What We Believe

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Our Purpose Statement

We want to be passionate about God, each other and the lost. Our passions are expressed by the following strategies:

• Exalting God's presence (worship)
• Expressing God's Love (ministry)
• Enfolding God's family (fellowship)
• Edifying God's people (discipleship)
• Evangelizing God's world (evangelism, church planting & world missions)
• Expecting God to pour His Spirit out (in our services, home groups, prayer meetings, households and on the street)
• Praying God's heart for every matter under the sun (for intercession, deliverance, warfare, appealing, mercy, needs etc.)
• Hunger for God's Word (reading, studying, meditating, memorizing, being doers of the Word)

Our Priority Statement

To make the main thing the main thing. What is the main thing? The apostle Paul makes it unmistakably clear. It is the good news! What is the good news? In a nutshell it is found in the words written by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 which says, "For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures."

What we focus on at Chapel on the Vine

Priorities dictate that we have a focus. Focus describes how we spend our time, energy and money. Priorities that have focus are the things we do regularly. Priorities grow out of the things we value and believe in.

The basis of our priorities

Two times, Paul points to the priority (or what is of "first importance" as being connected to the Holy Scripture). Notice the I Corinthians 15:3-4 passage twice mentions the phrase "according to the Scriptures." The Bible is the Word of God and is the standard for all we do at Chapel on the Vine. In other words, nothing we do should ever be opposed to the Bible's teaching. We aim to do all that the Bible teaches.

Our Vision & Mission Statements

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• Vision Statement: To be a Biblical, relevant and fruitful church
• Mission: We desire to be a church that is passionate about the greatest commandments (Mark 12:28-31) and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20), believing those passions will produce a maturing church made up of maturing followers of Jesus Christ.

Vision is a clear picture of what we see the church being or doing. Vision is the product of God working in us. He creates the vision and we receive it, thus it becomes our mission. It becomes our rallying point, a goal toward which we move as His people. Vision comes to us as a deep dissatisfaction with what is and a clear grasp of what could be. These are some of the things God has worked into our hearts and is stretching us to become molded into these values:

Our Values Statements

1. A church in which people profoundly encounter the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the teaching and worship.
2. A church in which individuals are connected to each other through a small group.
3. A church which holds a balance in Word and Spirit.
4. A church which passes on the faith from generation to generation.
5. A church which is characterized by individual and corporate prayer.
6. A church where Biblical principles are so clearly and reasonably articulated, they make sense to a thinking follower of Christ, as well as to the unchurched person.
7. A church where the power of God is present to heal people.
8. A church where ministry is done by every member, not just the pastor.
9. A church which cares about and actually does something for the poor and the needy.
10. A church which doesn't simply grow by adding other churches' members, but actually brings many people from darkness to light.
11. A church where people can easily take off religious masks and find real fellowship at the foot of the cross.
12. A church which provides people with training both for ministry and for life.
13. A church which loves and devotes a large share of its time, energy, and money to serve the needs of children.
14. A church which is large enough and strong enough to impact the community
15. A church that engages in foreign missionary activity
16. A church where every endeavor is marked by excellence, integrity and love.
17. A church that is careful and thoughtful about not using "culture arguments" as arguments which challenge to change the historic reading and interpretation of Scripture (i.e. living together outside of wedlock, pre-marital sexual relationships, co-habitation, homosexual practice, same-sex marriage, abortion and embryonic stem cell usages' (destroying embryos), the issue of disregarding gender roles (unbiblical feminism or egalitarianism) or over emphasizing environmentalism to the tune of nature worship etc. This is not to say that we should not be involved in being responsible for the earth, and loving people in the secularized society by thoughtfully engaging and exercising patience, persuasion and love.
18. We are committed to being known as an orthodox, conservative empowered evangelical church desiring to do all the Bible instructs us and to focus on what is primary and that is preaching the gospel (in word and deed) of Jesus Christ-I Corinthians 15:3-4. We are committed to not quench the Holy Spirit to do what He wills at public services; but will do so with a Biblical order, wisdom and sensitivity as we are open to ALL the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We are committed to embracing all that the Scripture teaches. We desire to be Spirit-led, with the Word of God authorizing everything we do in the church. We do not want to be one-dimensional, but multi-dimensional. We are NOT the green church, the blue state church, the red letter church, the emergent church, the social justice church or the progressive church (a new palatable term for theological-liberal).

Categorizing Statements

Chapel on the Vine stands firmly in the center of orthodox Christian teaching. Out of loyalty to Christ and to the gospel, we have come to a number of convictions concerning the clear teaching of the Bible (salvation by grace alone, the Divinity of Jesus Christ, the Trinity, the sacrificial death of Christ-the atonement, the importance of operating in the realm of healthy Kingdom theology-that the Kingdom of God has come, yet not in its fullness (the already but not yet), the inerrancy, infallibility and integrity of Scripture, the importance of the proclamation of the gospel, the forgiveness of sins, the 2nd coming of Christ, marriage between one man and one woman, pro-life, etc.). At the same time, we have not included in our statement of faith much that can be legitimately debated by orthodox Christians (eschatology, modes of baptism, frequency of the Lord's Supper, genre of music, etc.). In other words, we do have boundaries (i.e. we strongly reject doctrines of cessationism, modalism (anti-Trinitarian teaching), baptismal salvation and positive-confession/health and wealth doctrine theologies), but our boundaries are broad and inclusive. On the spectrum of Christian churches:

