Statement of Faith
Newell Christian Fellowship is an independent church body dedicated to sharing the Truth of God and His Word, the Bible.
THE HOLY SCRIPTURES
We believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments were given by inspiration of God through the Holy Spirit, and are inerrant, infallible, and the final authority for faith and life. All Scripture reveals the character and will of God, pointing full to the Lord Jesus Christ.
(Romans 15:4; 1 Corinthians 2:1-16; Hebrews 4:12; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; 2 Peter 1:16-21)
GOD
We believe in One living and true God who is infinite, unchanging, all-knowing (omniscient), all-powerful (omnipotent), ever-present (omnipresent), and holy. He is perfect in all His attributes, and eternally exists as revealed in Scripture consisting of three Persons (The Trinity) – The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit – who although distinct in person are the same in substance, equal in power and glory, and equally deserving of worship and obedience.
(Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 45:5-7; Matthew 28:19; 1 Corinthians 8:4; 2 Corinthians 13:14)
God the Father, the first person of the Trinity, orders all things according to His will and purposes. He is the sovereign ruler over all creation and directs all things for the purpose of His own glory. He is the perfect standard of existence, and as such must condemn and carry out His divine justice upon sin. To fulfill His justice, and express His great love for His creation, He provided the Son (Jesus Christ) as the means of salvation.
(Genesis 1; Psalm 139, 145; Isaiah 40; Matthew 6:9-15; 1 Corinthians 8:6; James 1:17)
God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, took upon Himself the form and likeness of man being fully man while never ceasing to be fully God. He was born of the virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, was crucified and buried, rose on the third day, and ascended into heaven where He sits at the right hand of the Father until the day of His return. He serves as the High Priest and Mediator for all those who trust in Him.
(Isaiah 7:14; John 1:1-18, 14:6, 17:1-26; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; Hebrews 1:1-3, 4:14-16)
God the Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, is one with the Father and the Son. He was sent after the ascension of Jesus to dwell in Believers at the moment of salvation to provide new life in the righteousness of Jesus. The work of the Holy Spirit is to instruct and lead each Believer in forsaking sin and living in righteousness, and to provide various spiritual gifts to the church for building up the saints and reaching the lost. He is the seal and guarantee of our Redemption in Jesus until the day of His return.
(John 14:16-17, 16:7-15; Acts 1:8; Romans 8; 1 Corinthians 12; Galatians 5; Ephesians 1)
MAN
We believe God created the earth from nothing, by the power of His Word, in six literal days as stated in Genesis chapter 1. After making all other creatures, God formed man in His own image and likeness. Man was created free from sin to know and glorify God. The first man Adam disobeyed God along with His wife Eve and brought condemnation and the curse of sin upon all mankind. Because of sin every person is morally corrupt, deserving of eternal condemnation under God’s standard, and utterly unable to save themselves or gain right standing with God on their own.
(Genesis 1:1-3:24; Psalm 14:1-3; Isaiah 43:7; Romans 3:10-28; Ephesians 2:1-10)
SALVATION
Because all have sinned, atonement must be made for mankind to be reconciled to God. Jesus provided that atonement by his death on the cross as the substitution and payment for those who would trust in Him. His righteousness is credited to and placed upon all Believers, providing for us new life in this world and eternal life in the world to come through the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. (John 3:1-21; Romans 5:1-6:23; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 3:13-14; Ephesians 1:1-14; 1 Peter 3:18; 1 John 1-5)
We believe that all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God’s power and are secure in Christ forever. We believe it is the privilege of Believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God’s Word, which clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as an occasion for living in sin. Christians are to be separate from sin and the ways of the world to reflect the holiness and righteousness of Jesus.
(John 6:35-40, 10:25-30; Romans 8:1-39; 1 Corinthians 1:4-9; 1 Peter 1:3-12)
We believe the hope of salvation includes the promise of Jesus that He is preparing a place for the Redeemed and will one day return to unite them with Him for all eternity. The eternal Kingdom of Jesus will consist of a new heaven and earth as described in the Book of Revelation where all things will be free from the curse of sin and subject to Him!
(John 14:1-4; 1 Corinthians 15:50-58; Philippians 3:20-21; Titus 2:11-15; Revelation 21)
THE CHURCH
We believe all those who place their trust in Jesus are united by the Holy Spirit as a spiritual body, the church. The Bible describes the church as the Body of Christ and the Bride of Christ beginning at Pentecost and completed at the coming of Christ for His own at the Rapture. As the Church, all Believers are divinely called to be ambassadors and witnesses bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world.
(Matthew 16:13-19; 1 Corinthians 12:12-31; 2 Corinthians 5; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18)
We believe the Christian life is a holy calling to be set apart from the world, not walking in the ways of the flesh but living in the righteousness of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. The righteousness of Jesus is most fully demonstrated by the unity and love Believers have for one another reflecting the character of Christ. This love and unity are not to include the world through compromise but are to demonstrate the purity and holiness of Jesus to the world so they too might come to salvation in Him.
