Our Beliefs

Newberg Christian Church does not require that members subscribe to a formal creed. In a very real sense, "We have no creed but Christ, no book but the Bible." The twin bases of our unity are our faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and our adherence to the Bible as the inspired text for our teaching and the one sufficient constitution for governing congregational life.

Unity

We seek a unity of understanding in the essentials of our faith, yet we do not suggest that we must agree on all things pertaining to our walk in Christ. On many issues we have the freedom to disagree. We do ask, however, that all who accept and hold a leadership or teaching position at NCC respect the following guidelines and resist any temptation to use their position as a forum from which to teach other views. Unity in the body depends upon harmony and mutual trust in the leadership.

Who is God?

The Bible teaches that God is Creator of our world and Sustainer and Lord of our lives.

What about Jesus?

Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate, and rose from the grave on the third day, according to the Scriptures.

Jesus Christ is the one and only living Son of God and our Savior. Through Him, God opened the way of abundant and eternal life through His death, burial and resurrection to all who call on Christ's name.

Who is the Holy Spirit?

The Holy Spirit is God himself, encouraging, guiding, and transforming us in the way of Christ.

The Bible

The Bible is the inspired written Word of God. It is the authoritative rule of faith for all Christians and the Church.

We believe that people are saved by grace through faith in Jesus and that our proper response involves repentance, confession, and baptism by immersion into Christ.

The New Testament teaches the ministry of all believers, recognizing that the Holy Spirit gives various gifts to members of the body so that every member can make a contribution to the effective ministry of the entire church.

We are therefore a Spirit-filled church seeking to do God's will and to become more like His Son, Jesus Christ. While we do not presume to dictate one's private worship practices, we have agreed that for the sake of the unity of the body, in our public worship and other sanctioned church meetings we will not teach or practice what is commonly called speaking in tongues.

Prayer

We are a praying church. We daily lift before God fervent prayers of praise, confession, thanksgiving, and petition.

Missions

We are a mission minded church. We send and support evangelistic and benevolent missions throughout the world. We encourage our finest people to accept the call to a greater Kingdom service, and we support them through generous mission offerings.

The church exists to serve the world. Therefore we send evangelists to rescue the perishing of the world. Therefore we participate in efforts to improve community life. Therefore we want to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, offer hospitality to the stranger, clothe the naked, minister to the sick, and visit the imprisoned, as Jesus has instructed.
 

Marriage

The Christian views of marriage historically have regarded marriage as ordained by God for the lifelong union of a man and a woman. This foundational principle was first articulated biblically in Genesis 2:24. Later, Jesus set forth his basic position on marriage by bringing together two important messages from Genesis 1:27 and Genesis 2:7-25. He pointed to the completion of the creation – “male and female he created them.” Then he described marriage as a relationship, a union, so intimate and real that “the two become one flesh.” As persons, husband and wife are of equal value. In truth, they are one. Finally, Jesus added His emphasis on marriage being God-made and lifelong.
 

The Future

God, who created the heavens and the earth, will one day bring life on earth to a conclusion. While accepting various understandings of how God will bring this about, we trust that Christ will come again and will call His own to Himself.

Communion

We celebrate the Lord's Supper each Sunday, as we find the New Testament Christians did. In partaking of the bread and the juice, we remember our Lord's sacrifice for us and we strengthen our relationship with Him.

All persons of all races have been created in the image of God and stand in need of the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

Resources

God expects wise management of our money and other resources in both our personal and our congregational lives. We encourage the tithe (ten percent) as the minimum the Bible teaches us to return to the Lord, In fact, we understand the governing principle to be that everything we have and are belongs to God. We do not hesitate to teach principles of Christian stewardship, agreeing with Jesus that "where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."