An Introduction to Our Beliefs

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• The Holy Bible is the verbally inspired Word of the living God.
• God is eternally manifested in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
• Jesus Christ our Lord is sovereign over the individual believer and the local church, and we as believers are ultimately submissive to Him and Him alone.
• The Holy Spirit produces godly fruit in our lives.
• Mankind is lost and spiritually dead through the sin of Adam, but God sent His Son Jesus Christ to redeem us from sin and sickness and to give us eternal life through repentance and faith in Christ Jesus.
• After this life there is a place prepared for those who are saved and a place for the lost.

• Worship of God is a daily action of bowing ourselves down spiritually before Him and exalting Him above all else in our lives.
• Our worship services include congregational worship as well as praise following the New Testament scriptural expression of …psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God (Colossians 3:16). Ephesians 5:19-20.
• Our singing is typically accompanied by a variety of musical instruments, led by anointed leaders of worship (Psalms 68:25; 33:2-3; 81:1-3; I Chronicles 25:1-7).

• "Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might" (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:29-30; Luke 10:27.
• Our worship services are solely aimed at pleasing and serving God.
• We worship and love Him …because He first loved us (I John 4:19).

• We recognize that the Body of Christ is comprised of many diverse members, all of whom share an important need for, and an interdependent relationship with, each other.
• The Living Word Fellowship is contending for the level of oneness within the Body of Christ which Jesus identified in John 17:21 when He asked the Father, "that they may all be one…that the world may believe that You sent Me."

• By speaking the truth in love, God has made provision for those in the church to live and work together in unity and to grow up in all aspects into Christ (Ephesians 4:15).
• By every member supplying and properly functioning in his or her part, the Body of Christ grows and builds itself up in love (Ephesians 4:16).
• We regard and esteem each other publicly as precious members of God's family, worthy of honor and respect for being faithful to His calling (I Corinthians 16:15-18; Romans 16:1-4).
• Pay to all what is due them…respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due (Romans 13:7; NRSV).
• Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor (Romans 12:10).
• Always giving thanks for all things…and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ (Ephesians 5:20-21).
• Jesus Christ coming forth in each believer is the hope of God's glory (Colossians 1:27).
• Jesus Christ is coming …to be glorified in His saints…and to be marveled at among all who have believed… (II Thessalonians 1:10).

• Each believer must be free to follow God's leading for his or her life. Our desire is for every believer to continue in their Christian faith and to fulfill their individual destiny in whatever place God chooses.
• For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. …God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired (I Corinthians 12:12,18).
• People are set into a church in the fellowship upon a common agreement between the prospective new member and the church.
• Likewise, members are free to leave our fellowship without any condemnation, and with God's blessing, to continue in their walk with Him elsewhere as He would place them (I Corinthians 12:18).

• "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 5:16).
• Our church members maintain an active role in various community services such as Neighborhood Watch, police and fire departments, community planning departments, local city boards and councils, and ministerial associations.
• Some of our members are active leaders and resources for youth organizations and community athletic leagues.
• Some of our facilities are made available as polling places for local and national elections, as well as community theatrical productions.
• Some of our churches operate educational programs that serve the community by providing solid academic training in a safe and intimate environment.

• We receive the ministries of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, elders, deacons, helps, administration, etc., as outlined in Ephesians 4:11; I Corinthians 12:27-31; Romans 12:4-8; I Peter 5:1-5; I Timothy 3:8-10. In our services, we exercise the spiritual gifts that God gave, as identified in I Corinthians 12 and 14.
• We believe the book of Acts and the New Testament epistles comprise the model for how the church of Jesus Christ is to be organized and operated.
• The Living Word Fellowship believes it is vital that we…contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints (Jude 3).

• Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself (James 2:17).
• They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Day by day continuing with one mind…breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart. And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul… (Acts 2:42,46; 4:32).

Want more than an introduction? Read our vision and purpose, then delve into two foundational messages:

To Be A Christian

The Lordship Of Jesus Christ