(Ephesians 4:1-32; Philippians 2:1-18; Colossians 2:6-15; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12)
We believe the Holy Spirit equips the Saints to strengthen one another and grow in the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. By the work of the Spirit, God appoints to leadership qualified elders to oversee and shepherd the Church. He appoints to each Believer various gifts for their participation in the health and mission of the Body of Christ. He provides authority for discipline and conflict resolution leading to Christian Unity. He designates the order and function of the Body demonstrated in proper worship.
(Acts 2:42-47; Romans 12:1-21; 1 Corinthians 12:1-11; Titus 2; Peter 4:1-5:5)
We believe true worship consists of glorifying God by bringing the Christian life into submission and obedience to Him. The great enemy of the Redeemed, Satan, seeks to hinder this process by temptation and deception; and must be resisted in the full authority and power of the Holy Spirit. True worship leads to obedience as Believers spend time together studying Scripture, praying fervently, and sharing in growth through fellowship. The unity and commitment of the body is demonstrated in the ordinances of Baptism and Communion as symbols of unity and commitment with Jesus.
(Romans 6:1-14; 1 Corinthians 11:28-32; Ephesians 5:1-21; 1 Peter 5:6-11)
We believe God has established the positions of elders and shepherds to be filled by godly men who are qualified to lead within the church. They are to guard the doctrinal soundness and spiritual health of the Body of Christ through proper instruction in God’s word and mitigating conflict through church discipline where necessary. Men and women have been created as spiritual equals in the image of God and have been given distinct roles within the family and the Church to complement one another for His glory.
(1 Corinthians 11:1-16; Galatians 3:28-29; 1 Thessalonians 5:12-28; 1 Timothy 2:8-3:13;
2 Timothy 2:1-26, 4:1-5; Titus 1:5-9, 2:1-15; Hebrews 13:17; 1 Peter 3:1-7, 5:1-5)
We believe God desires for conflict among Christians to be resolved within the church not through civil lawsuits which lead to malice and slander within the body. God has provided the Church with all the resources and wisdom necessary to settle grievances in accordance with Scripture and the character of the Lord Jesus. The teachings of Jesus in the book of Matthew provide God’s standards in dealing with church conflict.
(Matthew 5-6, 18:15-20; 1 Corinthians 6:1-11; Ephesians 4:17-32)
CIVIL RELATIONSHIPS
We believe the followers of Jesus are to live in the world without being of the character and mindset of the world. Rather, they are to demonstrate the character of Christ, and the sanctification of the Holy Spirit in their relationships both with other Believers and with the rest of the world. In the current cultural climate of the world several points of Christian relationships must be understood and submitted to Biblically.
(Matthew 5:13-20; John 17:1-26; Acts 5:17-42; Romans 12:9-21; 1 Peter 3:8-22)
Civil Government has been instituted and is appointed by God for the purpose of maintaining righteous order by punishing those who do evil. Christians are commanded to be subject to the governing authorities in civil obedience, paying of taxes, showing respect, and giving honor to whom they are owed; except where obedience to those authorities would result in direct disobedience to God as revealed in Scripture.
(Matthew 17:24-27, 22:15-22; Mark 12:17; Romans 13:1-5; 1 Peter 2:13-25)
The Family was ordained by God to Adam and Eve in the covenant of marriage before the fall of mankind into sin. This covenant is a solemn relationship before God between one man and one woman for a lifetime for the purposes of companionship and procreation. God’s design is not to be sullied by the sins of pornography, adultery, incest, homosexuality, transgenderism, fornication, or any other form of sexual perversion as described in Scripture or imagined by mankind. Rather, the marriage relationship is to be guarded faithfully with the husband and wife devoting themselves to one another and fulfilling their God-given roles wherein the husband gives his life sacrificially to lead his wife, and the wife willingly submits to her husband’s leadership in Christ Jesus. Divorce is a violation of God’s sovereign plan and should only be considered an option in situations of sexual infidelity, abandonment, and physical or mental abuse.
(Genesis 2:18-25; Leviticus 18; Matthew 5:31-32; Mark 10:1-12; 1 Corinthians 5-7;
Ephesians 5-6:4; Colossians 3:18-20; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8; Hebrews 13:4; 1 Peter 3:1-7)
Children are a gift from the Lord and are to be valued as such. Therefore, we believe life begins at conception and continues until natural death, rendering abortion and other forms of murder grievous sins before God. Parents are responsible for protecting, educating, disciplining, and leading their children by first being examples of Christ-like living. Children are to honor their fathers and mothers in the Lord through obedience in the years of youth and proper care and respect in adulthood when their parents are old.
(Exodus 20:12-13, 23:7; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Psalm 127 & 139; Proverbs 13:24, 22:6)
According to these principles within Scripture, we hold the current “social doctrines” of “Intersectionality”, “Critical Race Theory”, “Social Justice”, “Feminism”, “Inequality”, “Deconstructionism”, and any other belief system which seeks to change or redefine the principles found in Scripture are extremely dangerous to the health of the Church and must be adamantly rejected and opposed by the members of the Body of Christ.
(Romans 1:16-17, 16:17-19; Galatians 1:6-10; 1 Timothy 6:3-7; Hebrews 13:9)