What We Believe
The Church
We believe The Bible is our source for daily living and we seek to be led by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Jesus came to seek, give, serve, and glorify the Father. The teaching of the whole Bible, enables us not only to serve, but to glorify our Savior Jesus Christ. He is our head and we are the body. We are unified; we the people are the church!
The Bible
We believe the Bible is the true Word of God, written by men as they were moved by the Holy Spirit to do so.
We also believe the inspired Word of God to be our guide, is without error and is profitable for encouragement, correction, reproof, and instruction in righteousness for daily living [2 Tim 3:16-17; 2 Pet 1:20-21].
The Trinity
We believe in one true, eternal God existing in three distinct persons, each fully and equally God so called the Trinity [Matt 28:19; John 10:28-30; 2 Cor 13:14].
God the Father
We believe that God the Father is the first person of the Trinity and Father of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ, second person of the Trinity. Our Heavenly Father is eternal, all powerful, all knowing, just and true, all loving, and perfectly Holy. His hand holds the universe in its place [Gen 1:1; Eph 4:6; John 17:1-5; Isa 40:21-28; 43:10-13].
God the Son
We believe Jesus Christ is the second person of the Trinity, begotten of the Father, conceived by the Holy Spirit of God, born of the virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, and paid the price for sin for all mankind on the Cross at Calvary. Jesus fulfilled Old Testament prophecy as Savior of the world by the shedding of blood for the remission of sin for all who will believe. Dying and raising on the third day of His death, Jesus conquered death and physically ascended into Heaven in His glorified resurrected body. Jesus now sits at the right hand of the Father, ever interceding for those who believe. He will come again to rescue His Church of believers, dead and alive, coming in bodily form with those who have put trust in Him to execute judgement and usher in His Kingdom [John 1:1,14,18;3:16; Luke 1:30-35; Phil 2:5-8; Mark 10:45; Acts 2:22-24; Rom 3:25-26; John 20:20; Heb 1:3; Rom 8:34; 1 John 2:1; Acts 1:11; Heb 9:28; Rev 19:11-21].
God the Holy Spirit
We believe the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity came at Pentecost, glorifying Jesus Christ and enabling men to believe and be saved, through Jesus. The Holy Spirit imparts Spiritual Gifts to believers equipping them as The Body of Christ within the world and in accordance with the teachings of Scripture. The Holy Spirit directs, guides, teaches, comforts, convicts, as well as enables the believer to bear fruit, always bearing witness of Christ. Our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. “In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in Him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of His glory” [Eph 1:13-14;John 14:26].
Salvation
Salvation is a free gift of God. The death of Christ on the cross is the only sufficient payment for our sins. All have sinned, but all can be saved. This salvation is available for any who put their trust in Christ as Savior [Rom 3:23, 6:23; John 3:16]. Those trusting Christ should repent of sin, confess their faith, and be baptized [Rom 10:9; Acts 2:38].
Baptism
Baptism is an outward demonstration of obedience to Christ by one who has declared his faith to others.
Communion
Jesus established the Lord’s Supper shortly before His death. On the evening before the crucifixion while sharing Passover with his disciples, “Jesus took bread, gave thanks, and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, ‘Take and eat; this is my body.’ Then he took a cup, and gave thanks, and offered it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it all of you. This is the blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins’” [Matt 26:26-28].“Do this in remembrance of me” [Luke 22:19].
The Lord’s Supper is a time to remember the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. During this memorial remembrance, the bread symbolizes the body of Christ and the wine symbolizes the blood of Christ. When believers take the elements in an act of worship, gathering in His name, Christ’s presence is among them and felt [Matt 18].
At the Cross invites all who believe in Jesus and have accepted His gift of salvation to participate in receiving communion.
Christ’s Return
Christ will one day return and judge all people [2 Thess 1:8-10; 1 Thess 4:13-18]. Believers will be welcomed into God’s presence in Heaven. Unbelievers will be in Hell, separated from God’s presence.
At The Cross sincerely tries to follow the Bible and its teachings. However, our ability to logically figure everything out is not the basis for our acceptability before God. Our salvation is based on what God has done for us through Jesus Christ. What we must be right about is the fact that we cannot be right about everything and are therefore completely dependent on God’s graciousness and mercy.
