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Statement of Beliefs

The City is a nondenominational, Reformed Charismatic church that preaches verse by verse and has exciting worship! See our full Statement of Beliefs below.
About God
God is the creator, the uncaused cause and ruler of the universe. He has eternally existed in three persons – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three are co-equal and are one God. God is eternally and infinitely holy, righteous, good, sovereign, loving, kind, true, wise, jealous, powerful and merciful. God is omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent. God is spirit.

(Genesis 1:1, 26, 27; 3:22; Psalm 90:2; Matthew 28:19; 1 Peter 1:2; 2; 1 Corinthians 13:14)

About Mankind
Mankind is made in the spiritual image of God, to be like Him in character. Mankind is the supreme object of God’s creation. Life begins at the moment of conception and at that moment has infinite value and worth. Although man has tremendous potential for good, he is born into and marred by an attitude of disobedience toward God called "sin." This attitude separates man from God.

(Genesis 1:27; Psalm 8:3-6; Psalm 139:13-17, Isaiah 53:6a; Romans 3:23; Isaiah 59:1,2)

About Eternity
Man was created to exist forever. He will either exist eternally separated from God by sin or in union with God through forgiveness and salvation. To be eternally separated from God is hell. To be eternally in union with him is eternal life. Heaven and hell are places of eternal existence. Believers in Jesus receive eternal life and will live forever with Jesus in a new city, on a new earth, with a new body.

(John 3:16; John 2:25; John 5:11-13; Romans 6:23; Revelation 20:15; 1 John 5:11-12; Matthew 25:31-46)

About Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is co-equal with the Father and so is God Himself. Jesus lived a sinless human life and offered himself as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all men by dying on a cross. He arose from the dead after three days to demonstrate His power over sin and death and proving that He is God. He ascended to heaven and will return again to earth to reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

(Matthew 1:22, 23; Isaiah 9:6; John 1:1-5, 14:10-30; Hebrews 4:14, 15; 1 Corinthians 15:3, 4; Romans 1:3, 4; Acts 1:9-11; 1 Timothy 6:14, 15; Titus 2:13)

About Salvation
Salvation is a gift from God to man. Man can never make up for his sin by self-improvement or good works – only by trusting in Jesus Christ as God’s offer of forgiveness can man be saved from sin’s penalty. Eternal life begins the moment one receives Jesus Christ into his life by faith. Good people don’t go to heaven, forgiven people do. A person is forgiven of their sin and made right with God by God’s grace alone, through faith in Jesus’ finished work on the cross alone.

(John 1:12, 14:6; Acts 4:12; Romans 4:1-25, 5:1-2, 6-11, 6:23, 10:1-4, 10:9; Galatians 3:26; Ephesians 2:1-9; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; Titus 3:4-7)

About Eternal Security
Because God gives man eternal life through Jesus Christ, the believer is secure in salvation for eternity. Salvation is maintained by the grace and power of God, not by the self-effort of the Christian. Believers will, however, produce a life of works and worship for the glory of God.

(John 10:29; 2 Timothy 1:12; Hebrews 7:25; 10:10, 14; 1 Peter 1:3-5, James 2)

About The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is equal with the Father and the Son as God. He is present in the world to make men aware of their need for Jesus Christ. He also lives in every Christian from the moment of salvation. He provides the Christian with power for supernatural living, understanding of spiritual truth, and guidance in doing what is right. The Christian seeks to live under His control daily. The Holy Spirit also manifests Himself in different ways in each follower of Jesus through various spiritual gifts that are used for the glory of God and the building of the church.

