About/Grace Bible Church Kamiah

JOHN 3:16 - "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."

CORE VALUES

Who We Are

We are a non-denominational, Focused Free Grace Church committed to carrying out the Great Commission and to the goal of every one of our members hearing "Well done!" from Jesus at the Judgement Seat of Christ. We are convinced that salvation is in Christ alone, really alone, and that we receive God's free gift when we believe in Jesus's promise of eternal life. Because eternal life is the gift of God, not something that is contingent on our works and good behavior, a believer cannot lose their salvation and has assurance of their salvation. We are evangelical and dispensational, believing in the Pre-Tribulation Rapture of believers, as well as God's irrevocable promises to the Jewish people. We believe that the Bible is the inerrant Word of God, and as such is our only authority in life. Every single person deeply matters to God, and as such they deeply matter to us.

1. A Family of Grace

We cannot earn God's acceptance. He accepts us now and forever through faith in Jesus Christ. The church should not focus on guilt to motivate its members, but encourage them to live good lives from a motivation of love and thankfulness toward the Lord. Once we recognize what God has done for us, we can be real, authentic and gracious to others, knowing that we are all at different points in our spiritual journey.

2. Safest place on earth

Grace Bible Church is a place that welcomes all and where rest and healing are available for those who need it. It is a place where the highest goal is to love one another and be willing to shoulder each other’s burdens. We seek to be a church that respects where people are, and does not judge and condemn people for having problems. You are safe to be who you are, free from criticism and competition.

3. A Christian Self-image

We can have a positive self-image, not because of who we are in ourselves, but because of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. Our desire is that all people are freed from sin’s grip and begin to live the abundant life God desires for us. This can happen as we grow in understanding God’s love and concern for us.

4. Statement of Marriage

We believe the Bible teaches that marriage is the emotional, spiritual, and physical union and a covenant relationship between one natural born man and one natural born woman; and that God's plan and view of marriage involves only the union of a man and a woman in matrimony that is holy and acceptable to God. We believe that their respective roles of love and submission are to reflect Christ's sacrificial love to the Church and the Church's submission to the will of God the Father. The husband and wife may have sexual intercourse for both procreation and pleasure. Marriage is the only accepted basis for sexual activity (Genesis 1:27-28 & 2:24; Matthew 19"4-6; Ephesians 4:31-32 & 5:22-23; Romans 1:18-31; Hebrews 13:4).

No elder, pastor, deacon, officer, employee, servant, agent or any person, corporation, organization, or entity under the direction or control of this Church shall commit any act or omission, or make any decision whatsoever, that would be inconsistent with or that could be perceived by any person to be inconsistent with the full support of this Church's Statement of Marriage.

This Church's Statement of Marriage specifically prohibits acts or omissions, including but not limited to: permitting any Church assets or property, whether real property, personal property, intangible property, or any property or asset of any kind that is subject to the direction or control of the Church, to be used in any manner that would be or could be perceived by any person to be inconsistent with this Church's Statement of Marriage, including but not limited to: permitting any Church facilities to be used by any person, organization, corporation, or group that would or might use such facilities to cover, intentionally or by implication, what might be perceived as inconsistent with this Statement of Marriage.

We believe this Church's Statement of Marriage is based upon God's will for human life as conveyed to us through the Holy Scriptures upon which this Church has been founded and anchored, and this Statement of Marriage shall not be subject to change through popular vote, referendum, prevailing opinion of members or the general public, influence of or interpretation by any government authority, agency, or official action; including legal developments on the local, state, or federal level.

5. Sexuality

Sexuality, and the divinely prescribed boundaries for the expression thereof, is covered clearly in the Holy Scriptures, which limit sexual expression to the marital relationship of one man and one woman. Homosexual acts, adultery, bestiality, and all forms of fornication are categorically condemned in the Holy Scriptures (Exodus 20:14; Leviticus 20:10-21; Deuteronomy 5:18; Proverbs 5:3-5 & 8-13; 7:21-27; Matthew 5:27; Luke 18:20; Romans 1:26-27 & 13:9; 1 Corinthians 6:18 & 10:8; Galatians 5:19; 1 Thessalonians 4:3 & 19:18; James 2:11; Jude 7). Furthermore, the Church believes that sexuality is assigned by God at birth, and as His image-bearers, we are not free to modify or change what He created.

