What We Believe
Christian faith tells the true story of the triune God, who created all things, came among us in Jesus Christ, poured out the Holy Spirit, gathered a people, and will make all things new.
We receive this story in Holy Scripture and confess its central truths with Christians across the centuries in the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds. These beliefs name the reality in which we worship, follow Jesus, and learn to live.
We believe in one God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—eternally holy, loving, and life-giving. Out of love, God created all things good. God made human beings in his image, giving every person an unshakable dignity and calling us to love God, one another, and the world entrusted to our care.
Human sin has distorted that calling. Sin is both guilt and bondage: it turns us from God, bends us inward, fractures our common life, and brings death. We cannot rescue or restore ourselves. Yet God has not abandoned the world he loves.
In faithfulness to his promises to Israel and love for the whole world, God sent his eternal Son. Conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, Jesus Christ is truly God and truly human.
Jesus announced and embodied the kingdom of God. He welcomed sinners, healed the sick, confronted evil, forgave sins, and revealed the Father’s love. On the cross, he freely gave himself for us, bearing our sin, defeating the powers that enslave us, and reconciling us to God. The Father raised him bodily from the dead. He ascended, reigns as Lord, and intercedes for us.
Jesus Christ is the fullest revelation of who God is and what God intends for creation. In him we encounter forgiveness, freedom, healing, and new life.
Salvation is God’s gift from beginning to end. By grace through faith, we are forgiven, reconciled to God, born anew by the Holy Spirit, and joined to the life of Christ. Repentance is our Spirit-enabled turning from sin toward the God who has already turned toward us in mercy.
The grace that forgives us also begins to heal and transform us. The Spirit draws us into lifelong communion with Christ, bringing the whole of our lives under his loving reign.
We receive the Bible as God’s inspired Word and the trustworthy authority for our faith and life. Scripture tells one unfolding story that finds its center in Jesus Christ and its promised fulfillment in the renewal of all things. We read it prayerfully, depending on the Holy Spirit, within the worshiping community, and in conversation with the Church across the centuries.
We believe the Holy Spirit is present and active among us today. The Spirit awakens faith, makes Jesus known, forms Christlike character, empowers the Church for witness, and gives gifts for the good of others. We seek the baptism and ongoing fullness of the Spirit and welcome the Spirit’s gifts, including prophecy, healing, and tongues.
Spiritual power must never be separated from spiritual fruit. We test everything by Scripture, the character of Jesus, and whether it builds up the Church in love. We pray boldly for healing, entrust every outcome to God’s wisdom, and remain faithfully present to those who suffer.
God’s saving grace gathers us by the Holy Spirit into the Church, the body of Christ and a foretaste of God’s coming kingdom. The Church extends across nations, cultures, generations, and traditions, united by one Lord, one faith, and one baptism.
We gather to worship, open Scripture, pray, receive the Lord’s Supper, and encourage one another. At the Lord’s Table, we remember and proclaim Christ’s saving death. The crucified and risen Christ meets us there, gives himself to us for the forgiveness of sins, and draws us together into his risen life. In baptism, we are joined to Christ in his death and resurrection, washed by the Spirit, and incorporated into the shared life of his body, the Church.
Every member of Christ’s body is gifted for ministry. Women and men are called and empowered to serve, lead, and bear witness to Jesus. Together, we are sent to announce and embody the good news through evangelism, mercy, justice, reconciliation, hospitality, and service to our neighbors.
We believe Jesus Christ will come again personally and gloriously. The dead will be raised, evil will be judged, and God will renew creation. Sin, suffering, injustice, and death will not have the final word. God will dwell with his people, and all things will be made new.
This hope gives us courage to remain present to the world, live faithfully, love generously, seek justice, proclaim the gospel, and pray, “Come, Lord Jesus.”
Church on the Hill is part of the Foursquare Church, a global Spirit-filled movement. Foursquare’s fourfold gospel is: Jesus Christ is Savior, Baptizer with the Holy Spirit, Healer, and Soon-Coming King. We are grateful for our Foursquare heritage and for our place within the wider historic Christian Church. Our life together is shaped by both: expectancy for the present work of the Holy Spirit and rootedness in the faith and practices Christians have received across generations.