(2 Corinthians 3:17; John 16:7-13, 14:16, 17; Acts 1:8; 1 Corinthians 2:12, 3:16, 12; Ephesians 1:13; Galatians 5:25; Ephesians 5:1)

About The Bible
The Bible is God’s word to all men and contains God’s self revelation. It was written by human authors, under the supernatural inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Jesus, being God, quoted from every portion of the Old Testament saying it was God’s word and then gave the apostles alone the authority to write the words of Scripture. Therefore, it is the supreme source of truth for Christian beliefs and living. Because it is inspired by God, it is truth without any mixture of error.
Jesus said His words would never pass away so that is why what is written in the Bible is the same as what is in the original manuscripts. God has ensured that His Word would never pass away through the Holy Spirit guiding the church as they determined the canon of Scripture and protecting the copying of Scripture so that we might know Him and worship Him today. The preservation and correct assembling of the canon of Scripture should ultimately be seen by believers, then, not as part of church history subsequent to God’s great central acts of redemption for his people, but as an integral part of the history of redemption itself. Just as God was at work in creation, in the calling of his people Israel, in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, and in the early work and writings of the apostles, so God was at work in the preservation and assembling together of the books of Scripture for the benefit of his people for the entire church age.
Ultimately, then, we base our confidence in the Bible and the correctness of our present canon on the resurrection of Jesus from the grave and the faithfulness of God. Thus, the Bible is useful and applicable to every generation because Jesus rose from the dead proving He is God and said His words are truth and would never pass away. Therefore, to disbelieve or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God. Secondly, to say that the Bible is not God’s word or not relevant today would be to believe that Jesus did not rise from the grave and is not God. The Apostle John said that not one word should be added or taken away from the Scripture, so the canon of Scripture is closed.
All of the Bible is about Jesus and points to Jesus. The Bible is divided into Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament speaks of the Old Covenant between God and Israel and points to the Messiah that will come and inaugurate a New Covenant that will be for all people. The New Testament speaks of the New Covenant of grace that is made possible by the Messiah, Jesus, fully satisfying the demands of the Old Covenant and His finished work on the cross and resurrection from the dead. The New Testament also looks forward to the second coming of Jesus Christ.

(2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20, 21, 3:2, 16; 2 Timothy 1:13; Psalm 119:105,160, 12:6; Proverbs 30:5; Matthew 24:35; Luke 24:27; John 5:39, 14:26, 16:13-14; Revelation 22:18-19)

About Baptism
Baptism by immersion symbolizes the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus and is your public declaration that you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. Baptism does not save you, but shows the world that you have already been saved. And while baptism is not required for salvation, it is a biblical command and demonstrates your love and obedience to Christ. Since baptism is for professing believers only, we do not baptize infants or children that have not personally given their lives to Jesus.

(Colossians 2:12; Acts 2:41; Ephesians 2: 8-9; Matthew 28:19-20)

About Communion
Communion, or the Lord’s Supper, is an ordinance given to all believers by Jesus Christ to remember his sacrifice for us and to symbolize the new covenant. The elements of bread and wine or juice are symbols of Christ’s broken body and shed blood. Communion is not a means of salvation. Rather, it is a testament of a believer’s faith in the atoning work of the cross.

(Matthew 26:26-30; Mark 14:22-26; Luke 22:19,20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-29)

About Prayer
Prayer is personal and corporate communication with God through our great high priest and one mediator, Jesus Christ. What we call “prayer” includes prayers of request for ourselves or for others (sometimes called prayers of petition or intercession), confession of sin, adoration, praise and thanksgiving, and also God communicating to us indications of his response. Prayer is not made so that God can find out what we need, because Jesus tells us, “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” God wants us to pray because prayer expresses our trust in God and is a means whereby our trust in him can increase. The primary emphasis of the Bible’s teaching on prayer is that we are to pray with faith, which means trust or dependence on God. God, as our Creator, delights in being trusted by us as his creatures, for an attitude of dependence is most appropriate to the Creator/creature relationship. Praying in humble dependence also indicates that we are genuinely convinced of God’s wisdom, love, goodness, and power—indeed of all of the attributes that make up his excellent character. As children look to their fathers to provide for them, so God expects us to look to him in prayer. He also wants us to love him and have fellowship with him. This, then, is a second reason why God wants us to pray: Prayer brings us into deeper fellowship with God, and he loves us and delights in our fellowship with him. A third reason God wants us to pray is that in prayer God allows us as creatures to be involved in activities that are eternally important. When we pray, the work of the kingdom is advanced. In this way, prayer gives us the opportunity to be involved in a significant way in the work of the kingdom. Genuine prayer is conversation with a Person whom we know well, and who knows us. Such genuine conversation between persons who know each other never depends on the use of certain formulas or required words, but is a matter of sincerity in our speech and in our heart, a matter of right attitudes, and a matter of the condition of our spirit.