Marriage and Sexuality
We believe that the Bible defines “marriage” as one man, one woman for life [Mark 10:6-9]. We further believe that intimate sexual activity is a sacred gift of God and intended to be celebrated only between a man and a woman who are married to each other [1 Cor 6:18; 7:2-5; Heb 13:4].
Our Beliefs
God’s story is a story of love and redemption. The story or message that most clearly shows this redemptive love is the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus [John 3:16]. Paul says this message is of “first importance” [1 Cor 15:3]. As God reveals His nature through the stories of the Bible, the following teachings emerge as central doctrines. These teachings form the core of our beliefs at At The Cross.
At The Cross [Non-Denominational]
At The Cross has the mission of not only teaching the Word of God, but teaching how to apply the Word for daily living, producing Faith in action [Ps 119:105; James 2:18; John 17:170]. At The Cross desires to minister to the needs of the people of the Church family as well as in the community, producing hope [Ps 78:7; 1 Pet 1:22; 3:15]. At The Cross understands the power of healing for the Soul and mind. Therefore, understanding Repentance, knowing Jesus as Savior and Lord, alongside a family of unified believers functioning together, is of the utmost importance.
We are the Body of Christ called to be Jesus in every neighborhood in our city and beyond.
What Do We Believe About the Gifts?
“Pursue love, yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts” [1 Cor 14:1].
The Holy Spirit empowers believers for Christian witness and service. The promise of the Father is freely available to all who believe in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit desires to continually fill each believer with power to witness, and imparts His supernatural gifts for the edification of the Body and the work of ministry in the world. All the gifts of the Holy Spirit at work in the first-century church are available today and should be earnestly desired and practiced. They are essential in the mission of the church in the world today.
There is much confusion today when it comes to the spiritual gifts, especially those typically called “sign gifts,” such as prophecy, healing and tongues. Theological convictions are diverse, but basically they fall along a single spectrum. On the one end of the spectrum is cessationism, which teaches that these sign gifts have ceased. On the other end is a form of hyper-charismaticism, which teaches the necessity of a second baptism or speaking in tongues for salvation, sanctification or Christian maturity. Neither of these extremes is biblical.
We must avoid the dangers of going to one extreme or the other when trying to discern our spiritual gifts. The first is a non-biblical restriction of the gifts – cessationism. The second is a non-biblical exaltation of the gifts – hyper-charismaticism.
The position that best avoids these dangers is continuationism as it teaches that the gifts continue. This is the view held and taught by the At The Cross Church Elders.
According to this position, the gifts of the Spirit are available today and are to be desired by God’s people, but we must be careful to practice them according to the Scriptures.
Restriction of the Gifts
Scripture nowhere states that the gifts have ceased. In fact, we have implicit evidence that they will continue until the future return of Christ. Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. “For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known [1 Corinthians 13:9-12].
When will the gifts cease? The gifts will discontinue when “the perfect comes” and we see “face to face” and “will know fully.” When is this? Cessationists teach that this refers to the advent of Scripture. With the canonization of the Bible, the gifts are no longer active.
Though a common interpretation in the Christian community, this view does not represent Paul’s thought. With the Scriptures, can we now say that we know fully and see face to face? It seems to be a much more convincing argument that the coming of the perfect refers to the return of the Son of God. As He has not returned, the gifts have not ceased
Walking in the Gifts
How therefore are we to live? The Scriptures say to pursue the gifts [1 Cor 12:31; 14:1, 39], exercise them in an orderly manner [1 Cor 14:40], and subject them to The Word [1 Cor 14:37]. As long as gifts are exercised in an orderly and humble manner, subject to the Scriptures, the context of the congregation and a spirit of love, we certainly encourage all members to pursue and practice them.
One of the best settings for the exercise of spiritual gifts is within the context of a group. To grow in an understanding and appreciation of the gifts, it is helpful to be walking in community with others who can grow together.
We encourage you to study more on this topic, especially the biblical passages we have included, and seek to serve one another in love. As you do so, constantly come back to the gospel. The gifts should continually push us back to the person and work of Jesus Christ. Where they do not do so, they are not functioning as they were intended.