WHO WE ARE

THE BIBLE

The Holy Bible, and only the Bible, is the authoritative Word of God. It alone is the final authority in determining all doctrinal truths. In its original writing, it is inspired, infallible and inerrant.

(2Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21; Proverbs 30:5; Romans 16:25-26)

TRINITY

There is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. These three are co-equal and co-eternal.

(I John 5:7; Genesis 1:26; Matthew 3:16-17, 28:19; Luke 1:35; Isaiah 9:6; Hebrews 3:7-11)

JESUS CHRIST

Jesus Christ is God the Son, the second person of the Trinity. On earth, Jesus was 100% God and 100% man. He is the only man ever to have lived a sinless life. He was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, performed miracles, died on the cross for mankind and thus, atoned for our sins through the shedding of His blood. He rose from the dead on the third day according to the Scriptures, ascended to the right hand of the Father, and will return again in power and glory.

(John 1:1,14, 20:28; 1Timothy 3:16; Isaiah 9:6; Philippians 2:5-6; 1Timothy 2:5)

SALVATION

We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ; His death, burial, and resurrection. Salvation is a gift from God, not a result of our good works or of any human efforts.

(Ephesians 2:8-9; Galatians 2:16, 3:8; Titus 3:5; Romans 10:9-10; Acts 16:31; Hebrews 9:22)

HOLY SPIRIT

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. Given at Pentecost, He is the promise of the Father, sent by Jesus after His Ascension, to empower the church to preach the Gospel throughout the whole earth.

The Holy Spirit is manifested through a variety of spiritual gifts to build and sanctify the church, demonstrate the validity of the resurrection, and confirm the power of the Gospel. The Bible lists of these gifts are not necessarily exhaustive, and the gifts may occur in various combinations. All believers are commanded to earnestly desire the manifestation of the gifts in their lives. These gifts always operate in harmony with the Scriptures and should never be used in violation of Biblical parameters

(Joel 2:28-29; Matthew 3:11; Mark 16:17; Acts 1:5, 2:1-4, 17, 38-39, 8:14-17, 10:38, 44-47, 11:15-17, 19:1-6; Hebrews 2:4; Romans 1:11, 12 :4-8; Ephesians 4:16; 2 Timothy 1:5-16, 4:14; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31, 14:1-40; 1 Peter 4:10)

THE CHURCH

The church is the Body of Christ, the habitation of God through the Spirit, with divine appointments for the fulfillment of Jesus’ great commission. Every person who is born of the Spirit is an integral part of the church as a member of the body of believers. There is a spiritual unity of all believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.

(Ephesians 1:22, 2:19-22; Hebrews 12:23; John 17:11, 20-23)

RESURRECTION AND SECOND COMING

Jesus Christ was physically resurrected from the dead in a glorified body three days after His death on the cross. In addition, both the saved and the lost will be resurrected; they that are saved to the resurrection of life and they that are lost to the resurrection of eternal damnation.

Jesus Christ will physically and visibly return to earth for the second time to establish His Kingdom. This will occur at a date undisclosed by the Scriptures.

(Luke 24:16, 36, 39; John 2:19-21, 20:26-28, 21:4; Acts 24:15; 1 Corinthians 15:42, 44; Philippians 1:21-23, 3:21; Matthew 24:30, 26:63-64; Acts 1:9-11; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-8; Revelation 1:7)

BIBLE

We value the Bible as God's revealed truth and the catalyst for life transformation and change. The Word of God is one of the greatest gifts He has given us. It's so many things – divinely inspired, relevant, applicable, perfect, supernatural, simple, complex, comforting and challenging. It literally is the last word – nothing will be added to it and it has the final say in questions of how we live our lives, lead our families, and function as a church.

The Bible is not a self-help book; it's not a collection of ancient sayings that may or may not apply in today's world, and it's not a mysterious book of answers to life's most confusing questions. More than anything else, the Bible shows us who God is. As we come to know God and walk deeper in relationship with Him through reading His Word, He begins to change us. In the process, God gives us His character. What comes natural to Him that's so hard for us (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, compassion, mercy, justice, etc.) begins to show up in our lives.

