Beliefs

Our God is a God who speaks, revealing himself to us through his word. As a Christian church, our beliefs about God (our theology) are shaped by the Word of God (the Bible). And we believe the whole Bible points to and testifies of the person and work of Jesus. The Bible is our final and only reliable source of divine revelation concerning Jesus. And we root all of our belief and practice in the words of the Bible.

We also believe the church to be a “pillar and buttress of the truth” (1 Tim 3:15). The church of Christ is charged with guarding, preserving, and proclaiming the truth. And for nearly 2000 years Christ’s church has defended and clarified the truth claims of the Bible through doctrine and creed. Hope City Church joins the mighty chorus of God’s people, preserved by God through the ages, charged with keeping the faith that has been once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 1:3).

We are deeply committed to the authority of scripture for our faith and practice. And at the same time we believe fidelity to the way of Jesus involves doctrinal generosity and grace towards our brothers and sisters in Christ. In other words we are not doctrinal sectarians. This means you don't have to have a seminary degree to be a member of our church family. Everyone at our church family does not have to agree on every finer point of biblical doctrine. We do not want to make the error of fencing our fellowship tighter than Jesus fences entrance into the Kingdom of God. Therefore, in an effort to foster a culture of unity, our church holds to an essential, historically rooted, confession of faith as our membership statement of faith. In other words to be a member of our church this is what you have to believe. 

 The mystery and wonder
of God made flesh
        and rejoice in our great salvation 

With the Father and the Holy Spirit
The Son created all things,
Sustains all things
and makes all things new.

Truly God,
He became truly man,
two natures in one person.

He was born of the Virgin Mary
and lived among us.
Crucified, dead, and buried,
He rose on the third day,
ascended to heaven,
and will come again
in glory and judgment.

For us,
He kept the Law,
atoned for sin
and satisfied God’s wrath.
He took our filthy rags
and gave us
His righteous robe.

He is our Prophet, Priest, and King,
building His church,
interceding for us,
and reigning over all things.

Jesus Christ is Lord;
we praise His holy Name forever.
Amen

(Ligonier Christology Statement)

And while our membership is not required to agree on all points of Christian doctrine, we are not theological minimalist, settling for the doctrinal bare minimum. We strive to be lifelong learners of God's Word. We are committed to loving the Lord Jesus with our whole minds (Mt 22:37). Therefore our pastoral team is committed to a theological maximalist approach, seeking to teach the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27). This is why our pastors commit to a more robust statement of faith. The content of this doctrinal statement could be summarized generally as 'reformed baptist.'

You can read that statement of faith here.