Our Core Values
THE WORD. THE GOSPEL. THE SPIRIT. THE MISSION.
The Word
In a world that struggles to define truth we believe truth is absolute, because truth is not a way of thought. Truth can be known because truth itself is a person. God Himself is truth and by His Word He has been revealed. “Who can be compared with the Lord our God, who is enthroned on high?” (Psalm 113:5) There is nothing that compares to The Word of God. We believe the Bible is God’s inspired revelation for all people. We believe it is authoritative and infallible – it cannot fail. We consider The Word to be a Core Value and the foundation of our fellowship. (Psalm 119:104-105)
The Gospel
The Word is the framework of The Gospel. The Bible in its entirety is a unified story that leads to Jesus. When we miss out on the story we miss out on The Gospel. Scot McKnight shares in his book The King Jesus Gospel – “The Gospel is all about the story of Israel coming to its resolution in the story of Jesus and our letting that story become our story. To come to terms with this “Story-shaped” gospel, we will have to become People of the Story.” The Word is The Gospel and Jesus is the Word -Jesus is The Gospel. As a Core value of Path Church our desire is for The Gospel to be the absolute center of everything we do. (Romans 1:16)
The Spirit
As followers of Jesus it’s imperative that we understand who the Holy Spirit is, and why He was sent. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 6:19) The Spirit's work within us is for the purpose of glorifying Jesus so that all people would receive the Gospel – which is Jesus. “...He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.’” (John 16:5-15) The Spirit empowers us to advance The Mission of communicating The Gospel. As a Core Value of Path Church we believe The Spirit desires to empower each of us for the purpose of His mission. (Acts 1:8)
The Mission
We often say, “we are a local church, making a global impact.” We say this because we believe The Mission centers on preaching the Gospel where it has never been preached. Heath Adamson says in his book “Until All Know” “Notice that Jesus doesn’t call us to make converts. After all, He didn’t come to earth to create Christianity. He came because ‘there is no other name under Heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.’” (Acts 4:12) We value The Word because it reveals to us The Gospel, which instructs us to be empowered by The Spirit for the purpose of accomplishing The Mission that Christ has commanded unto us. (Matthew 28:18-20)
Essential Doctrines
About God
We believe there is one God who is the Creator and the Ruler of the universe (Genesis 1:1). He eternally exists in three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19).
About Jesus Christ
We believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. We believe in His virgin birth (Matthew 1:23), His fulfillment of prophecy found in the Hebrew Scriptures as the promised Jewish Messiah (Matthew 1:21), His sinless life (Hebrews 4:15; 7:26), His atoning death on the cross (1 Corinthians 15:3), His resurrection on the third day (John 11:25; 1 Corinthians 15:4), His exaltation to the right hand of the Father (Hebrews 1:3), and that He will return again to reign as Lord of lords (Acts 1:11; 1 Timothy 6:13-16).
About The Holy Spirit
We believe in the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit that empowers each believer to live a Godly life (Romans 8:11). The body of each believer is a “temple” in which the Holy Spirit is present (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). Therefore, every believer must cultivate a life of being filled with the Spirit, which is both an initial and an ongoing experience for believers in Christ (Ephesians 5:18). The Holy Spirit provides the believers with power for living, understanding of spiritual truth, guidance in doing what is right, and spiritual gifts to edify the church.
About The Bible
We believe that the entire Bible is the inspired, infallible and inerrant Word of God and that men were moved by the Spirit to write the books of Scripture (2 Peter 1:20-21). The Bilble is authoritative and the source of absolute truth. The words of the Bible are the primary source for teaching and equipping believers for a life of righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
About Humanity
We believe that human beings were created male and female in the image of God to have fellowship with Him (Genesis 1:26), but humanity became alienated from that relationship through sinful disobedience (Genesis 3). As a result, humanity is totally incapable of coming back into a right standing relationship with God by one’s own effort (Romans 5:12-19).
About Salvation
We believe that the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the cross solely provides for the forgiveness of sins (Mark 10:45). Therefore, salvation is received only when a person places his faith in the death and resurrection of Christ as the sufficient payment for one’s acknowledged and repented sin (Acts 2:38). This salvation is not earned but is a gift available by the grace of God through Faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-9).
About Following Jesus
We believe that for every follower of Jesus the old way of living for oneself is in the past and the new way of living for Christ is for the present and future (2 Corinthians 5:17). By obedience to the Scriptures and daily yielding to the Spirit we will mature and become conformed to the image of Christ, which should be exhibited by love and good works for God and for one’s neighbor (Matthew 22
About The Church
We believe that the church is the body of Christ (Jew and Gentile), of which Jesus is the Head (Col. 1:18). The purpose of the church is to gather believers to glorify God by being a powerful witness for Jesus Christ in a lost world (Matt. 28:18-20). God wants to edify and build up His church, this is why the Holy Spirit gives a variety of spiritual gifts to believers. (Romans 12, I Cor. 12) We practice two ordinances instituted by Christ Himself regularly among our fellowship: water baptism (Luke 3:21-22) and Holy Communion (Luke 22:14-20).
About Gifts of The Spirit
We believe the apostles instructed all believers to eagerly seek the gifts of The Spirit for the edification of the believers and the exaltation of Christ. These gifts are available and present today for all believers as the Holy Spirit desires and imparts accordingly his gifts to individual believers (1 Corinthians 12:1-11) . Imparted gifts of the Holy Spirit include speaking in tounges (Heavenly and Earthly languages), interpretation, words of knowledge, wisdom, healing, prophesy, discernment, ect.
About Healing
We believe that Christ’s power to heal is evident in the Gospels and is available to all believers today through his atoning sacrifice. The church is to lay hands on the sick, anoint them with oil, and pray faithfully for their recovery (James 5:14-15).
About The Second Coming
We believe in the hope of resurrection that believers in Christ who have died will be reunited with those still alive at the second coming of Jesus Christ (1 Thess. 4:16-17). We believe in Christ millennial reign(Rev. 20:1-6), the final judgment (Rev. 20:11-15), and the appearance of a new heaven and a new earth (Rev. 21-22).