MISSION

Reaching people. Building lives. We value the mission of God to reach and redeem individuals, families, neighborhoods, and beyond. From the Garden to the Red Sea, from the wilderness to the promised land, from Nazareth to Calvary, and throughout all of history, God has been at work to love, save and restore people. And now that story continues in each of our lives. As a loving Father, God initiates this process – He loves us, calls us, and pursues us long before we look for Him. His greatest desire is for all of us to turn from lives lived for ourselves to receive the life God's created us to live. When we do, He invites all of us to join Him in His mission in our own unique way. Though our contributions are different, God values them all as we give and contribute to what He's doing in the lives of people. Jesus told His disciples that the mission would start in their city (Jerusalem) then spread to the surrounding regions (Judea, Samaria) and then to the ends of the earth. At Freedom, we want to follow that pattern. God's mission starts in our hearts, works through our families, impacts our neighborhoods, affects our entire city and then keeps spreading to the ends of the earth.

SPIRITUAL FAMILY

The Bible makes it clear that God builds through family, both natural and spiritual. God has called all believers to be a part of a healthy spiritual family.

God Himself, sets the lonely in families. (Psalm 68:6). God has never been about building a religion, a philosophy, or a movement, He's building a family. A spiritual family is made up of God's children, coming together to love God, worship, sacrificially give, and serve one another. Jesus said that the world would know we love Him by the way that we love each other. Yet, so many people feel alone, they feel unloved, they feel insignificant, and what they really want is to feel like they belong. This is where the Church comes in.

We believe the church should be a safe place where people can be honest, where they can share their challenges, where they can wrestle with truth and where they can look for help in a time of need. People matter to God and He wants all of us to experience His love through genuine spiritual family. This doesn't happen through coming together for a few hours a week - it's what happens when people are joined together and do life together.

DEVELOPMENT

We value a lifestyle of worship that leads to the ongoing process of development in the life of every believer. We're all works in progress. We're not who we once were, and we're not yet who we will become. We should be able to see this ongoing process of development in the life of every believer as we grow closer to God.Religion leaves you empty. You may learn some rules and some new words and phrases. You may learn how to act during a service, what you should say and what you shouldn't say but in the end, nothing on the inside changes. But when we fully engage with God, when we give our whole hearts and every area of our lives, we don't just "worship" during a service, we live a lifestyle of worship. Whatever we do, we do it to honor God and to show Him that we love Him. When we live this way, we'll never stop growing.

GENEROSITY

We value the biblical principle of giving our first fruits to God and believe that generosity transforms our lives as Christ followers. When we give, we affirm our commitment to the ongoing mission of Freedom Church: reaching people and building lives. As we continue to give generously with our time, talent and our resources, we believe we'll experience the joy of seeing God transform lives.

One of the most powerful things about generosity is the truth that it always makes a difference in the life of both the one who gives and the one who receives. And remember, when you give your tithe (10% of your income), you are acting in obedience and worship to God, inviting His blessing in all areas of life (Malachi 3:10).

PEOPLE MATTER TO GOD

We live in a broken, self-centered world. Living for others and caring about people doesn't just happen. You have to be intentional about it. This posture isn't natural for us, but it is for God. He's intimately involved not only with the details of what's happening in our lives, but our thoughts, our passions, our fears, and our dreams. Scripture makes this clear, nothing in all of Creation is as important to God as we are. More than anything else, He loves people, and He made it clear that anyone who genuinely loved God would demonstrate this by loving people the same way He does.

YOUR DESTINY IS TIED TO YOUR RELATIONSHIPS

In a culture of disposable relationships, finding an environment where people are valued and relationships are prioritized is a unique experience. This will always be central to who we are. Whenever God wants to do something significant, He always starts with a family. It's the primary way that He distributes His blessing. This is how you've been designed to live. At the end of your life, when you look back at what really matters, it won't be experiences, it won't be accomplishments, and it won't be your estate that you'll care about. It will be people.

