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What to expect at True Faith Fellowship
When you visit us at True Faith Fellowship, you will notice a few differences right off the bat. There are no perfect people in attendance. We are all individuals who are trying to collectively follow God's calling in our Lives.
Our services begin with a musical call to worship, followed by "Family News," a time for announcements, updates, howdy's and happy birthdays. From here, we will move into our time of worship in song, where we employ modern worship tunes by many cutting edge worship leaders from around the world.
Our time of Worship in Instruction follows, where Pastor Bill challenges all with engaging messages taken from God's Word.
We end our service with Worship in Celebration, where we sing praises to our God in response to our time spent.
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True Faith Fellowship
Docturnal Statement
The Bible
We believe that the Bible is the Word of God (2 Tim 3:16).
In its original documents, it is the complete, perfect errorless transmission of the message which God wished to communicate to man.
While we do not have copies of the original manuscripts, such a culture of care existed in the copying of these documents that
we are able to also place trust in current scholarly translations of the Biblical texts.
Every word of scripture is inspired by God. The Holy Spirit "carried along" the men who wrote the
texts (2 Pet. 1:21). This also attests to the veracity of the Scriptures. A holy (Lev. 11:44, 19:1; Ps. 99:9; Isa. 6:3; 1 Jn. 1:5),
true (Ps. 31:5; Jn. 7:28, 14:6, 14:17; 1 Jn. 5:20), and unchanging (Ps. 33:11; Ecc. 3:14; Mal. 3:6; Heb. 13:8), cannot, by the fact
of His very nature, produce a message which does not reflect these qualities.
The Godhead
We believe there is but one God (Dt. 6:4; 1 Ki. 8:60; Isa. 42:8; Mk. 12:29; Jn. 17:3; 1Cor. 8:4- 6; Gal. 3:20; Eph. 4:5-6; 1 Tim.
2:5; Jms. 2:19) who exists in three persons. The Father is God (Jn. 6:27; 1 Cor 8:6; Eph. 4:6; 1 Pet. 1:2). Jesus, the Son is God
(Jn. 1:1, 8:56, 20:28; Tit. 2:13; Heb. 1:8).The Holy Spirit is God (Acts 5:3-4; 1 Cor. 3:16, 12:4-6). The three are one; the one is three.
This is not an issue ever fully explained in Scripture, nor is it one that we will fully understand this side of Heaven.
Jesus Christ
We believe Jesus Christ is God (Isa. 7:11, 9:6; Jer. 23:6; Mt. 1:22-23; 1 Tim. 3:16; Rev. 19:13). He is the Son of God who
became man, while still possessing the fullness of God (Col. 1:18-20), in obedience to the FatherŐs eternal plan for the
salvation of man (Phil. 2:5-10). He alone could present a sacrifice of infinite value through His perfect obedience to the
Father (1 Pet. 1:18-21), which He did in His death on the cross; the culmination and chief purpose of His incarnation. He died,
suffering both physical and spiritual death, in order that we may live. He rose on the third day, in accordance with prophecy,
nd is now seated at the right hand of God in Heaven as the Head of the Church (Eph. 1:20-23).
The Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is fully God, co-equal to the other persons of the Trinity (Mt. 3:16-17, 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14).
It is He who dwells in the soul of the believer (1 Cor. 6:19-20). He is the person of the Godhead who convicts men of their sin
(Jn. 16:8-11), brings new life to the repentant (Jn. 3:6), adopts them into sonship to the Father (Rom. 8:15-16), and imparts more
Christ- like character (2 Thes. 2:13). The Spirit also grants spiritual gift(s) to each believer (1 Cor. 12:11), to be used for the
building up of the fellowship (Eph 4:11-13).
Man
We believe that man was created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27). Our image-bearing to the Creator refers to our ability to reflect imperfectly
the perfect attributes of God. But man is also sinful, due to the fall of our ultimate ancestors, Adam and Eve. The consequences of this singular
act of insubordination to God are great and comprehensive. Relationships from then on were never transparent, as they had been (Gen. 3:7-8), and
fellowship with God was made impossible due to the darkness that had entered the souls of man (Gen. 3:17-18). The most dramatic consequence of
the act was the entrance of death into the human experience (Gen. 3:19)
Man still feels the consequences of Adam and EveŐs sin, in that we now, from birth, have a sinful nature (Ps. 51:5; Rom 5:12, 5:19).
We are stuck in that condition without recourse, for a holy God can have no fellowship with unholy man (Isa. 6:5).
Salvation
We believe that although all men (Rom 3:10-18) are tainted with the stain of sin (Rom. 3:23), are destined to spend eternity separated from God
(Rom. 6:23), and can do nothing to change this fate (Eph. 2:1-3). Only an act of God can bridge this gulf between Himself and man.
We believe that before the foundations of the world, God designed a plan whereby He would wipe away the sinfulness of man by the sacrifice
of His Son, Jesus Christ (Eph. 1:3-6) Jesus paid a price of infinite value, when He, God and man (Col. 2:9), died in our place (2 Cor. 5:21),
paying the penalty for our sinfulness (1 Jn. 2:2), reconciling us to God (2 Cor 5:20).