* We are orthodox. Latin Lesson: ortho=correct doxy=opinion----------correct doctrine
* God as Creator of all things
* God is a Trinity
* Jesus born of a virgin
* Jesus lived a sinless life
* Jesus performed miracles
* Jesus is God
* Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate
* Jesus was crucified, died and was buried
* Jesus was resurrected
* Jesus ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father
* Jesus will come again to judge the living and the dead
* We are evangelical:

Evangelicals have held to these important tenants: Scripture, the Trinity, depravity of man, mediation of Jesus Christ, justification by faith, conversion and sanctification by the Holy Spirit, resurrection of Jesus Christ, ministry of the Word, and the sacraments (baptism and communion); A more concise view would be that "evangelical" is an adjective describing believers from Christian traditions who love the Scriptures, have a personal faith in Jesus Christ and believe in evangelism. The other distinctive about evangelicals is their view on the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We do not teach a subsequent experience (evangelicals have always held the view that followers of Jesus are "baptized" into the Spirit upon conversion). What happens after that is hopefully multiple "fillings" (Ephesians 5:18) which can include receiving the "gift" of tongues -- we would call that being "filled" not "baptism in the Spirit". A filling can include an emotional response to God, falling down or some other physiological manifestation, overcoming an area of difficulty or sin in life, the activity of speaking 'glossolalia' (and unknown language) or some other "sign gift" (healing, prophecy, etc.); we desire and ask for these multiple "fillings" continually. The short form explanation of an evangelical is three-fold:

1. A belief in "solo scriptura" --the Scripture alone--Martin Luther held firm to this. In this proclamation is the stance that Scripture trumps any other document or man-made proclamation, rendering them inferior as it has to do with the church, salvation, spiritual issues, etc.
2. A belief in a "personal faith and relationship" with Jesus Christ.
3. A conviction that Christians must share (or evangelize) this message to the world.

* We are empowered evangelicals. We are neither deists nor cessationists; nor are we traditional charismatics or Pentecostals. We are categorized as "empowered evangelicals". A new term might be coined as, "expectationalists". We desire for God to move; but don't control Him and tell Him what to do. So we are sensitive and do not allow people to yell at God demanding Him, by their commanding tone, for Him to show up. He is God and will blow His Spirit (pneuma) when and where He desires. We simply ask and implore Him to come. We find ourselves wanting, asking, desiring and expecting. We have been challenged to pray for; hope for and to some healthy extent, expect His move.

Our Statement of Faith

We confess our affirmation of the Apostle's, Nicene, and Chalcedonian Creeds, which we believe to reflect Christian orthodoxy and the clear teaching of Holy Scripture. In addition, as a member of Chapel on the Vine, we make the following confession of faith our own:

1. I believe in one living and true God, the Creator and Lord of the heavens and the earth. In the unity of the Godhead there are three persons, of one substance, equal in power and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
2. I believe that Jesus Christ is truly God and truly man, yet one Messiah, the only mediator between God and man. There is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.
3. I believe that Jesus Christ came down from heaven, was incarnated by the Holy Spirit and was born of the Virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life in perfect obedience to the Father, and was crucified for my sins. He suffered, died, and was buried, and He rose bodily from the dead on the third day. As the God-man, Jesus Christ ascended into heaven and now sits at the right hand of God the Father, interceding for His people. At His first coming, Jesus inaugurated the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God.
4. I believe in the Holy Spirit, who came forth from the Father and Son to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and to regenerate, sanctify and empower for ministry every believer in Jesus Christ. He is an abiding Helper, Teacher and Guide. I believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit and in the exercise of all the Biblical gifts of the Spirit.
5. I believe that I, along with all men and women, am a sinner by nature and choice and was under condemnation. I am now accounted righteous before God only by the merit of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, through faith in Him alone, and not by my own works or deserving.
6. I believe that I have been born again by the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. This same Holy Spirit now lives in me, producing faith, holiness, love and power.
7. I believe in the divine inspiration, truthfulness and authority of both the Old and New Testament Scriptures in their entirety, without error, in all that they affirm, and as the only infallible rule for my faith and practice.
8. I believe that the church is intended by God to be a worshiping community of believers, observing the ordinances of Christ, governed by His law, exercising the gifts, privileges and discipline invested in the church by His Word and His Holy Spirit, and seeking to extend the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth.
9. I believe Christ committed two ordinances to the church: water baptism and the Lord's Supper. I believe water baptism is available to all Christian believers following a clear profession of Christian faith. I believe that the Lord's Supper is open to all believers. Through the working of the Holy Spirit, the Lord's Supper nourishes my soul. It brings to my remembrance the sacrifice of Christ for my sins, my communion with Christ and the church and my obligation to persevere in faith and holiness to the end of my life.
10. I believe in the personal, visible, appearing of Christ to earth and the consummation of His Kingdom; I believe that the current manifestation of the Kingdom of God is not in its fullness, yet has come and exhibits itself as God wills and clashes with the Satanic Kingdom which will be overthrown, judged and destroyed; I believe in the resurrection of the body, the final judgment and eternal blessing of the righteous and the endless suffering of the wicked.