At Lighthouse Community Church We Believe:
The Scriptures
The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God’s revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter.
God
There is one and only one living and true God. The eternal God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.
God the Father
God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
God the Son
Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ, He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His death on the cross, He made provision for the redemption of men from sin.
God the Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. He exalts Christ. He convicts of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service.
Man
Man was created by the special act of God, in His own image, and is the crowning work of His creation. By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore every man possesses dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.
Salvation
Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, sanctification, and glorification.
The Church
A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a local body of baptized believers who are associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. This church is an autonomous body. The New Testament speaks also of the church as the body of Christ, which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages.
Theological and Social Distinctives
Black Lives Matter – We believe that racism to its core is sin. We believe all humanity is created as the image of God and thus any racism is a rejection of God, the Creator. That being said, we do not support the BLM movement as at its core it is not simply about racism.
Marriage and sexuality – We believe marriage to be instituted by God and is limited to one male married to one female. While divorce violates His intended will for the “one-flesh” relationship of a husband and wife, in His grace He has allowed for divorce and re-marriage in very specific contexts. Furthermore, we believe that any sexual activity outside of marriage goes against the revealed will of God. Sexual immorality is not simply limited to sexual intercourse prior to marriage. We believe the gift of sex is two-fold in the will God. By its nature, sex is the means by which humanity is to procreate. Secondly, the sexual relationship is the most intimate gift of the marriage relationship where husband and wife give themselves to their spouse for the pleasure of their spouse.
LGBTQ+ — We believe gender is not assigned at birth but in the womb by God. God, in His sovereign will as Creator, gives to each the gender He intends for them.
Abortion – We believe that human life begins at conception. Any action intending to end the life of an unborn child is an act of sin. Any and all life conceived in the womb, regardless of context, is created as the image of God, intimately formed in the womb by His hand and is thus precious in His sight.
Role of women – We hold the complementarian nature of men and women. Men and women are equally precious and valuable in the sight of God, with equal standing before God. In His created order though, God calls men and women to different roles, the same as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are equally God yet with different roles, including willing submission within the Trinity. Within the local church we believe women, in their God-given role, are not to serve as pastors/elders nor be the authoritative teachers of scripture within a mixed adult congregational gathering.
Miraculous “sign” gifts – We believe God in His sovereignty is able to empower any believer at any time to perform miracles as He wills. We do not believe, however, such outpouring of the Spirit to be normative in the life of the Church in our day and age. Spiritual gifting is an act of the Holy Spirit as He wills and thus any miraculous gifts (including the gift of tongues) cannot be sought or learned. Furthermore, we believe the gift of tongues to be actual human language given for the purpose of evangelizing unbelievers who do not speak a language common to both the speaker and hearer.
Eschatology – We believe in the physical and visible, pre-millennial return of Jesus to rule and reign for 1000 years on the earth. We believe in a literal time of tribulation on the earth for the purpose of re-gathering the remnant Israel and bringing them to repentance while at the same time pouring out a foretaste of His wrath on the earth in a final call for sinners to repent before Jesus returns.