God

There is one God, who has revealed Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Every divine action in the world is accomplished by the Father working through the Son and in the power of the Spirit. This God has revealed Himself in creation and in the history of Israel as transmitted in Scripture. (Gen. 1:1; I Cor. 8:6; Eph. 4:4-6)

The Father

God is the Eternal Father, the source of all life. He is the great initiator and creator, who brought all things into being. He has a plan and purpose for His creation and works in everything, toward the fulfillment of that purpose. He desires all of His creation to live in harmony and in love.

Jesus the Messiah (Christ)

To that end, the Father sent His only begotten Son into the world to heal and restore our broken relationships – with God and one another. He was miraculously born of a virgin and lived a flawless life without sin. He proclaimed and demonstrated the kingdom of God bringing heaven to earth through supernatural acts of healing and love. Ultimately, he gave his life on a cross for the forgiveness of sin. But God raised Him from the dead and took Him up into His presence giving him the “name above all names” that all could come back to the Father through the Son.

Holy Spirit

Before Jesus’ death, he promised his followers he would not leave them alone in the world. He promised them the “comforter and counselor” the Spirit of truth who would be with them and in them always. Fifty days later, on the day of Pentecost (Shavuot), Jesus fulfilled his promise. And his promise of the Spirit is still available to all who “call upon the name of the Lord” – to fill us, empower us and enable us to live a transformed life and to bring transformation to the world around us.

The Gospel

We embrace the salvation Jesus offers as the hope for the healing of our relationships with God, each other, ourselves, and creation. Our spirituality is active because Jesus is in the process of restoring the world at all levels by bringing His kingdom to earth through his body, the community of believers. We seek to effectively express and communicate the message of Jesus in word and deed. Led by the Spirit of God, we want to do the works of God demonstrating the life of heaven on earth, living out the transforming message of the risen Jesus. Jesus calls his community to be a compelling force for good in the world. We were created to live for something larger than ourselves – the Gospel of the Kingdom!

Bible

We believe the Bible to be a living Word, comprised of the God-breathed voices of many who have come before us, and trustworthy for revealing God and his ways. Our spirituality is to be biblical because the Bible is the story of Jesus. We affirm the central truths of the historic Christian faith as expressed in the Apostles and Nicene Creeds, seeing ourselves in a long line of generations taking part in the endless conversation between God and people.

Church/Community

The fundamental revelation of God in Jesus is Love, because everything about God is relational. Our spirituality is communal because Jesus called us to love each other and the whole church, which we honor in all its varied expressions, locally and globally. The way of Jesus cannot be lived alone. We value the image of God in all people, everywhere. We believe that we were created to live deeply with one another, loving one another, supporting one another, praying for one another, to suffer and celebrate with one another. It’s in these honest, loving relationships with one another that God transforms us and truth becomes a reality.

Israel

God chose Israel, the Jewish people, and entered into an everlasting covenant with them so they might be the firstfruits of a renewed humanity, who would mediate blessing and restoration to all the nations of the world. In gracious love, God gave to Israel the holy Torah as a covenantal way of life, and the holy Land of Israel as an inheritance and pledge of the blessing of the World to Come (Gen. 12:1-3; Jer. 31:34-36, 35-37; Rm. 11:28-29). For this reason, Israel remains chosen of God for the “gifts and the call of God are irrevocable” (Rm.11:29). “If their rejection (of Yeshua) meant the reconciliation of the world (the salvation of Gentiles), what will their acceptance (of Yeshua) mean but life from the dead” (the kingdom on earth as it is in heaven). [Rm. 11:15] Therefore we pray for the day when all Israel will say, “Baruch haba b’shem Adonai. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” (Mt. 23:39).

Messiah’s Return

Jesus will return to Jerusalem in glory at the end of this age, to rule forever on David’s throne. He will judge the living and the dead treating every person with complete love and justice. He will accomplish the final Tikkun Olam (restoration of all things) in which Israel and the nations will be united under Messiah’s rule forever. This restoration will bring everlasting joy for those who belong to Him. They will live forever in an order of mutual blessing and fellowship with God, in a world perfected beyond description (Isa. 9:4-5/5-6; Rom. 8:18-19; Rev.20:11-15; 21:1-4).