Introduction
Our focus is Jesus. Our life is in Jesus. Everything we know and live together as a gathering of Jesus followers starts with Jesus. We believe that the main reason to live our lives together as a community of faith is to build up one another as we are all being shaped in the image and likeness of Jesus, the center of our community of believers that calls, prepares, and leads our people to use our God-given gifts in service to others.
Mission of the Bering Drive Church of Christ
Love and Serve God and People
God
We have one God, known to us in many ways as the Creator and Sustainer, Son, and Holy Spirit. God made all that exists, and delights in all that has been made. We know God through creation, through the prophets, through one another, in our hearts, and most fully in Jesus Christ in whom everything is being made new.
Jesus Christ
The living Jesus is the coming of God into the world. He taught and modeled life for us. Jesus lived a sinless life, died for our sins, rose from the dead, appeared to many witnesses, and ascended into heaven. He will come again to redeem the world and to bring salvation to his people.
Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit of God is the personal presence of God the Father and of the Risen Christ. The Spirit advocates for us in ways we cannot fully understand, bringing us repentance and faith. The Holy Spirit of God lives in believers, empowers us for service, changes us into the image and likeness of Christ, and pours out gifts by which we serve each other. We see these gifts lived out in love, joy, peace, and other virtues taught in Scripture. The presence of God’s Spirit assures us that we are God’s children.
Salvation
Salvation is God’s gracious redemption of human beings and the entirety of creation, which God accomplished through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Because God reconciled the world, we want all people to be reconciled to God, which is why our church lives as a community of faith. We cannot earn or pay for our salvation; we trust in the grace of the living God. This is what it means that we are saved by grace through faith. As we respond to God’s gift of salvation in our baptism, we join the life of Jesus in the world. We teach and practice believer baptism by immersion, seeing it as most consistent with baptism in Scripture. Respecting individual consciences, we also receive believers who were baptized by another form.
Church
The church is the fellowship of saved people under the one true God, the creator and sustainer of all life. We are the living body of Christ on earth empowered by God’s Holy Spirit to speak and live the good news of Jesus with every person we meet. We are an open and affirming community of faith where no one is turned away from Jesus for any reason. We baptize believers. We walk with one another as those who are always being shaped in the image and likeness of Christ. Everyone participates in all aspects of the life of the church regardless of their age, ethnicity, race, gender, socioeconomic status, marital status, sexual identity or orientation, disability, place of origin, citizenship status, political party, or any other category in which we tend to place people in our society. We welcome one another as Christ has welcomed us.
The Lord’s Supper
The practice of Communion was established by Jesus to commemorate and to “re-present” his body and blood given for us. Each Sunday we receive the bread and cup, through which, by faith, we feed on Christ with thanksgiving. The Lord’s Supper is a sacred gift God continues to give us as we celebrate our salvation with one another.
The Bible
The Bible includes the Jewish and Christian Scriptures. Although written by humans, it is inspired by God. The chief purpose of the Bible is to point us to Jesus our Savior. The Bible is our guide for life, what we believe, and how we live together as a community of Jesus followers. We believe that passages like Deuteronomy 6:4-9, Matthew 5-7, and Second Corinthians 3:7-4:18 guide our beliefs and actions as the people of Jesus.
Worship
We gather on Sunday mornings to honor God and build up one another. Each Sunday we pray, read Scripture, preach, take the Lord’s Supper, and sing. All people participate in our service. Much of the time we sing in four-part acappella music. At times, for special songs, we use instrumental music. We love many kinds of songs from traditional hymns to contemporary praise. Most of all, we invite everyone to open your life to the Spirit of the Living God as we together participate actively in worship.
Last Things, Things That Last
One day, Jesus will return in person and in power to complete the work of creation. We know in Jesus how the story ends. In the meantime, we are motivated to live with hope and courage, focusing our life on Jesus, one another, and the things that last. “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being! All this is from God…” (from Second Corinthians 5)
