Synopsis

Just trying to think of all the things that we teach as a church can be daunting. After all, we do not have a written creed or catechism. Our stand has been from the beginning that we will be people of the Book. Anything more than the Bible is too much, anything less than the Bible is too little. So the Bible it's self is our creed, our statement of faith. it is our catechism or teachings. This is great and completely first century, but it leaves us with the task of knowing the Bible intimately and having a clear understanding of it. The one lax in his or her studies will not be able to achieve this. So in the beginning, we were a group of "Bible toting, Bible quoting" Christians.

so let's see. The Gospels is tells the ministry of Jesus, His life, death, resurrection and ascension. The book of Acts tells the history of the church, and the remaining letters offer encouragement and direction to the church.

we take the book of Acts as our guide for how to come to Jesus, seeing several examples of the early church. Over and over we see people responding to the Gospel by believing the message that was preached and then being baptized. In these stories we see people repenting or changing their thinking when they realize who Jesus is and what God's plan is for their lives. We see several examples of people confessing the name of Jesus as the Son of God, and we hear the Apostles and disciples calling each one to live faithfully the message they have received and to which they have pledged themselves.

In the epistles or other letters that were written to the church, they are encouraged to live faithfully, to remember their pledge to Christ and live in a manner worthy of their calling. We see them chastised and rebuked if need be to come back to the original teaching and spirit in which they received Christ.

Instructions are given on how to conduct worship services, who should lead the church, and what the church should be doing and in what spirit.

From these teachings we know that the church should have elders to watch over the church and deacons to serve its various needs. all members are to be sharing their faith in the hopes of winning as many as possible to Christ. In our services, we should sing and pray, share how God is working in our lives or what He has taught us, and we are to remember the Lord's death until He returns again. This we do in the Lord's Supper.

Jesus taught us only one new commandment: That we should love one another. Paul made it clear that if we got everything else right and missed on love that the rest was done in vain.

So the synopsis of our faith is this: God's Word is our foundation. We must know it intimately. The Gospels teach Jesus' ministry, His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. The epistles instruct the church on how to worship and live up to their calling, encouraging and correcting them as needed. We are taught in these that elders oversee the church, deacons serve the church and all members share the message of Christ's church. All this must be wrapped up in a spirit of love in obedience to Jesus or we have totally missed the point and it profits us nothing.