OUR BELIEFS

Our district is a part of the Church of the Nazarene, which is a Wesleyan-Holiness Protestant Christian denomination. The Church of the Nazarene began in 1908 when a group of like-minded believers came together in Pilot Point, Texas to consolidate a number of smaller holiness movement groups into one church and dedicated themselves to preaching the Gospel, living out the holiness to which God has called us and serving the poor.

​

Our denomination's key beliefs are described in the sixteen Articles of Faith, which are summarized here:

​

• We believe in one God, the Creator, who has revealed Himself to us as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

​​

• We believe in Jesus Christ, who is fully God and fully human, and that the Father sent him to earth to save us from our sins.

• We believe in the Holy Spirit, who is always present and active in the world, convicting people of their sin, restoring those who repent and believe, making us holy and guiding us in all truth.

• We believe God has inspired the 66 books of the Bible, which teaches us everything we need to know in order to be saved from sin and restored to our relationship with God. 

• We believe we are all born into sin, have committed sin willingly and need forgiveness. 

• We believe Jesus died on the cross for our sins and that, through faith in him, we can be saved from sin, death and Hell.

• We believe God pursues us passionately and desires to restore relationship with us. We also believe God will not force us to return to Him, nor will He make our choice to return for us. Though we cannot save ourselves, we believe we possess free will and may choose to reject His gifts of grace, salvation and transformation. 

• We believe that, through sincere confession and by turning away from our sins, God will forgive us, purify us and grant us eternal life.

• We believe God alone is able to pardon us from our guilt, make us righteous and adopt us back into His family. 

• We believe we can live holy lives free from sin by the power of the Holy Spirit.

• We believe the Church has been brought together by the Father and united by the Holy Spirit to carry on Jesus Christ's mission. We accomplish this mission by worshiping God, preaching the Gospel, administering the sacraments, encouraging one another, learning together and serving our world.

• We believe the Church is organized locally and united globally as one body. 

• We believe in the sacrament of baptism, which was commanded by the Lord, and that every believer ought to be baptized, though it is not required for salvation. We practice baptism by sprinkling, pouring or immersion.

• We believe in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, which the Lord commanded, and we participate in it regularly.

• We believe God can heal us from sickness and disease supernaturally or through medical science. 

• We believe Jesus Christ will come again.

• We believe every person will be raised from the dead and come before the judgment seat of Jesus Christ to be judged fairly according to our deeds in life. 

​

If you would like to read our complete Articles of Faith, you can find a digital copy by clicking here.