5. Balanced Christianity

To have a rich, meaningful, purposeful life, we must be sold out to God. When we seek God with all of our heart we live in His presence and experience great blessing. So in order to seek Him with our whole heart, we need a balanced Christian experience. This includes meaningful worship, life-related biblical teaching, purposeful prayer, significant relationships with other Christians based in truth, hospitality to those in need, and serving others according to our gifts, abilities, and interests.

6. Relevant Biblical Worship

We have an authoritative reliable spiritual guide in the Bible, the Word of God. In it are the keys to life and godliness, so it must be conveyed in the most sinner-friendly-relevant-way possible in order to effect change that lasts a lifetime. We should be able to understand Christ and the Christian message because it should be communicated in a contemporary manner we can identify with and understand. Worship should be done in a genuine way which lifts up Christ and is attractive to the unchurched. We will seek to have an innovative worship experience (variety, arts, music, movies, drama, etc.) so that it is fresh and not redundant.

7. Reaching the Entire Community

The church will continue to grow until everyone in the community comes to know Christ. God’s desire is to build a family for eternity, and it is His will for everyone in our community to be a part of His family. Therefore, the church exists to build believers to effectively reach the community and then the world. Acts of service and words of truth will be our means by which we demonstrate that we are not takers from the community, but givers.

8. Authentic Community

We can do many things successfully in life alone, but growing spiritually is not one of them. Growth happens in our lives through meaningful relationships found in small groups. It is there that we know and be known, love and be loved, serve and be served, and celebrate and be celebrated. We can learn to trust those who love us and find accountability, acceptance and encouragement to make it through the daily grind as well as live for eternity.

9. Every Christian Is a Minister

We, along with every other Christian, possess natural talents and spiritual gifts. As we release these talents and gifts for God to use, we will find more significance and purpose in our lives. As we commit to Bible study and service we will grow in our area of ministry to others. Yearly the leadership will evaluate how many people we move into ministry.

10. Family Values

The family is God’s unit of blessing for the world. We emphasize growing strong healthy balanced families. Simplicity is desired in our schedules so as to not take away from much needed family time. The church does not exist for the family, but the family for the church. We seek to under gird the children’s and youth ministries by teaching parents how to raise the next godly generation.

11. Fun, Upbeat, Joyful and Humorous

Life is short and Christians have much to be excited about. God wants us to enjoy life, and live it to the fullest! There are great spiritual blessings that are available to us in the here and now. By knowing God and not taking ourselves too seriously we can be joyful even among life’s discouragements.

WE BELIEVE

Shorter Statement of Faith

SALVATION

The sole condition for receiving everlasting life is faith alone in the Lord Jesus Christ, who died a substitutionary death on the cross for man’s sin and rose bodily from the dead (John 3:16-18; 6:47; Acts 16:31).

Faith is the conviction that something is true. To believe in Jesus (“he who believes in Me has everlasting life”) is to be convinced that He guarantees everlasting life to all who simply believe in Him for it (John 4:14; 5:24; 6:47; 11:26; 1 Tim 1:16).

No act of obedience, preceding or following faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, such as commitment to obey, sorrow for sin, turning from one’s sin, baptism or submission to the Lordship of Christ, may be added to, or considered part of, faith as a condition for receiving everlasting life (Rom 4:5; Gal 2:16; Titus 3:5). This saving transaction between God and the sinner is simply the giving and receiving of a free gift (Eph 2:8-9; John 4:10 ; Rev 22:17 ).

ASSURANCE

Assurance of everlasting life is certainty that one is eternally secure simply by faith in Jesus. Assurance of everlasting life is based only on the promise God makes in His Word that everyone who believes in Jesus Christ alone possesses everlasting life (John 5:24; 1 John 5:9-13). Good works, which can and should follow regeneration, are not necessary for a person to have assurance of everlasting life (Eph 2:10 ; Titus 3:8).

Assurance is of the essence of believing in Jesus for everlasting life. That is, until a person believes in Jesus for everlasting life, he has not yet been born again. If a person believes the promise of everlasting life to the believer, then he knows he has everlasting life (John 5:24 ; 6:35 , 47; 11:27 ; 1 John 5:9-13).

