Connected Through Faith
Connect Christian Church is a fellowship of people united in a common love for Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We come from all walks of life and religious backgrounds. While each of us has a unique faith story, we are committed to the unity of all believers.
If you are new to Connect, we don’t expect you to believe everything from the first day you are here. We understand that spiritual growth is a process and our prayer is that you would grow alongside us as we seek to connect people to Christ, each other, and their purpose.
We believe the Bible to be inspired by God, written down by men guided by the Holy Spirit. God’s Word lights our path and guards, penetrates, purifies, and transforms our hearts. The Bible is reliable, flawless and our final authority for what is believed, taught, and practiced by Connect. There are no other writings thus inspired by God.
We believe that there is one true and living God, perfect in all His attributes, one in essence, eternally existing in three persons: God (Father), Jesus (Son), and the Holy Spirit, each possessing all the attributes of deity and deserving of our worship and obedience. God created the universe and all things therein out of nothing, manifesting His power, wisdom, and goodness. God continues to work throughout history by sustaining His creation and fulfilling His redemptive plan.
The second person of the Trinity, Jesus, is eternally equal with God. Willingly giving up the glory of heaven, Jesus came to earth to pay the debt for man’s soul. He became a man through a miraculous conception and a virgin birth. He lived a perfect life, committing no sin, paying for our sins by dying on the cross as our substitute. Jesus rose from the dead after three days, appearing to many people. Jesus will return at God’s appointed time to judge all of mankind according to God’s eternal plan.
The result of a saving relationship with Jesus Christ is a life that is being transformed to be like Jesus. The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, comes to live within every Christian at the point of salvation to empower them for this transformation process and for the building up of the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit teaches, reminds, convicts, and guides us into all truth. We are to be filled, bear fruit, keep in step with, and stay submitted to the Holy Spirit. We are a church that moves together as we follow the Spirit’s promptings and callings in our lives.
Every person who ever lived will one day stand before God in judgment. Those who have rejected God and his free offer of grace through Jesus will be eternally separated from God in condemnation. Believers will enjoy eternal communion with God and be rewarded for works done in this life.
Everyone who has ever lived, except Jesus, has sinned against God and is in need of salvation. Salvation is not something that can be purchased or earned. It is only available through accepting and believing in the person and work of Jesus Christ through faith. Faith is expressed through belief, confession, repentance of sin, and baptism by immersion. We don’t initiate or complete the process, God does. Through faith and obedience, God does a miraculous work in us.
(Romans 3:23-24, Romans 6:3-5, Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:8-9, Matthew 10:32-33, 2 Peter 3:9, Acts 2:38)
Receiving Christ in faith necessitates some response on our part, one that includes belief, repentance, confession, and baptism. Each part is equally important. The actions, including baptism, do not save us – but each action is mentioned in Scripture as part of becoming a Christian. Not only is baptism an outward sign symbolizing the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, but it also unites us spiritually with Him. It’s not beneficial or effective to argue at which point one is saved. We do not judge anyone who has followed a different pattern. Judgment belongs to God alone.
(Romans 10:9-12, Romans 14:8-10, Acts 2:38, 1 Peter 3:20-21)
All those who experience union with Christ through salvation are united with His body the Church. The Bible instructs believers to gather together for fellowship, worship, prayer, the teaching of the Word, service to the body, and outreach to the community and the world. Wherever Christians meet regularly in obedience to these instructions, this is a local expression of the church. Under the watch, care, and guidance of elders and other supportive leadership, the church’s members work together in love and unity to help people everywhere connect to Christ and each other.
The Lord’s Supper is a commemoration and proclamation of the death of Jesus Christ. Whereas the bread and the juice are only representatives of the body and blood of Jesus, the Lord’s Supper is nevertheless an actual communion with the risen Christ who is present in a spiritual way. Connect offers the Lord’s Supper weekly. Believers should use this time to remember Jesus and His death, examine their lives, and ask God for forgiveness, recommitting their lives in service to Christ.
We believe marriage is a union ordained and instituted by God. It was first instituted by God in the early chapters of Genesis and codified in the Levitical law. Jesus explained the original intention and core elements of marriage, and several New Testament letters give explicit instructions on this union. Marriage is a typology of Christ and the New Testament Church. As such, the Church views marriage as a profound spiritual institution established by God. Due to the importance of marriage in the biblical witness, Connect defines “marriage” as the exclusive union of one man and one woman in which such union is a lifetime commitment.
(Genesis 2:22-24, Ephesians 5:22-25, Matthew 19:4-6, Mark 10:6-9)