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We believe God is real.
He's not just a concept used to manipulate people or
an impersonal force that can't think or love or communicate. God is a reality
we have come to know. And we're convinced that we can't live without God. If
God isn't there, everything we are and do and love becomes arbitrary and
meaningless. As a point of intellectual integrity, there simply cannot be
ultimate law--ultimate right or wrong--without an ultimate Lawgiver. Without a
purposeful creation, we have no purpose. Without an infinite point of
reference, our human aspirations become pointless. If our belief in human
significance and the rightness of love are to have any meaning, it's because
God is really there. This God, we believe, is the one who created everything,
sovereignly directing the course of history. We owe him all worship, faith and
obedience. He is the one for whom we were made, our purpose and goal in life.
In Him alone can humanity find its satisfaction.
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We believe God has spoken.
We believe God communicated to his people throughout
history in the books we now call the Bible. These Scriptures don't merely
express the perspective of their human authors, but God used them to
communicate reliably to us. Peter reminds us, "Above all, you must understand
that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation.
For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as
they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" (2 Pe 1:20-21). The Scriptures give
our Creator's perspective on life, showing us what life was intended to be, how
sin has defiled it, and how God is restoring it.
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We believe God can be encountered in Jesus of
Nazareth.
The Bible is not a book of rules to tell us
how to come to God. It's about God coming to us. We call this grace. The Bible
is a (true) story about God claiming a people for himself, culminating in the
coming of his Son to earth. Jesus is real and alive. He lived a righteous life
in our place, and died under God's judgment in our place. When we turn to him,
we receive peace with God, become his children, and are counted as righteous
before him, even when we continue to fail. God has obligated himself to receive
any sinner who turns to him in Christ. The Son of God has promised to return at
history's end to judge all nations and restore creation to its original
splendor.
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We believe in the Church as the Community of Christ.
The Church is not the Savior, but it is the
community of the Savior. The Church is not optional for the sincere Christian,
but is essential to any authentic walk with God. Christians need each other as
they struggle together to live lives of love, humility and worship. Paul
explains that the members of the Church are like a body: "The eye cannot say to
the hand, 'I don't need you!'" (1 Cor 12:21). In any grace-driven church,
Scripture tells us, Christians will devote themselves to the fellowship, will
be together, will meet together, and will eat together in their homes (Acts
2:42-47). The Church remains the last truly authentic community.
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And we believe in the City.
God has a passion for the city. At history's
earliest moment, God spoke to our first parents and called them to establish
human civilization upon the earth (Gen 1:28). This is what theologians
historically called the Cultural Mandate. At history's end, John tells us, all
the kings of the earth will bring their cultural treasures into a great city to
offer them to God. Every nationality will offer their greatest riches to adorn
the City of God (Rev 21:24-26). Jesus Christ doesn't save us so we can escape
from the city. He saves the city itself--including people who turn to him. He's
renewing us at Memorial individually and collectively, and is renewing our
various relationships and callings through us. We're committed to the city. We
believe in it. And we want God to use us to love St. Louis, to revitalize its
institutions, and to renew its neighborhoods and culture.
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Our
Doctrinal Standards (subservient to Scripture): The
Westminster Confession of Faith
A Shorter Summary of Doctrine
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