The Bible - The Bible is God’s message and explanation of Himself to mankind. It was written by human authors inspired by God. It is truth and without error and reveals the plan, purposes and will of God for all time.
God in Three Persons - There is one and only one living and true God. He is the Creator and Ruler of the universe, the seen and the unseen. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence and obedience. God reveals Himself and exists in three persons: the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. All are equal and are one God.
God the Father - God as Father rules over His universe, His creatures, and human history according to the purposes of His grace. He is perfect and all knowing and all powerful. God is Father to those who become His children through faith in Jesus.
God the Son - Jesus is the perfect representation of God in human form. He is fully human and fully divine. He is eternal and equal with God but humbled Himself by taking on the form of a servant and offering Himself as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all people by dying on a cross. He arose from death after three days demonstrating His power over sin and death. Jesus ascended to Heaven and will one day return as King to judge the world.
God the Holy Spirit - He convicts of sin and works in the life of each believer to produce godly character and abilities to carry out the work of the church. He lives in every Christian from the moment of salvation and provides power for living, understanding of spiritual truth, and guidance.
Humanity - Humanity is the special creation of God, created in His likeness, male and female. In the beginning humanity was innocent of sin but by free choice sinned against God. As a result of that sin all humanity has inherited a sin nature and are guilty of sin. Because humanity was created in the likeness of God, and because Jesus died for all, every person is worthy of respect and love.
Salvation - Salvation is the gift of God for humanity and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. It was obtained by the substitutionary death of Jesus on the cross. Only by trusting in Jesus and God’s offer of forgiveness can anyone be saved from sin’s penalty and be rightly related to God. Believers may sin and grieve the Holy Spirit but their salvation is kept secure by the power of God.
Church - The church is the body of Christ. The church includes all believers from throughout history. The church exits locally as a group of believers committing together to carry out the commands of Jesus and to observe the two ordinances of the church - baptism and communion.
Baptism - Baptism is the immersion of a believer in water. It is an outward expression of the inward change that has occurred in the life of the believer. Baptism is a picture of the believer’s faith in the crucified, buried, and risen Jesus. It is also symbolic of the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life and the resurrection to a new life in Jesus.
Communion - Communion is a remembrance of the sacrifice of Jesus. The bread and the cup are symbolic and commemorative of Jesus’ body and blood which were broken and spilled for our salvation. Communion is for baptized believers.
Stewardship - God is the giver of all earthly and spiritual blessings that we have. Believers have a duty to be good managers of their possessions and a responsibility to serve God with their time, talents, and material possessions. The Bible says that believers should give a percentage of their income cheerfully, regularly, and generously.
Spiritual Gifts - Spiritual gifts are given by God for the edification and advancement of the church. Spiritual gifts are not given to draw attention to or to elevate an individual. Because spiritual gifts are meant to build up the church we will work to prevent differences in understanding of spiritual gifts from becoming a point of contention or division.
Biblical Marriage - We believe that marriage is to be between one man and one woman for life.
Our beliefs are specific to Connection Church. However, we share the beliefs of the Baptist Faith and Message, a summary of the beliefs of Southern Baptist.
Those beliefs in their entirety can be found here