DISCIPLESHIP (GROWING IN CHRIST)

The goal of the Holy Spirit’s work in the believer’s life is to produce spiritual maturity reflected in consistent Christlike behavior and attitudes (Gal 5:22-25; Luke 14:25-33; Col 1:23-29). Therefore, obedience to the Word of God, while not necessary for obtaining everlasting life, is the essential responsibility of each Christian (Rom 6:12-23; Heb 5:13-14; 1 Cor 2:14–3:4). However, the Bible does not teach that this obedience will be manifested in all believers. If a believer does not yield to the ministry of the Holy Spirit in his experience, failure will result, evidenced by sinful acts or even prolonged disobedience (1 Cor 10:1-13; Gal 5:16-21).

MOTIVATION

It is inconsistent with the gospel and with Scripture to seek to gain or keep everlasting life by godly living. The Scriptures, however, do present several motivations for obedience in the Christian life.

A powerful motivation for living the Christian life is gratitude to God for saving us by His grace (Rom 12:1-2; 2 Cor 5:14 -15; Gal 2:20 ). We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).
Believers should also be motivated by the knowledge that their heavenly Father both blesses obedience and disciplines disobedience in His children (Gal 6:7; Heb 12:3-11; Lev 26:1-45).
Finally, every Christian must stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ, not to determine his eternal destiny, for that is already set, but to assess the quality of his Christian life on earth (2 Cor 5:10; Rev 22:12). Anticipating either reward or loss of reward at the Judgment Seat should also motivate believers to perseverance and to faithfulness to God’s revealed will (1 Cor 3:10 -17, 9:24 -27; Jas 5:8-9; 1 John 2:28 ). One’s capacity to glorify Jesus will forever be based on how faithful he was in his stewardship in this life (Luke 19:17 , 19, 22-26).

THE ETERNAL STATE

Believers will spend eternity with the Lord on the New Earth in His glorious kingdom (1 Thess 5:10; Rev 21:1-3ff.). Unbelievers, those whose names are not in the Book of Life, will spend eternity in eternal conscious torment (ECT) in the lake of fire (Isa 66:22-24; Dan 12:1-2; Matt 25:46; Gal 6:8; 2 Thess 1:5-10; Jude 13; Rev 14:9-11; 20:10-15).

Longer Statement of Faith

THE BIBLE

We believe the Bible consists of the Old and New Testaments and every word is the inspired Word of God. The Bible is without error in the original manuscripts and is the only and final authority for faith and practice in all matters of which it addresses. The Bible, as God’s only written revelation to mankind, is to be interpreted normally and literally in regard to all of its contents (John 10:35; Matthew 5:18; 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21; I Corinthians 2:13; I Timothy 5:18; I Corinthians 2:14-16).

GOD

We believe in one God who is eternal and immutable, who exists in three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (John 6:27; Hebrews 1:8; Acts 5:3,4; Deuteronomy 6:4; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Matthew 28:19; Isaiah 48:16).

We believe that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the promised Messiah, God the Son in human flesh; that He is totally without sin; was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary; and is both fully God and fully man. (John 1:14; Matthew 1:18-25; John 11:33; John 8:40; Hebrews 1:8, 2:14)

We believe that the Holy Spirit is a Person, possessing all the distinctively divine attributes. He is God. He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He regenerates, seals, and sets apart the believer to a holy life. At regeneration, He baptizes the believer into the body of Christ and comes to indwell him permanently, bestows spiritual gifts on each one for the common good of the Church and fills each one yielded to Him. (I Corinthians 2:10-11, 12:11, 13; Isaiah 40:13-14; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Romans 8:9; Ephesians 5:18)

THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE WORK OF CHRIST

We believe that Jesus Christ died for the sins of all humanity as a substitutionary sacrifice and that all who believe in Him are declared righteous on the basis of His shed blood. (2 Corinthians 5:14; Mark 10:45; Romans 3:24-26; I Peter 3:18; Romans 5:8-9)

We believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ, in His ascension into heaven, and in His present life there for us. Jesus now serves as High Priest, Intercessor, and Advocate in our behalf with the Father. (Romans 1:4; John 20:25-27; I John 2:1; Hebrews 7:25; Mark 16:19; Acts 1:9-11)

We believe in the personal, bodily return of Jesus Christ in the glory of His Father to set up on earth a kingdom in which He shall reign in righteousness and peace. (Acts 1:11; Matthew 24:30; Revelation 20:4-6; Isaiah 9:6-7; Isaiah 11:2-5)

We believe in a new heaven and new earth being established and believers dwelling with God for eternity. (Revelation 21:1-4)

We believe that the first man and woman were created in the image of God and thus man has great value in God's sight. But, man sinned and consequently experienced not only physical death but also spiritual death (which is separation from God). The consequences of this sin affect the entire human race. All human beings are born lost and separated from God and with a sinful nature. (Genesis 1:26-27, 2:17, 3:6; Romans 5:12-19; Ephesians 2:1-3; Mark 7:20-23; John 2:24-25)

We believe that all believers still possess a sinful nature in this life, but that God has made full provision for believers to resist this sinful nature and to live for God through identification with Christ, study of the Bible, prayer, and by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. (Romans 5:12-19, 6-8; Galatians 5:16-18; Ephesians 2:1-3, 10; Colossians 2:9-12; 2 Peter 1:3; Philippians 2:12-13)

We believe in the bodily resurrection of all men. Believers are resurrected to enjoy eternal life with God. Unbelievers are resurrected to experience judgment and eternal suffering, and separation from God. (I Corinthians 15:52; I Thessalonians 4:16; Revelation 20:4-6, 12-15; John 5:28-29; Daniel 12:2; Revelation 20:11-15, 21:1-8)

We believe that man's redemption and reconciliation with God occurs as an act of God's grace, not of works; that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice and that all who believe in His death and resurrection are justified on the grounds of His shed blood. (Romans 3:21-24; I Corinthians 15:1-4; Ephesians 2:8-9; John 1:12-13; Titus 3:5-7; I Peter 1:18-21)

We believe that all believers are kept eternally secure by the power of God through the new birth, the indwelling and sealing of the Holy Spirit, and the intercession of Christ. (John 10:28-30; John 14:16-17; I Peter 1:23; Ephesians 4:30; I John 2:1; Romans 8:38-39; I Corinthians 5:5; Colossians 3:3)

THE CHURCH, THE BODY OF CHRIST

We believe that the Church in its spiritual form is universal, the true body and bride of Christ. All believers from the day of Pentecost until the Church is caught up to heaven are members of the universal Church regardless of organization affiliation. We believe that as the individual Christian has a responsibility to make Christ known, so does every local church have a corporate responsibility for making Christ known.

We believe in the imminent return of Christ for the Church. All members of the body of Christ, living or dead, will at that time be caught up to be with the Lord forever. (I Thessalonians 4:13-18; I Corinthians 15:51-53; Titus 2:13)

We believe that the spiritual oversight of the local church is given to a multiplicity of leaders known as elders who share equal authority. The elders are assisted by deacons and the pastoral staff to carry out the ministry and prepare ministers (the church body) for works of service. Elders and deacons are selected according to standards expressed by the New Testament. (Acts 14:23, 20:28; Philippians 1:1; 1 Timothy 3:1-13; Titus 1:5-9; I Peter 5:1-4, Ephesians 4:11-13)

We believe that Christ ordained the observance of water baptism and the Lord's Supper until He returns. We believe that baptism is an outward testimony of a person's belief in Christ and should be administered upon confession of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe that the Lord's Supper is a memorial of Christ's death, the elements being symbols of His body and blood. We believe that every believer of Christ has a right to partake of the elements of the Lord's Supper, but that participation should always be preceded by solemn self-examination. (Colossians 1:18; Ephesians 4:4-6; Acts 1:5, 11:15-16; I Corinthians 11:24-28)

SATAN

We believe that Satan is a personal being, the author of sin who provoked the fall of man. We believe that he is the great adversary of God’s person, program and people, but is a defeated foe who is destined to eternal punishment in the lake of fire. (Isaiah 14:12-15; Matthew 4:1-11; 2 Corinthians 4:3-4; I Peter 5:8; Revelation 20:10)