What We Believe
The Trinity – God is both One and Triune. The Biblical revelation testifies that there is only one God and that He is eternally existent in three Persons—Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
God the Father - God the Father is the Creator and Sustainer of all things, and He created the universe in love. He created man in His own image for fellowship and called man back to Himself through Christ after the rebellion and fall of man.
The Son - Jesus Christ is eternally God. He was together with the Father and the Holy Spirit from the beginning, and through Him all things were made. For man’s redemption He left heaven and became incarnate by the Holy Spirit through the virgin Mary. Henceforth, He is forever one Christ with two natures—God and man—in one person.
The Holy Spirit – We believe that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead. A true Believer is Born-Again by the Spirit and is baptized into the body of Christ and sealed with the Spirit as a pledge of our inheritance in Christ. The Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts to both men and women for the purpose of building up the body of Christ. The Holy Spirit leads us into all truth, councils us with the wisdom of God and comforts us in times of sorrow.
The Scriptures – We believe that the Bible (both Old and New Testaments) is the inspired and infallible Word of God and that it’s authority is ultimate, final and eternal. It cannot be added to, subtracted from or superseded in any regard. The Bible is the source of all doctrine, instruction, correction and reproof. It contains all that is needed for guidance in godliness and practical Christian conduct.
The Atonement – Christ’s death on the cross paid the penalty for the sins of the whole world, but its benefits are only applicable to those who believe and receive Jesus as Lord and Savior. Healing—body, soul and spirit—and all of God’s provisions for His saints, are provided for in the atonement, but these must be appropriated.
Salvation – Salvation is a free gift of God, based on the merits of the death of His Son, and is appropriated by faith. Salvation is affected by personal repentance, belief in the Lord Jesus (justification) and personal acceptance of Him into one’s life as Lord and Savior (regeneration). The new life in Christ includes the privileges of adoption and inheritance in the kingdom of God’s beloved Son. Salvation is an act of free will in response to God’s personal love for mankind and should produce an active lifestyle of loving obedience and service to Jesus Christ our Savior.
The Christian Life – We believe that God’s divine power has given us everything that we need to live a life of Godliness and that through daily surrender to the Holy Spirit we will be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ.
Marriage – We believe that the term “marriage” has only one meaning: the uniting of one man and one woman in a single, exclusive union, as delineated in Scripture. We believe that God intends sexual intimacy to occur only between a man and a woman who are married to each other. We will only recognize marriages between a biological man and a biological woman.
Human Life – We believe that all human life is sacred and created by God in His image. Human life is of inestimable worth in all its dimensions, including pre-born babies, the aged, the physically or mentally challenged, and every other stage or condition from conception through natural death. We are therefore called to defend, protect, and value all human life.
The Church – The role of the Church is to encourage the saints, equip them for the works of the ministry, and to release them to minister to those inside and outside of the Church. A healthy church is one that operates under biblical authority. SomaChurch is Elder Governed, Pastor Led, Staff Ran and Church owned. It is essential to the life of the Church that scriptural patterns of discipline are practiced and that oversight for Church discipline, individual and corporate, is exercised by the leadership of the Church.
Eschatology – We affirm the bodily, personal, second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the resurrection of the saints, the millennium and the final judgment. The final judgment will determine the eternal status of both the saints and the unbelievers, determined by their relationship to Jesus Christ.