BELIEFS
Newlifers unite around the following beliefs about Jesus and His Church. . .
ABOUT JESUS
It’s all about Jesus.
Newlife is Jesus-centric. Together, we read the words of Jesus and interpret all of scripture and culture through a Jesus-centered lens. Newlifers are always asking themselves and each other “What is Jesus saying to me?” and “What am I doing about it?”
Scripture is God’s word to us.
The Bible is God’s message to people. Written by human authors, over thousands of years, under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit (inspired by God), the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) and the New Testament are the supreme source of Truth for living on the mission and knowing who God really is.
God is good.
God is the Creator and Ruler of the universe. He is love. His creation is good-very good. There is one God who exists forever in perfect community as three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Jesus shows us what God is like.
Jesus is the Son of God – fully human and fully God. Jesus was tempted just as we are and yet lived a sinless human life and died on a Roman cross as a perfect sacrifice for the sins of all people everywhere. Three days later, Jesus rose from the dead to show He had conquered sin and death. Jesus ascended to the Father and will return again to earth as the Savior of the world. Because Jesus was human, we can follow him. Because Jesus is God, we can trust him, worship him, and be saved by him.
The Holy Spirit is our power.
The Holy Spirit is equal with the Father and the Son of God. He is present in the world to draw people toward Jesus. The Holy Spirit lives in every follower of Jesus and provides all followers of Jesus with power to live a life of love, understanding, spiritual truth, and boldness in sharing God’s message with others.
Jesus changes everything.
It is in Jesus that each of us is given an invitation into a brand-new life – It’s not about saying yes to Jesus one time to go to heaven, but saying Yes to Jesus every day to bring heaven here.
ABOUT THE CHURCH
The Church is people.
The Church isn’t a building, or an institution or a business, it’s you, with your friends, gathering together and following Jesus in your everyday lives.
Jesus invites the Church on his mission.
This world may be broken, but Jesus has Good News for everyone: the mission of Jesus is to make all things new . . . and each of us is invited on the mission with Jesus to help heal the world. When people choose to follow Jesus, God plants inside of them all that is needed to go, make disciples, baptize, and teach their friends, family, neighbors and co-workers how to love God.
We are all in the same sinking boat.
We are made in God’s image – to be like Him in character – but because humans rebelled against God, (remember Adam & Eve?) everyone is born with a selfish nature that “misses the mark.” Although every person has tremendous potential for good, all of us are marred by an attitude of disobedience toward God called “sin.” We – all of us – need Jesus to rescue us.
The Gospel is good news for broken people like you and me.
God, through Jesus’ life and death, offers us the gift of undeserved forgiveness. This gift is freely offered, but we must accept it. We begin this journey of faith by saying “yes” to letting Jesus lead. We can never make up for our sin by self-improvement or trying to be really good people. Salvation is freely offered to every person by grace and received through faith in Jesus Christ alone.
We will live forever.
We have choices. We can either let Jesus lead us and live forever with God (Heaven) or choose to not let Jesus be the director of our lives and be eternally separated from God (Hell).
This is a family.
The Church Jesus is building is a multi-ethnic, multicultural, and multi-generational family, and that family needs you – fully alive and at your full potential.