Statement of Faith

God the Father       God the Son       God the Holy Spirit       Humanity       Salvation       The Bible       The Church       The Kingdom       The Gospel       Non-Essentials

Abundant Life Church is a nondenominational church that believes in the authority of the Christian Scriptures for our life and practice. We hold to the historic teachings of Christian orthodoxy as articulated in the Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene Creed.

The fundamental teachings of Abundant Life Church are reflected in the following statements:

The first person of the Trinity orders and directs all things according to His purpose and pleasure. 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.

Matthew 6:9; John 5:19-24; Ephesians 1:3-6; 2:1-10

Jesus Christ is both the eternal Son of God and virgin-born Son of man. Fully God, fully man, He surrendered nothing of His deity during His earthly life. His sinless, sacrificial offering on the cross satisfied the Father’s justice, offering atonement for all of humanity’s sins for all time. We believe in His bodily resurrection, His physical ascension, and His visible return back to earth to establish His earthly kingdom.

John 1:14-18; John 5:18; Colossians 1:15-20; Colossians 2:9

The Holy Spirit executes the will of God in this world through humanity by leading, guiding, filling, teaching, and convicting. The Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force, but a person, displaying the qualities of personhood (intellect, emotions, and will). The Holy Spirit fills and equips believers by giving them gifts to be used for the building up of the church and by bearing fruit through their yielded lives.

John 16:7-11; Ephesians 2:10; Ephesians 1:13-14; Galatians 5:22-25

We are created in the image of God, destined to enjoy an intimate relationship with Him and one another, fulfilling His will here on earth. The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever! However, through Adam and Eve’s willful sin in the garden, sin entered the world and has infected all of humanity. Due to our inherent sinful nature received from our father Adam, we are separated from God, spiritually dead, and destined for physical death and an eternity removed from God.

Genesis 1-3; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 5:12-21; Ephesians 2:1-3

Jesus Christ died for our sins as the only sufficient sacrifice, offering atonement for the sin of all humankind through His death, burial, and resurrection. While salvation is available to all, it is only experienced by those who receive His gracious gift by faith, apart from works. As a result of our new relationship with God through His Son, Jesus, we are called to a life of submission to the Holy Spirit, manifesting spiritual fruit, and walking in good works that God has prepared beforehand for us to do.

John 14:6; Acts 4:12; John 1:12; Ephesians 1:7, 2:8-9; Hebrews 10:10-14; 1 John 5:11-13; Galatians 3:26; John 3:16

We believe every word of the sixty-six books of the Bible are inspired by God equally in all parts and is infallible in its origin, as the accepted canon of the Scriptures. The Word of God reveals God’s nature and will for all of humanity and is to be the foundation of faith and practice. We affirm that while God’s Word is accurate in all matters, it is not given as an end in and of itself, but rather a means to a relationship with God.

2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:20-21; Hebrews 4:12; John 17:17; Romans 15:4

All who place their faith in God through His Son, Jesus Christ, are a part of the universal body of believers known as the Church. The purpose of the local church is to lead people to Christ and bring them to maturity in Him, establishing God’s Kingdom here on earth. Members of the local church are to live lives in covenant relationship and humble mutual submission to other Spirit-led believers and to the God-appointed leaders of the church. Abundant Life Church is an autonomous local assembly led by Jesus Christ, who directs as the head of this body through a team of appointed, biblically qualified Elders who are equal in value having distinct functions, with the Lead Pastor as the first among equals.

Hebrews 10:24-25; Acts 2:41- 47; 1 Corinthians 12-14; Matthew 28:18-20; Ephesians 2:19-22; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17; Romans 8:14

The kingdom of God is the rule of God over his people in his creation, established through Jesus in the new covenant, which is now present in the world, though it is awaiting its fulfillment at the second coming of Christ. One day Jesus will return to consummate the blessings of the kingdom, at which time he will set up the new heavens and new earth. In the meantime, we live in the “already and not yet” of the kingdom, serving our King by joining Him in the work of renewal on earth and looking forward to his return.

Revelation 21:5, Luke 12:32, Matthew 4:17, John 3:3, Zechariah 14:9, Mark 1:15, Matthew 16:19, Matthew 6:9-10

The Gospel is the good news that God our Father, the Creator, because of His glory and out of His great love for us, has come to rescue us from sin, Satan, death, and hell. To renew all things in and through the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf, and to establish His Kingdom through his people, in the power
of the Holy Spirit. This is for God’s great glory and our profound joy.

Romans 1:16-17, 1 Corinthians 15:1-2, Acts 20:24, Mark 16:15, 2 Thessalonians 2:14, Luke 4:18

We affirm that the doctrines of the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the bodily resurrection, the atoning work of Christ on the cross, and salvation by grace through faith make up the essential, distinctive nature of Christianity. We acknowledge that there are peripheral, nonessential doctrines that are important to fellow believers but may not be critical to salvation. While ALC may hold positions on these nonessentials, we will not allow these doctrines to cause division within the church. We will welcome into our church family those who have differing views on the nonessential doctrines but will not allow those of a different opinion to fracture the church.