What We
Believe
Back to the
Basics
Christians have
been called "People of the Book." It is our
conviction that God has given us in His Word
the essentials of the faith He has called us to embrace.
Biblical truth sets us free to live lives of purpose and
fulfillment. Rather than being a collection of esoteric
propositions, the basics of Christian doctrine serve as
the foundation for our spirituality. Rooted in the
orthodoxy of historic Christianity, we affirm the
following essentials as our statement of faith:
The
Bible: We believe the Bible to be the inspired,
infallible, and authoritative Word of God. The Bible is
the ultimate and final authority for believers and the
Church in all matters on which it speaks.
God: We
believe in one eternal God who has revealed Himself in
three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit;
distinguishable yet indivisible and of one substance.
The Bible describes the character of God as good,
loving, righteous, holy, just, merciful, faithful, kind,
and perfect. God is all-powerful, all-knowing, and
all-present.
Jesus
Christ: We believe in the deity of our Lord
Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life,
in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed
blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to
the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return
in power and glory.
Sin: We
believe that as a result of the fall of man into sin,
people remain spiritually dead, morally depraved,
separated from God and unable to attain right standing
with God apart from Jesus Christ. Everyone has sinned
and stands guilty before God.
Salvation:
We believe that for the salvation of lost and
sinful man, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is
absolutely essential. Salvation is wholly dependent upon
the work of God's free grace and is manifested through
repentance from sin and faith in Christ and His finished
work on the cross. Through His work, not our own, we
obtain the forgiveness of sins and are adopted into the
family of God.
Holy
Spirit: We believe in the present ministry of
the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is
enabled to live a godly life. We also believe in the
baptism of the Holy Spirit as an experience at or
subsequent to salvation and evidenced by various signs.
The
Church: We believe in one true universal Church
consisting of all genuine believers and in the visible
expression of that Church in local congregations. Local
churches are commissioned to propagate the gospel, teach
God's Word, administer the sacraments (baptism and
communion), exercise spiritual authority, and pastor
God's people into their destiny.
Christ's
Second Coming: We believe in the second coming
of Christ - physical and visible - to judge the living
and the dead, receive his Church, and to consummate
human history in the plan of God.
The
Resurrection: We believe in the resurrection of
both the saved and the lost: the saved unto the
resurrection of life and the lost unto the resurrection
of damnation.
Other words
that describe Piedmont International
Orthodox:
We recognize the truths of historic
Christianity as found in the Apostle's
Creed, the Nicene
Creed, and the Chalcedonian
Creed.
Reformation
Protestants: We embrace the theological
understandings of salvation recovered through the work
of the early reformers such as Martin
Luther, John
Calvin, and Uhlrich
Zwingli. Specifically, we celebrate the biblical
doctrines highlighted during the reformation
of sola
fida, sola
gratia, sola
scriptura, and the priesthood
of the believer.
Commitment
to Holiness: We recognize the immense
contribution of John
Wesley in calling a generation out of dead religious
traditions to a whole-hearted pursuit of Christ marked
by obedience to His Word.
Evangelical:
We believe in the necessity of conversion as a
requisite for salvation. We honor the great gospel
preachers throughout the annals of church history who
have faithfully proclaimed the message of repentance
from sin and faith forwards God.
Charismatic:
We embrace the doctrine and the experience of
Spirit baptism at or subsequent to conversion and the
accompanying gifts that God bestows upon believers. William
Seymour was one of the early pioneers of this
movement.
Apostolic:
We affirm the restoration of ministry gifts
described in the New Testament and recognize the
legitimate role of extra-local ministries to help the
local church become all God has destined it to be. We
practice a style of leadership that focuses more on
vision and results rather than committees and processes.
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