Our Beliefs

ESSENTIALS

We believe all the essential and historic doctrines of Christianity as detailed below:

All Scripture is self-attesting, and being truth, requires our unreserved submission in all areas of life. The infallible Word of God, the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, is a complete and unified witness to God’s redemptive acts culminating in the incarnation of the Living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible, uniquely and fully inspired by the Holy Spirit, is the supreme and final authority on all matters on which it speaks. On this sure foundation we affirm these essentials:

God - We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible (Nicene) who is eternally in perfect unity with the Son and the Holy Spirit, three in one, the Holy Trinity.

Jesus Christ - We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, of the same essence as the Father; by whom all things were made (Nicene, Jn 1:1-3, 14, Col 1:19-20, Heb 1:3, Phil 2:6, Jn 10:30, Jn 5:26). Of Him, one cannot say that “There was a time when He was not;” or that “He was not before He was made;” or that “He was made out of nothing,” or that “He is of another substance than the Father,” or “another essence than the Father,” or that “The Son of God is created,” or “changeable,” or “alterable” (Nicene).

The Holy Spirit - We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son (Jn 14:26, Jn 15:26), who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets (Nicene) bringing about the Scriptures. Who in all that He does, glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ (Jn 16:14). He convicts the world of its guilt (Jn 16:8). He regenerates sinners, and in Him they are baptized into union with Christ and adopted as heirs in the family of God. He also indwells, illuminates, guides, and sanctifies believers for Christ-like living, and He equips and empowers believers for Christ-like service.

Work of Christ - We believe that Jesus Christ, who for us and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was God incarnate by the Holy Spirit and of the virgin Mary, and was made man, lived as fully God and fully man (Council of Chalcedon, 451); died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, was buried, was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of the Father, from where He reigns, and is bringing all things into subjection to His Lordship (Nicene, 1 Cor 15:3-4).

Return of Christ - We believe that Jesus shall come again, with glory, to judge the living and the dead, and to consummate His eternal Kingdom, which will have no end (Nicene/Constantinople, Acts 1:9-11, Rev 22:12, Mt 16:27, 2 Tim 4:1).

Church - We believe in one holy universal and apostolic Church. We believe that the true church comprises all who have been justified by God's grace through faith alone in Christ alone. They are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which He is the Head (Nicene, Col 1:18).

Bible - We believe that God has spoken in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, through the prophets and apostles. As the verbally inspired Word of God, the Bible is without error in the original writings, and the ultimate authority for Christian belief and practice. Therefore, it is to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises (2 Tim 3:16-17, 2 Pet 1:21).

Human Condition - We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His image, male and female (Gen 1:27), but when tempted by Satan, they sinned introducing sin and its consequences into this world (Gen 3). From that time on, all of humanity have been born into sin (Rom 5:12,18, Prov 22:15, Ps 51:5, Ps 58:3), sinners by nature and by choice, alienated from God, and under His judgment (Eph 2:3). Only through God’s saving work in Jesus Christ can we be rescued, reconciled, and renewed.

We are commonly asked what we believe about Gender and Sexuality. For more on this, click here.

Salvation - We believe that we must be saved, can only be saved by Jesus Christ, cannot be saved by any other name (Acts 4:12), and that we receive salvation by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ through God’s grace alone (Eph 2:8-9). True faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior will result in obedience to Him and His commandments (1 Cor 6:9-11), including the command for baptism (Acts 2:38); however, it is not the obedience that saves, but faith alone that saves (Eph 2:8-9). Obedience is the result of genuine faith in Him as Lord (Jm 2:14).

Christian Living and Mission - We believe that all who are in Christ are purposed to fulfill Christ’s command to make disciples of all nations, baptizing people into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey all that He commands (Mt 28:16-20). Those commands are summarized then in the Great Commandments: first, to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and second, to love our neighbors as ourselves. The Great Commandments are not a replacement of all the other commandments, but a summary of them, stating that all of the commandments exist to show us what loving God and loving people looks like (Mk 12:30-31).

Last Things - We believe that Jesus will return to earth personally and bodily at a time known only to God (Mt 24:36-37). We believe in the Great White Throne Judgment that God will raise the dead bodily and judge the world, assigning the unbeliever to condemnation and eternal conscious punishment and the believer to eternal blessedness and joy with the Lord in the new heaven and the new earth, to the praise of His glorious grace. Amen (Rev 20:11-15). We believe in the Judgment Seat of Christ, that all believers will stand before Christ and be judged and rewarded according to what was done while in the body (2 Cor 5:10).