(Matthew 6:8-9; Luke 11:9-13; James 1:6-8, 5:14-15; Exodus 32:9-14; 2 Chronicles 7:14; 1 John 1:9; 1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 10:22; Acts 4:29-31)

About Marriage
Marriage is between one man and one woman for one lifetime. Husbands and wives should mutually submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. At the same time, husbands and wives have different needs in a marriage relationship and have different but equal roles. Husbands are to spiritually lead their families and love their wives like Christ loved the church. Wives should nurture their families and respect their husbands out of reverence for Christ. God hates divorce as it separates what He has joined together resulting in significant pain and brokenness for the entire family. However, according to Scripture, there are 3 grounds for divorce: adultery, abandonment and in certain cases of abuse. If anyone divorces their spouse for any other reason and remarries, that person is committing adultery. The marriage bed should be honored, therefore a couple should not live together or sleep together until they are married.

(Genesis 2:18-20, 24; Matthew 5:32, 19:4-6, 9; Luke 16:18; Ephesians 5:21-33; Romans 1:26-27; John 4:16-18; 1 Corinthians 7:15; Hebrews 13:4; Jude 1:7, 10-11, 19)

About Gender
God assigns each person their gender at conception according to His sovereign will. God’s best for each person, which is at the same time our ultimate satisfaction and joy, is found in fully embracing and pursuing that God assigned gender. Both male and female are created in the image of God and therefore have infinite value and worth. Male and female, while equal in value and worth before God, are different and therefore have different needs and roles in the created order.

(Genesis 1:27, Psalm 139:13-17, Matthew 19:4, Ephesians 5:21-33, 1 Timothy 3:1-11, Titus 1:5-9, 2:1-5)

About the Church
The church is the community of all true believers for all time. This definition understands the church to be made of all those who are truly saved. Paul says, “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” Here the term “the church” is used to apply to all those whom Christ died to redeem, all those who are saved by the death of Christ. But that must include all true believers for all time, both believers in the New Testament age and believers in the Old Testament age as well. So great is God’s plan for the church that he has exalted Christ to a position of highest authority for the sake of the church: “He has put all things under his feet and has made Him the head over all things for the church which is his body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” Jesus Christ himself builds the church by calling His people to Himself. He promised, “I will build my church.” In the New Testament, the word “church” may be applied to a group of believers at any level, ranging from a very small group meeting in a private home or public gathering and all the way to the group of all true believers in the universal church from all times. Among many other names and illustrations, the church is called the family of God, the body of Christ and the bride of Christ. The church should preach God’s word and the gospel of Jesus, make disciples of Jesus, worship Jesus, love each other, serve each other and administer the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. A church must have and be led by Biblically qualified elders.

(Ephesians 1:22-23, 5:25; Matthew 16:18; Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 16:19; 1 Timothy 3, 5; Titus 1; 1 Peter 5)

About Missions
Throughout the Scripture, God’s desire through Christ is to redeem a people from every nation, tribe, people and language that will worship Him. Jesus told his disciples that they should “make disciples of all nations.” This evangelistic work of declaring the gospel is the primary ministry that the church has toward the world. Accompanying the work of evangelism is also a ministry of mercy, a ministry that includes caring for the oppressed, poor, orphan, unborn, widow, prisoner and needy in the name of the Lord. Such ministries of mercy to the world may also include participation in civic activities or attempting to influence governmental policies to make them more consistent with biblical moral principles. In areas where there is systematic injustice manifested in the treatment of the poor, the orphan, the unborn, the prisoner and ethnic or religious minorities, the church should also pray and—as it has opportunity—speak against such injustice. All of these are ways in which the church can supplement, not replace, its evangelistic ministry to the world and indeed adorn the gospel that it professes.

