. We believe the Holy Spirit is no less important in our lives than God or Jesus Christ. Jesus promised us before He was to be crucified that He would never leave us or forsake us. In Jesus’ absence, the Holy Spirit has been given to us to guide us, comfort us and give us direction. The Revised Standard Version of the Bible not only translates “Holy Ghost” as “Holy Spirit”, but it also translates “the Comforter” as “the Counselor”. The Holy Spirit plays all of these roles in the lives of believers.

We believe that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are for the common good of the church and to draw attention to God. That being said, if you see a spiritual gift being used for a purpose outside of “the common good” it’s likely that the gift is either being misused or the gift is counterfeit. Also, if a gift is only helping the individual or is drawing more attention to the individual than to God, it’s likely that the gift is being misused.

1 Corinthians 12: 28-31 says, “And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrators, various kinds of tongues. All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they? All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they? But earnestly desire the greater gifts.”

At BETHEL, you’ll find both family and leaders who come to slightly different conclusions with regard to the how’s, the when’s, and the why’s of these supernatural gifts. That’s ok. The how’s, when’s, and why’s of these gifts are mysterious. Our hope is that we can help our family and leaders to stay away from the far left and the far right. This, of course, is more difficult than drifting one way or the other but with the Scriptures, the Spirit’s guidance, humility, and “earnest desire”, we hope to stay as centered as possible.

What We Believe About The Church

When we hear the word “church” our minds automatically picture a building. Bethel has a building and we call it a church. However, in the more biblical form, the word “church” refers to the body of believers.

The word “church” comes from the Greek word “ekklesia” which means “gathering” or “assembly.” Therefore, the church is the gathering of the believers who come together to participate in fellowship with one another as they worship God and hear from His Word, the Bible.

In Ephesians 5:25, the Apostle Paul tells us, “Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” God’s plan for the church was so great that He exalted Jesus to a position of highest authority for the sake of the church (Ephesians 1:22-23).

Jesus is the foundation of the church and He continues to build on it. Matthew 16:18 clearly shows us this truth. Jesus says, “I will build my church…” Luke adds even more clarity to Jesus building the church as he writes, “the Lord added to their numbers day by day those who were being saved (Acts 2:47).”

Communion and Baptism

They are an outward expression that Christ uses to communicate to us the meaning and benefits of His redemption. They are also used to reinforce and remind us of the true meaning and content of the gospel. Communion and baptism are signs of participation in God’s covenant, and they certify a true reality for us as God’s sons and daughters.