DOCTRINAL STATEMENT
Members of Hope must affirm and believe the following ten core, historic beliefs.
THE BIBLE
We believe the Bible is absolutely true, authoritative and sufficient.
GOD
We believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit – each having the same nature, attributes and perfections and worthy of precisely the same worship and obedience.
GOD THE FATHER
We believe in one God, eternally existing in three persons – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit – each having the same nature, attributes, and perfections and worthy of precisely the same worship and obedience.
JESUS CHRIST
We believe Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, and is both fully God and fully human. He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, rose physically from the dead, ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father.
THE HOLY SPIRIT
We believe that the Holy Spirit, in all that He does, glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He convicts the world of its guilt. 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, equips and empowers believers for Christ-like service.
THE HUMAN CONDITION
We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His image but they sinned. In Adam all human beings, excepting Jesus Christ, are sinners by nature and by choice, alienated from God and under His wrath.
THE WORK OF CHRIST
We believe that Jesus Christ died as the perfect, all-sufficient substitute for our sins. His atoning death and victorious resurrection constitute the only ground for forgiveness from sin.
THE CHURCH
We believe the true church comprises all who have been justified by God’s grace through faith alone in Christ alone. (The church started in Acts 2.) The true church is manifest in local churches. The Lord Jesus mandated two ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, that visibly and tangibly manifest the gospel.
CHRIST’S RETURN
We believe in the personal, bodily return of the Lord Jesus Christ. The coming of Christ, at a time known only to God, motivates the believer to godly living, sacrificial service, and energetic mission.
ETERNAL DESTINY
We believe that God commands everyone everywhere to repent and believe the gospel of Jesus Christ. We believe that God will raise the dead bodily and judge the world, assigning unbelievers to condemnation and eternal conscious punishment and believers to eternal blessedness and joy with the Lord in the new heaven and the new earth.