We believe that there are no hoops to jump through to qualify for ChristŐs payment, only faith in Him (Jn. 1:12). Salvation does not come on the
basis of our merit or our living a good life. If this were the deal, then none would meet its price, for we all fall short (Rom 3:23). Salvation
is a free gift (Rom. 3:24), based solely on the merits of Christ (Heb. 10:14).
We believe that once you are saved; there is nothing that you can do to lose that status. This belief is primarily grounded in GodŐs absolute truthfulness.
God has made several promises to believers, such as: whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life (Jn. 3:16), he who hears My word,
and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life (Jn. 5:24), Truly, truly,
I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. (Jn. 6:47), and He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus (Phil. 1:6).
We can also count on GodŐs omnipotence when considering this issue. In John 10:28-30, He says, and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish;
and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's
hand. I and the Father are one." Once placed in the FatherŐs hand, the issue is closed. There is no one strong enough to remove me.
The Church
We believe that the Church is a universal body of all believers, in all geographical locations, from the time of Acts 2 until the return of Christ.
Christ is the head of the Church (Col. 1:18), its cornerstone (1 Pet. 2:4-6), and its builder (Mt. 16:18-19). The Holy spirit baptizes all believers
into the Church (1Cor. 12:13), and Jesus melds them into one body (Jn. 17:19-23).
The local church is a fellowship within the Church universal, generally divided by geography, but also by small differences in belief,
organization and practice. Local churches organize themselves for the purpose of doing the will of God here on earth, specifically in their locales,
while building one another up in the unity of the faith.
Life
We believe that God calls us to live lives in accordance with His principles by the power of the Holy Spirit (1 Pet. 4:1-2), being always vigilant of the condition
of our own hearts, as our former, sinful nature is still present, and is waging war with the Spirit within us (Rom. 7:15-25).
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True Faith Fellowship
Statement of Values
God is central to all that we do
The chief end of man, and of everything God has created, is to glorify the Creator (1 Cor. 10:31). This was the goal of Christ,
our head and example (Jn. 14:13). We need to keep this value absolutely, lest we allow our efforts to be sidetracked from what He has called us to do.
The church is the people.
You do not "go to church," you are the church
Jesus may have been a carpenter, but when he said, "And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates
of Hades will not overcome it" (Matt 16:18), He was not talking about a building. He was speaking of a movement, formed in the hearts of His
followers, which would change the world and eternal destinies (Rom 12:1-2). We trivialize the entity which is the church when we segment it
to a specific address on Sunday morning. God calls us to be a part of that movement....
We will be a church with a mission, not a missions department.
God has called all of us to the mission of building His church. (Matt 28:19-20, Acts 1:8) While it is true that throughout history, there
are those whom God has called out to serve as ministers to His people, they should be far outnumbered by the citizen saints doing the ministries
that God calls them to.
We will equip people to implement their God given passions for ministry, not use our people to plug holes in our ministries.
God has created us all with specific abilities and gifts, given by His Spirit, (1 Cor. 12:11), to use to help build His Church (1 Cor. 12:7). As a
part of His divine design, God has spread these gifts and abilities across His people, so that all people are important to the growth of His body
(1 Cor 12:22-27). If we allow ourselves to simply mash people into vacant posts based solely on need, we neglect the work of the Spirit in our
congregation, and short change ourselves. Instead, we will help place people in ministries where they will thrive because they are tasks for
which God has planted deep passion.
We will passionately develop an environment of depth in our teaching, challenging people to jump in and swim with us.
The Apostle Paul repeatedly admonished those churches in his time that stood pat, sticking to the basics of the truth, never wading out into the
depth of the Christian message (1 Cor. 3:2, Heb. 5:12-13). But there is so much more to the life that God calls us to than the basics. We donŐt
want to miss out! We will go the extra mile in our teaching, venturing away from the safe and the feel good to really chew on the issues where
faith touches life. We will worship and love God with all our heart, soul, and mind (Mt. 22:37). This may be intimidating at first, but stick
with it. We are sure that you will get more comfortable.
"Come on in, the water's fine..."
We do not have all of the answers, so we will live in the mystery of life with God.
It is presumptuous to think that we can reduce God, and all of His glory, to an easy to digest formula for life.
To do so makes God less than God. He is infinite, we are finite, and will never be able to grasp His fullness (Job 36:26-33).
While we like to understand everything, God calls us to faith (Heb. 11:1). He does not expect us to fully understand all things,
but merely to trust in Him and act out in that faith (Eph. 5:16- 26).
We seek authenticity in all that we do.
We live in an age where religion has become more like a circus side show than an intimate relationship with the savior. But God
calls us to a different standard. He just wants us to be real. (Jn. 4:23-24). We seek to be open and honest with God, and with
one another; after all, He knows our thoughts. (Use Habakkuk as an example.)
We believe that spiritual formation and growth happens best in the context of open relationships.
God uses open, caring relationships to keep us growing (Prov. 27:17). We will endeavor to see that we are involving people in
smaller cells within True Faith Fellowship, which allow us to get to know people on a deeper level. While this involves some
vulnerability, the benefits far outweigh the risks. Try it out. We promise.
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