CHARACTER OVER CHARISMA

God has given us each gifts that we can use to further His kingdom, but it's really easy to build your whole life around your gifts rather than around character. Your gifts and abilities will open the door of opportunity for you, but only godly character will keep you there. If you never develop your character and only lean on your gifts, sooner or later your life will become a mess. You’re more important than your gift. When we fail to realize this we think God loves us when we perform and He withdraws when we mess up. This isn't an accurate picture of His heart for you.

THE LOCAL CHURCH IS THE HOPE OF THE WORLD

In Acts 2:42-47 we see a picture of the very first church. The Bible says that everyone felt a sense of awe, signs and wonders were taking place, there was favor with all the people, and God was adding to their numbers everyday. We have no problem looking at the early church and seeing that it was the hope of the world and through the Gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit thousands of lives were changed; families were changed; cities were changed. This is what we want to see happen at Freedom! Our hope is that people live missional and sacrificial lives, that salvation happens and God moves in powerful ways.

WE'RE MORE THAN SERVANTS, WE'RE SONS AND DAUGHTERS

God's not building an organization, a movement, a company, a religion or a philosophy. First and foremost, He's building a family. Let there be no doubt, we are called to serve Him. But we're more than servants, we've been given the unimaginable privilege of being adopted into the family of God as sons and daughters. When you see yourself as sons and daughters of God instead of just servants, it changes everything. There's a big difference between a servant's mentality and a son's mentality. Sons and daughters think differently because they are heirs. They have a vested interest in what happens. Church is much more than just something to do on the weekends. We're sons and daughters of God and He's entrusted us with this house.

GENEROSITY TRANSFORMS

The Bible makes it clear: everything we have is a gift. We're not owners, we're stewards. We believe Jesus was telling the truth when He said it was more blessed to give than receive. God doesn't ask us to be generous because He needs our money. Generosity doesn't just meet needs for the one receiving, it always transforms the one who gives. God doesn't ask us to be generous because He needs what we have. He doesn't want something FROM us, He's after something FOR us. We're never more like Jesus than when we're generous, it's fundamental to who God is.

WE WERE CREATED TO BE IN GOD’S PRESENCE

When we experience His manifest presence we know that it's what we've been longing for all along. God fills your heart and your soul, and completes spiritually what you've been lacking. You feel and sense that you've arrived home when you're in His presence. It's about an interaction, a relationship with a living God who is dynamic and personal and on the move. God has a personality just like we do, with desires, plans, emotions, and thoughts. God says He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. He's waiting with open arms. He has made Himself available to us through Jesus Christ. And make no mistake about it: the greatest need for our soul is God's presence in our lives.

JESUS + NOTHING = EVERYTHING

Jesus Christ came to earth in human flesh and lived among us. He was here, teaching people, healing people, showing people the true way to find peace, eternal life, joy, and salvation. Jesus wasn't just a great teacher and he wasn't just a great example to us, although He was all those things. More importantly, He was the Son of God, our Savior, and He died so we could have eternal life. We are utterly and completely dependent on the grace of God. It's not about climbing up to God. We can't. It's about accepting the free gift from Jesus where He takes our place, died for our sins, and gives us His righteousness.

We believe the leadership structure of an organization is very important—it's more than administration—because strategic structures provide the best opportunity for an organization to be healthy. Our structure was not an afterthought—it was the result of a great deal of Biblical examination, due diligence and prayerful consideration.

PASTORS

Our Pastoral team at Freedom oversee the day-to-day ministry and operations of the church. This team serves the congregation and is responsible for the development of the spiritual life of the church.

TRUSTEES

Our Trustees provide counsel to the Senior Pastor Leadership Team regarding the major financial commitments of the church.

OVERSEERS

Our Overseers serve as Apostolic Elders. They are pastors of respected congregations and ministries who love Freedom Church and are willing to provide spiritual protection to the church.

For a deeper discussion of our church government, please join us at Discovery 101. Discovery 101 is held each month.