Statement Of Faith

Our Statement of Faith

Introductory Remarks

      This document is the result of approximately ten years of work. The need for a
      statement of faith arose shortly after the beginning of the Vineyard movement in
      1983. On one hand, we felt obliged to set forth our biblical and historically
      orthodox beliefs; on the other hand, we wanted to describe the values and
      priorities that make the Vineyard unique within the context of Evangelicalism.

      As evangelicals, the Bible is our final authority for faith and practice. Therefore,
      the statements that follow reflect our best attempt to understand and live out
      biblical precepts. Upon further reflection, greater biblical insight, or increased
      wisdom through experience, these statements could be revised. Until such a time,
      the Association of Vineyard Churches Board of Directors has formally adopted this
      document as our official statement of faith as of the Board meeting of November
      1994.

The official Association of Vineyard Churches (AVC) Statement of Faith reads as follows:

      WE BELIEVE that God is the Eternal King. He is an infinite unchangeable Spirit,
      perfect in holiness, wisdom, goodness, justice, power and love. From all eternity
      He exists as the One Living and True God in three persons of onesubstance, the
      Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, equal in power and glory.

      WE BELIEVE that God's kingdom is everlasting. From His throne, through His Son,
      His eternal Word, God created, upholds and governs all that exists, the heavenly
      places, the angelic hosts, the universe, the earth, every living thing and mankind.
      God created all things very good.

      WE BELIEVE that Satan, originally a great, good angel, rebelled against God,
      taking a host of angels with him. He was cast out of God's presence and, as a
      usurper of God's rule, established a counter-kingdom of darkness and evil upon
      the earth.

      WE BELIEVE that God created mankind in His image, male and female, for
      relationship with Himself and to govern the earth. Under the temptation of Satan,
      our original parents fell from grace, bringing sin, sickness, and God's judgement of
      death to the earth. Through the fall, Satan and his demonic hosts gained access
      to God's good creation. Creation now experiences the consequences and effects
      of Adam's original sin. Human beings are born in sin, subject to God's judgement of
      death and captive to Satan's kingdom of darkness.

      WE BELIEVE that God did not abandon His rule over the earth which He continues
      to uphold by His providence. In order to bring redemption, God established
      covenants which revealed His grace to sinful people. In the covenant with
      Abraham, God bound Himself to His people Israel, promising to deliver them from
      bondage to sin and Satan and to bless all the nations through them.

      WE BELIEVE that as King, God later redeemed His people, by His mighty acts, from
      bondage in Egypt and established His covenant through Moses, revealing His
      perfect will and our obligation to fulfill it. The law's purpose is to order our fallen
      race and to make us conscious of our moral responsibility. By the work of God's
      Spirit, it convicts us of our sin and God's righteous judgement against us and
      brings us to Christ alone for our salvation.

      WE BELIEVE that when Israel rejected God's rule over her as King, God established
      the monarchy in Israel and made an unconditional covenant with David, promising
      that his heir would restore God's kingdom reign over His people as Messiah
      forever.

      WE BELIEVE that in the fullness of time, God honored His covenants with Israel
      and His prophetic promises of salvation by sending His only Son, Jesus, into the
      world. Conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, as fully God and
      fully man in one person, He is humanity as God intended us to be. Jesus was
      annointed as God's Messiah, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, inaugurating God's
      kingdom reign on earth, overpowering the reign of Satan by resisting temptation,
      preaching the good news of salvation, healing the sick, casting out demons, and
      raising the dead. Gathering His disciples, He reconstituted God's people as His
      Church to be the instrument of His kingdom. After dying for the sins of the world,
      Jesus was raised from the dead on the third day, fulfilling the convenant of
      blessing given to Abraham. In His sinless, perfect life Jesus met the demands of
      the law and in His atoning death on the cross He took God's judgement for sin
      which we deserve as law-breakers. By His death on the cross He also disarmed
      the demonic powers. The covenant with David was fulfilled in Jesus' birth from
      David's house, His Messianic ministry, His glorious ressurection from the dead, His
      ascent into heaven and His present rule at the right hand of the Father. As God's
      Son and David's heir, He is the eternal Messiah-King, advancing God's reign
      throughout every generation and throughout the whole earth today.

      WE BELIEVE that the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Church at Pentecost in
      power, baptizing believers into the Body of Christ and releasing the gifts of the
      Spirit to them. The Spirit brings the permanent indwelling presence of God to us
      for spiritual worship, personal sanctification, building up the Church, gifting us for
      ministry, and driving back the kingdom of Satan by the evangelization of the world
      through proclaiming the word of Jesus and doing the works of Jesus.

      WE BELIEVE that the Holy Spirit indwells every believer in Jesus Christ and that
      He is our abiding Helper, Teacher, and Guide. We believe in the filling or
      empowering of the Holy Spirit, often a conscious experience, for ministry today.
      We believe in the present ministry of the Spirit and in the exercise of all the
      biblical gifts of the Spirit. We practice the laying on of hands for the empowering
      of the Spirit, for healing, and for recognition and empowering of those whom God
      has ordained to lead and serve the Church.

      WE BELIEVE that the Holy Spirit inspired the human authors of Holy Scripture so
      that the Bible is without error in the original manuscripts. We receive the sixty-six
      books of the Old and New Testaments as our final and absolute authority, the
      only infallible rule of faith and practice.

      WE BELIEVE that the whole world is under the domination of Satan and that all
      people are sinners by nature and choice. All people therefore are under God's just
      judgement. Through the preaching of the Good News of Jesus and the Kingdom of
      God and the work of the Holy Spirit, God regenerates, justifies, adopts, and
      sanctifies through Jesus by the Spirit all who repent of their sins and trust in
      Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. By this they are released from Satan's domain
      and enter into God's kingdom reign.

WE BELIEVE in the one, holy, universal Church. All who repent of their sins and
confess Jesus as Lord and Savior are regenerated by the Holy Spirit and form the
living Body of Christ, of which He is the head and of which we are all members.

WE BELIEVE that Jesus Christ committed two ordinances to the Church: water
baptism and the Lord's Supper. Both are available to all believers.

      WE BELIEVE that God's kingdom has come in the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ,
      that it continues to come in the ministry of the Spirit through the Church, and
      that it will be consummated in the glorious, visible and triumphant appearing of
      Christ - His return to the earth as King. After Christ returns to reign, He will bring
      about the final defeat of Satan and all of his minions and works, the resurrection
      of the dead, the final judgement and the eternal blessing of the righteous and
      eternal conscious punishment of the wicked. Finally, God will be all in all and His
      kingdom, His rule and reign, will be fulfilled in the new heavens and the new earth,
      recreated by His mighty power, in which righteousness dwells and in which He will
      be forever worshipped.

Please note that this copy of the AVC Statement of Faith is maintained here as a
convenience to you. The AVC maintains its own web site where you can also view
the AVC Statement of Faith with supporting scripture references included.

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