DISTINCTIVES

When it comes to the essentials of the faith, we stand in unity with all churches who believe the essential doctrines of Christianity. And yet, we acknowledge that unity within this particular house called Revolution Church is best nurtured by a clear description of our beliefs around particularly contested beliefs:

God is on the throne above and at work here and now. Here are some of our beliefs about the ways He is at work here and now:

All-All - When we look back to our roots in the early church, we see a body of believers committed to both worship and prayer, Word and Spirit. We recognize that today it’s rare to find all four prioritized in one house; and yet, we feel called to return to our roots as a house not only of worship and prayer, Word and Spirit, but a house of ALL worship and ALL prayer, ALL Word and ALL Spirit. We recognize that with a little of each of these, we could slip into the stream of casual Christianity. We recognize that with a significant portion of each of these, we could fit into the stream of challenging Christianity. However, we believe the biblical model is ALL-ALL. We believe that true Christianity is not one that caters to culture, nor one that exists to compliment our lives, and that it does more than challenge us. We believe that Christianity is costly; and yet, this exchange is worth it: laying down our life — obeying Him fully, giving ALL — for the One who gave all, receiving His life in place of ours.

Holy Spirit - We believe that the normal work of the Spirit in our lives is undoubtedly supernatural, but can be supernaturally natural - most of the time. In other words, to the extent it depends on us, we exercise control in such a way that maintains order (1 Cor 14:40) and is not a turnoff to the unbeliever in our midst (1 Cor 14:23). Simultaneously, signs, wonders, and miracles are a normal part of what God uses to testify concerning Himself (Acts 2:22, Acts 14:3, Rom 15:19, 1 Cor 14:24), and there are times when the Spirit moves so powerfully that all sense of “normal” goes out the window. Should God choose to offend our sensibilities with a great wind, tongues of fire (Acts 2), or a shaking the building (Acts 4:31) -- or any other way -- we will not quench the Spirit (1 Thess 5:19), nor try to control the Spirit, but will bow down to what the Spirit is doing. Ultimately, the leadership of the church has the task of discerning what is of God and what is of the flesh, and we will do our best discerning but ask for grace knowing that we will sometimes get it wrong.

God Speaks - We believe that God never changes, and the same who God who spoke throughout Scripture speaks today. We do not believe God’s speaking is relegated to the few with prophetic grace flowing through their lives either, but that all of us can and should learn to discern God’s voice and be led by His Spirit.

Prophecy - We believe that the New Testament grace of prophecy is alive and well today and should be safeguarded by following biblical guidelines. Every word given should be submitted humbly, and every word passed along should be tested first by the Word and second in prayer. We long for this gift to flourish and not be abused in the church today. We have specific guidelines in place for how that can take place.

Miracles - The New Testament word that we translate “miracles” is actually “acts of power.” We believe God is power and that He does out of who He is. We are not intellectually offended by these supernatural acts of power but anticipate that He will act in our lives and world accordingly, as that is who He is.

Good Works - We believe that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, not by anything that we have done or could do. We also believe that we who are saved will stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ to be judged according to the deeds done while in the body (2 Cor 5:10). We believe that we are saved by grace and then given grace to live the words of scripture, not merely learn them.

Eternal Rewards - We believe that the New Testament clearly teaches, and that we should be motivated by, eternal rewards. There are so many unmotivated believers today, who see no cause for sacrifice, not realizing that everything done for His glory here will be rewarded in such a way we can give Him glory for all of eternity (Jer 17:10, Mt 5:12, Mt 16:27, Lk 12:33-34, 1 Cor 3:8, 1 Cor 3:12-14, 2 Tim 4:8, 1 Pet 5:4, Rev 2:10, Rev 22:12). In all forms of rewards, the purpose fits the picture of crowns that can be cast down for all of eternity, meaning they are not given to stand us up or out amongst others, but given for the purpose of glorifying Him in heaven.

Women in the Church - We hold to the belief that the New Testament teachings about women’s dress and role in the church were culturally conditioned requirements to preserve unity, peace, and the values of honor and submission for how they were interpreted in that day. These practices were contentious (1 Cor 11:16) in that time. These practices were disgraceful (1 Cor 14:35) in that day. These practices were encountered by culture as lacking honor to one’s husband (1 Tim 2:11-12) in that day and therefore, dishonored husbands, hurt the witness and increased unnecessary opposition in that day (Titus 2:3-8). We do not believe that women teaching, preaching or leading within our cultural context of the church hurts our witness, but rather, that it helps our witness. We affirm biblical headship and honor in marriage but celebrate that social classes which existed then are increasingly eradicated in the way of Christ as Galatians 3:28 says: “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Revival - Revival is a mass acceleration of the Kingdom of God, where Jesus does, in a greatly increased manner, what He does every day and has for 2,000 years. In seasons of revival, the lost are swept into the household of faith, and believers are renewed and empowered.

Leadership of the Church - Jesus Christ is the Head of His church. Every church belongs to Him, and He has appointed spiritual graces/gifts for the oversight and equipping of the church including apostleship, prophecy, evangelism, shepherding, and teaching (Eph 4:11).