What We Believe
Our emerging theology.
GODThere is one God. He is the God of creation, the God of the Bible. He alone is to be worshiped. He created, rules and sustains all that exists, both seen and unseen. He is eternal, holy, completely good, all-powerful, all-knowing, and unchanging. He is full of mercy, grace, power and majesty. He has revealed Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God passionately desires a relationship with us and towards this end continually invites us into a relationship of faith, friendship, learning, and service. JESUS CHRIST
God, by his love, expressed himself in human form through Jesus Christ, God's son, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He was fully human and fully God. Jesus taught about the Kingdom of God, an all encompassing revolution which seeks to reconcile and restore all of creation to God’s dream for it all. Jesus lived a sinless life in place of our sin-filled lives; died, as our substitute, the death we deserved to die because of our selfishness; and physically rose from the dead by the power of God. He offers us full, eternal life by his own resurrection. He then ascended into heaven and presently sits at the Father's right hand representing and advocating for His Church.
Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly to judge the living and the dead. Then every knee will bow before Him in honor and every person will agree that Jesus always has been, is now, and always will be Lord.
THE HOLY SPIRITThe Holy Spirit, the breath of God, is God and was sent by God. He inspired the Scriptures. He convicts us of sin, points us to Christ, and applies Christ's work to our lives. He lives inside all who believe in Jesus Christ, guaranteeing their salvation. He teaches, comforts, and empowers believers, giving them diverse gifts. He fosters unity, interdependence, productivity, Christ-like character, and love among followers. He is the one who creates biblical community in the Church. He reveals truth and guides our lives, individually and together.
REAL LIFEAll people are created with dignity and value in the image of God, to live in a vital relationship with God. However, through our sin (failing to live by God's moral standards), we break our intended relationship with God and we experience the destructive consequences of that broken relationship, spiritually and socially, in this life and beyond. We are unable to restore the broken relationship ourselves. However, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to rescue us from those consequences and to restore our broken relationships with God and others, through his teaching and death on the cross, a perfect act of redemption for each of us. Salvation comes to people on the basis of God's grace through their faith in Jesus alone. They receive the free gift of forgiveness and are spiritually reborn through repenting of their sin and believing Jesus Christ. Then, God treats us as if we were Christ, because he treated Christ as if he were us. God's gift of grace makes us his adopted sons and daughters. There is nothing we can do to deserve this life - it is all a gift of God, and our job is simply to receive it, enjoy it and invite others into it. Good works and a holy life, although totally unable to save anyone, are the natural product of repentant, believing people.
THE BIBLEThe Bible is God's Story about who He is, what He has done, what He is doing, and what He will do. It was inspired by the Holy Spirit and written by human writers and so reflects their backgrounds, styles, and use of language. We believe that God speaks to us in the Bible, and that it is our privilege to seek to understand God's message and apply it responsibly to our lives.
THE CHURCHIf we are in relationship with Christ, we are part of the Church. The Church is the body of Jesus on earth. Fundamentally, it is synonymous with The Bride of Christ. It is universal, but is always expressed locally. The Church is the visible demonstration of the new community Christ came to create. The Holy Spirit leads our community life as we are devoted to connecting with and worshiping God, understanding and applying the Bible to our lives, offering connection to others, living life together, and serving our community with our Spirit-given gifts.
The main responsibility of the Church is to follow Jesus Christ and lead others to do the same. The Church is to offer connection to people outside of relationship with Christ by offering Christ's full life and helping those who respond to become people who follow Christ with their whole hearts
The Church celebrates the Sacraments (Baptism and Communion), which are gifts given by Christ and are experiences of His promise and His presence with us. One day Jesus will come back and gather all of His Church to be with Him forever.
THE FAMILYGod established the family as the foundational building block of human society. It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood, or adoption.
Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is a unique gift from God and provides the framework for intimate companionship, sex, and the means for procreation of the human race. The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created in God's image. The marriage relationship should model the way God relates to His people. A husband should love his wife as Christ loved the Church. In response to the love she experiences from her husband, a wife should submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband just like the Church is supposed to willingly submit to the headship of Christ.
MYSTERYThough God has revealed much about Himself and truth to us, most of God's wisdom lies beyond our finite understanding. We accept and stand in awe of the mystery of God and recognize it as something to be enjoyed and explored.
UNITY AMONG CHRISTIANSThe Journey recognizes diversity among Christians in nonessential areas. If one is in relationship with God by Christ's death and resurrection, he/she is part of the Church. There are no other criteria by which we can be in connection with God and therefore be part of his Church. We do not press for uniformity in nonessential areas, but rather encourage people to search the Scriptures, seeking balance, mutual understanding, humility and love. Additionally, we seek to respect one another's differences without a quarrelsome, arrogant or divisive spirit, and to return continually to the great commandments to love God and one another. In the essentials we have unity; in the nonessentials we have diversity; and in all things we show love.
