Believe
01
Jesus is God’s nature.
The triune God is complex. As the source of all being, God is beyond our understanding. Yet, the incarnate Jesus reveals to us the fullness of God’s nature. Jesus is not an exception to God’s nature; God is Jesus.
02
Humans are the image of God.
God created humanity with an original blessing: we are made in the image of God. That image remains in each and every one of us and shows us our basic identity: beloved by God.
03
The way forward is down.
The world is a mess of power structures, systems of oppression, and struggles to be the greatest. Jesus showed us the kingdom way was always downward. His self-emptying and self donation give us the model for the way of love.
04
No one gets out alive, but death never has the last word.
Death comes for all of us. Despite its inescapable nature it is not the end. Jesus is the resurrection, and that tells us that the end of the story is just the beginning.
05
We belong to each other; that’s how we get out of this.
No one exists in a vacuum. We are interconnected and that connection calls us to care for each other and discover we are loved by God and by each other.
06
The Table belongs to us all.
No one is excluded from God’s table. Not only is there a place for you, there is space for you. We are all, each of us, welcome and wanted. The bread and wine are for everyone and anyone who will come.
07
Scripture is human with divine breath.
The Bible was written by humans recording their history, hopes, dreams, and desires as God revealed Godself to them. The Spirit of God has preserved those words, passed them down to us, and uses them to reveal Jesus to us.
08
The world is sacramental.
The best way we find the grace and presence of God is in the good, physical world around us. Our experience of the world and people around us shows us that God is present, that Jesus is real, and that the Spirit is alive and well, working all around us.
09
Every one lives.
Salvation comes for us all. Jesus keeps us in his hands, and through his life, death, resurrection, and promise to return, we will all find salvation.