Proposed Statement of Faith Article 7

We believe that the true church began at Pentecost and is made up of persons from every nation, tribe, people, and language who have been made right with God by his grace through faith alone in Christ alone. These members of God the Father's eternal family are reconciled to one another and united by the Holy Spirit in the Body of Christ, of which Jesus Christ is the head. The true church is manifest in local churches. The Lord Jesus mandated baptism and the Lord's Supper, which visibly and tangibly express the gospel. Though they are not the means of salvation, when celebrated by the Church in genuine faith, these practices confirm and nourish the believer.

God's gospel is now embodied in the new community called "the church."

Poet and novelist Wendell Berry has become quite popular among graduate students in the early 21st century. In many of his writings, he addresses the problem of people's feeling alienated from one another. Berry believes that the only hope for healing the brokenness in our world is the forming of rural communities of people committed to their families, to one another, and to the environment in which they live. He wrote, "I know that one revived rural community would be more convincing and more encouraging than all the government and university programs of the last fifty years, and I think it would be the beginning of the renewal of our country, for the renewal of rural communities ultimately implies the renewal of urban ones."

I believe that Berry is only partially right. God's hope for our brokenness is in Christ-centered, worshiping, and interdependent communities (rural, suburban, or urban) living in the light of the gospel wherever God has situated them. The real need is for the church of Jesus Christ to be the kind of community that the Bible declares she is.

From the beginning, when God declared that it was not good for human beings to be alone (Gen. 2:18), the divine design for human life has included healthy relationships. We are created to live life in communities that in some way reflect the community of love found within the Trinity. Sin has ruptured human relationships not only with God but also with human beings. The image of God in the world has been defaced.

But God in his grace has purposed to restore lives and redeem a people for himself. In Jesus Christ, God acted to rescue sinful human beings and reconcile us to himself. This work of Christ in his cross and resurrection is now applied to us by the Holy Spirit, who unites us with Christ. And in uniting us with Christ, the Spirit also creates a new community we call "the church." The church, as those saved by God's grace and united with other believers by God's Spirit, becomes the embodiment of the gospel in the world.

In his ministry of the gospel, Paul did not just make converts; he integrated those converts into church communities. And, according to Acts 1:8, the gospel message telling all people of their opportunity to be a part of God's new community is to be carried through witnesses to "the ends of the earth." This weekend we will remember that, when God has completed his mission, the church will be made up of persons from among every nation, tribe, people, and language who have been made right with God by His grace through faith alone in Christ alone (Rev. 5:9; Rev. 7:9).

To His glory,

Dr. Greg Waybright
Senior Pastor