Purpose
The purpose of Christ Community Fellowship is to glorify and exalt God as we make disciples of Jesus Christ according to His Word by edifying believers and evangelizing unbelievers.

A Disciple
A disciple is one who through God’s grace loves Jesus Christ and follows Him in obedience, prayer, and the Word. His spiritual life, character, joy, service, and witness flow out of a growing personal relationship with the Lord.

Guiding Principles and Values
Our philosophy of ministry includes a collection of values and approaches that gives foundation and framework to our work and mission. They include:

1. We desire to make prayer a vital part of all that we do. In this we acknowledge our total dependency upon God to direct and enable us.
2. We will devote ourselves to the study, teaching, and application of the Bible to our lives. We believe God’s Word to be the basis for all we believe and do. We will make it central in the preaching, small groups studies, counseling, and all teaching ministries of our church.
3. We will seek to train each believer in the spiritual disciplines that build and sustain a fruitful fellowship with Christ: prayer, Bible study, stewardship, service, witness, and worship.
4. We desire to invite every person to examine the message of Christ and make a personal faith-commitment to Him for spiritual rebirth. We will work to prepare and motivate our people to share the gospel through personal witness and a lifestyle of evangelism.
5. We determine that our most effective means of making disciples is in the context of a healthy, growing small group. We will offer small groups in a variety of commitment levels to meet and challenge all believers to progress in spiritual growth.
6. We hold that each believer plays a significant part in the ministry of the church. We will work to assist Christians in the discovery, development, and exercise of their spiritual gifts in the mission of the church. We will build an expanding Ministry Team to carry out the work of the ministry.
7. Our ministry structures and organization will be flexible and open to purposeful change as we grow and develop. Each ministry should play a role in the overall mission of making disciples.
8. We will seek to identify, train, and recognize spiritually qualified leaders among us. As gifts are recognized in people of Christian character and philosophical agreement, we will prepare and assign those leaders to positions of responsibility and oversight.
9. We place a high value on the unity and single-heartedness of the church family. Team cohesiveness and the quality of our fellowship are important to us. We will seek to cultivate an atmosphere of acceptance, love, and grace throughout the church family.
10. We will seek to carry out the work of our ministry with excellence and with a cultural connection with the people around us.
11. We will carry out our mission of making disciples with all ages of people. Children’s and youth ministries will also be built upon disciplemaking principles.
12. We will extend our mission involvement beyond our locale as God leads and enables. We desire to be a part of the global effort in making disciples of Jesus Christ.

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As part of the Evangelical Free Church of America, Christ Community subscribes to the doctrinal statement and distinctives of the EFCA. Included below are the current statement of faith and the working draft of the Refreshed Statement of Faith that currently is under consideration. This doctrinal refreshment is not a document yet completed, finally presented, nor ratified by the Evangelical Free Church of America.

Our identity with the Evangelical Free Church of America is centered on God’s evangel, the gospel of Jesus Christ, who died and rose again to give us eternal life. To God’s glory, the gospel is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe. Our fundamental theological convictions are aspects of this gospel.

We Believe:

1. God’s gospel originates in and demonstrates the holy love of the eternal, triune God.
   We believe in one God, Creator of all things, holy, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in a loving unity of three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This one God, all-knowing and all-powerful, has, in love and grace, purposed from eternity to redeem people for Himself and to restore His fallen creation for His own glory.
2. God’s gospel is authoritatively announced in the Scriptures.
   We believe that God has spoken through the Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments. They are the verbally inspired Word of God, without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for salvation, and the ultimate authority that stands over every realm of human knowledge and endeavor. Therefore, the Bible is to be believed in all that it affirms, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises.
3. God’s gospel alone addresses our deepest human need.
   We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His image, but they sinned through the temptation of Satan, corrupting that image. As a result, all humanity is alienated from God and under His wrath and can be rescued, reconciled, and restored only through God’s gracious work in Jesus Christ.
4. God’s gospel is revealed in history supremely through the Person of Jesus Christ.
   We believe that Jesus Christ, Israel’s promised Messiah, is God incarnate, one Person in two natures, fully human and fully divine, having been conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead, and ascended into heaven, where, at the right hand of God the Father, He is now our High Priest and Advocate.
5. God’s gospel is accomplished through the work of Christ.
   We believe that Jesus Christ, as our representative and substitute, died on the cross as the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice for our sins. His shed blood and resurrection are the only ground for salvation, and it is through faith alone in Christ that anyone is justified before God.
6. God’s gospel is applied and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
   We believe that the Holy Spirit glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ by convicting the world, by regenerating sinners into union with Christ, and by indwelling, guiding, instructing, equipping, and empowering believers for Christ-like living and service.
7. God’s gospel is now embodied in the new community called the church.
   We believe that the true church is composed of all those who have been saved by God’s grace through faith and regeneration by the Holy Spirit and are thereby united together in the body of Christ of which He is the Head. This church is manifest in local churches, whose membership should be composed only of members of the true church.
   The two biblically-mandated ordinances of the church, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, visibly and tangibly express this gospel, strengthening our faith. They are to be celebrated by the church in obedience to Christ, but are not a means of salvation.
8. God’s gospel compels us to Christ-like living and witness to the world.
   We believe that God’s justifying grace in the gospel must not be separated from its sanctifying power and purpose. God commands us to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves, acting with compassion toward the poor and needy, seeking justice for the oppressed. In fellowship with one another, we are to combat the spiritual forces of evil, especially with the Word of God and prayer. In all that we do, we are to bear witness to the gospel in word and deed, making disciples among all people.
9. God’s gospel will be brought to fulfillment by the Lord Himself at the end of this age.
   We believe in the personal and glorious coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with His holy angels, when He will establish His kingdom fully and exercise His role as Judge of all. This coming of Christ at a time known only to God requires constant expectancy and should motivate the believer to godly living, sacrificial service, and energetic mission. This is our blessed hope.
10. God’s gospel calls for a response which determines the eternal destiny of every person.
    We believe that God commands everyone everywhere to believe the gospel, turning to God in repentance and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that in the bodily resurrection of the dead, the unbeliever will face judgment and eternal conscious punishment, while the believer will experience eternal blessedness and joy with the Lord, to the praise of His glorious grace. Amen.