What We Believe

We believe the Bible to be the verbally inspired Word of God, without error in the original writings, and the supreme and final authority in doctrine and practice.
(2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:21; John 17:17)

We believe there is one God. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are each God and the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are each a distinct person.
(Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 28:19-20; 2 Corinthians 13:14; see also 1 Corinthians 8:6; Colossians 2:9; Acts 5:3-4)

We believe the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man, without ceasing to be God. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, in order that He might reveal God, fulfill prophecy, and redeem sinful man. We believe He accomplished our redemption through His substitutionary sacrifice on the cross, His burial, and His bodily resurrection. We believe our redemption and salvation are guaranteed by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead and He is the only means of salvation.
(John 1:1; 14; 18; Luke 1:35; Romans 3:24-26; 4:25; John 14:6; Acts 4:12; Philippians 2:5-8; 1 Timothy 2:5)

We believe Jesus Christ is the visible image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, the Creator and Sustainer of heaven and earth, and the Head of the church. We believe the Lord Jesus Christ is now in heaven, exalted to the right hand of God where, as High Priest to His people, He serves as our Advocate and intercedes for us.
(Colossians 1:15-19; Hebrews 1:3; 3:1; 7:23-25; 1 John 2:1-2)

 We believe God the Holy Spirit is a person who restrains evil in the world and convicts men of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He dwells in all who believe in Jesus. From the moment of belief in the Son, the Spirit baptizes believers into the body, seals them for salvation, regenerates them to new life, bestows spiritual gifts on each one, and is fully present to continually fill (control and guide) His own.
(John 16:7-11; John 3:8; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, 13; John 14:16-17; Ephesians 4:30, 5:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:19)

We believe man was created innocent and in the image and likeness of God, but man sinned, bringing both physical and spiritual death to himself and his posterity.
(Genesis 1:27, 2:17, 3:19) 

Man can do nothing to merit God’s favor and as such is in need of salvation.  (Isaiah 59:1-2; Romans 6:23)  We believe mankind’s sinful nature is rebellious toward God, and His good design for life and worship.  (Romans 1:20-24; Ephesians 2:1-3) Mankind’s rebellion causes confusion about good and evil, and harm to people ultimately ending in judgment, despair and death. (Genesis 1:31; Galatians 5:16-21; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; James 1:13-15)

We believe God created mankind in His image, forming each person in the womb from conception (Psalm 139:13-16; Isaiah 44:2, 49:5; Jeremiah 1:4-5) until the point of death when they breathe their last; (Genesis 25:8; Luke 23:46) and assigning gender to His people, male (man) and female (woman), as He created them sexually and biologically different, but with equal personal dignity and value. I believe God created all ethnicities in His image. His Church will worship in eternity as a great multitude representing every nation, tribe, people, and language.
(Genesis 1:26-28; Revelation 7:9)

We believe God ordained marriage as a lifelong union between one man and one woman (Genesis 2:18; Matthew 19:4-9; Ephesians 5:31-33). Those who accept and live within God’s design for sex, biological gender and marriage experience the blessing of His good design (Psalm 1:1-3, 128:1-4), and decisions to change, alter or modify God’s will in marriage, sex or gender are part of man’s brokenness and lead to despair.
(Romans 1:21-22; James 1:13-15)

We believe God loves and pursues mankind despite our rebellion (Romans 5:8). He offers forgiveness, healing and abundant life to anyone who turns to Him in humility.
(John 3:17, 10:10; Titus 3:3-7; 1 Peter 5:6-7)

We believe salvation is a gift of God and is received by man through personal faith in Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for sin. We believe man is justified by grace through faith apart from works. (Acts 13:38-39; Romans 6:23; Ephesians 1:4-5 & 2:8-10)  We believe Jesus Christ is the only means of salvation and no one is saved apart from a conscious and personal decision to trust in Christ as his or her one and only Savior. (John 14:6; Acts 4:12; Romans 10:9-10) We believe all true believers chosen by God, once saved, are kept secure in Christ forever.
(Romans 8:1, 29-30, 38-39; John 10:27-30)

We believe in the future, visible, and bodily return of Jesus Christ to the earth, commonly called the Second Coming, to rule the nations and establish His kingdom on earth.
(Philippians 3:20; Matthew 24:15-31; Zechariah 14:4-11; Revelation 19:11-21)

In following Jesus’ teaching, Springs Community Church seeks to sanctify people in Truth, knowing that all Scripture is God’s Truth (John 17:17).  In following the orthodox church’s historical stance over the past centuries, we utilize a tiered approach to matters of doctrine. We discern doctrine across the levels of Salvation, Essentials, Convictions, and Opinions.
 
We believe the first-order doctrines pertaining to Salvation and Essentials are what unite the orthodox, Christian Church. If you deviate from them, you have left historic Christianity and deviated from the faith.
 
We believe the second-order doctrines pertain to Convictions. We hold Convictions to be areas where we think Scripture speaks clearly and firmly, but we recognize Bible-believing Christians can disagree on these topics (resulting in various denominations).
 
Finally, we believe third-order doctrines of Opinions are issues where Christians can disagree yet still maintain close fellowship within a local church.
 
The early Church Father St. Augustine is attributed with saying, “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.” In continuing this spirit of rightly dividing the word of Truth, we seek to be firm where Scripture is firm and flexible where it is flexible (2 Timothy 2:15). Please see below

While the leadership of the Springs holds to the full doctrinal statement, we understand that there is room for differing interpretations in what we consider the “non-essentials” (convictions, opinions, etc.). We discern doctrine across the levels of Salvation, Essentials, Convictions, and Opinions. Therefore, it is possible to become a member of the Springs even though you may not agree with the full doctrinal statement.  Every member, however, is required to agree with the Springs' Member Statement of Faith outlined above.

Please see below a clear breakdown of our tiered, doctrinal approach.