(Revelation 7:9-10; Genesis 12:1-3; Matthew 28:18-20; Isaiah 1:17; Matthew 25:31-46; Amos 5:24; Micah 6:8)

Statement of Beliefs

The City is a nondenominational, Reformed Charismatic church that preaches verse by verse and has exciting worship!
 
See our full Statement of Beliefs below.
About God
God is the creator, the uncaused cause and ruler of the universe. He has eternally existed in three persons – the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three are co-equal and are one God. God is eternally and infinitely holy, righteous, good, sovereign, loving, kind, true, wise, jealous, powerful and merciful. God is omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent. God is spirit.

(Genesis 1:1, 26, 27; 3:22; Psalm 90:2; Matthew 28:19; 1 Peter 1:2; 2; 1 Corinthians 13:14)

About Mankind
Mankind is made in the spiritual image of God, to be like Him in character. Mankind is the supreme object of God’s creation. Life begins at the moment of conception and at that moment has infinite value and worth. Although man has tremendous potential for good, he is born into and marred by an attitude of disobedience toward God called "sin." This attitude separates man from God.

(Genesis 1:27; Psalm 8:3-6; Psalm 139:13-17, Isaiah 53:6a; Romans 3:23; Isaiah 59:1,2)

About Eternity
Man was created to exist forever. He will either exist eternally separated from God by sin or in union with God through forgiveness and salvation. To be eternally separated from God is hell. To be eternally in union with him is eternal life. Heaven and hell are places of eternal existence. Believers in Jesus receive eternal life and will live forever with Jesus in a new city, on a new earth, with a new body.

(John 3:16; John 2:25; John 5:11-13; Romans 6:23; Revelation 20:15; 1 John 5:11-12; Matthew 25:31-46)

About Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is co-equal with the Father and so is God Himself. Jesus lived a sinless human life and offered himself as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all men by dying on a cross. He arose from the dead after three days to demonstrate His power over sin and death and proving that He is God. He ascended to heaven and will return again to earth to reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

(Matthew 1:22, 23; Isaiah 9:6; John 1:1-5, 14:10-30; Hebrews 4:14, 15; 1 Corinthians 15:3, 4; Romans 1:3, 4; Acts 1:9-11; 1 Timothy 6:14, 15; Titus 2:13)

About Salvation
Salvation is a gift from God to man. Man can never make up for his sin by self-improvement or good works – only by trusting in Jesus Christ as God’s offer of forgiveness can man be saved from sin’s penalty. Eternal life begins the moment one receives Jesus Christ into his life by faith. Good people don’t go to heaven, forgiven people do. A person is forgiven of their sin and made right with God by God’s grace alone, through faith in Jesus’ finished work on the cross alone.

(John 1:12, 14:6; Acts 4:12; Romans 4:1-25, 5:1-2, 6-11, 6:23, 10:1-4, 10:9; Galatians 3:26; Ephesians 2:1-9; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; Titus 3:4-7)

About Eternal Security
Because God gives man eternal life through Jesus Christ, the believer is secure in salvation for eternity. Salvation is maintained by the grace and power of God, not by the self-effort of the Christian. Believers will, however, produce a life of works and worship for the glory of God.

(John 10:29; 2 Timothy 1:12; Hebrews 7:25; 10:10, 14; 1 Peter 1:3-5, James 2)

About The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is equal with the Father and the Son as God. He is present in the world to make men aware of their need for Jesus Christ. He also lives in every Christian from the moment of salvation. He provides the Christian with power for supernatural living, understanding of spiritual truth, and guidance in doing what is right. The Christian seeks to live under His control daily. The Holy Spirit also manifests Himself in different ways in each follower of Jesus through various spiritual gifts that are used for the glory of God and the building of the church.

(2 Corinthians 3:17; John 16:7-13, 14:16, 17; Acts 1:8; 1 Corinthians 2:12, 3:16, 12; Ephesians 1:13; Galatians 5:25; Ephesians 5:1)

About The Bible
The Bible is God’s word to all men and contains God’s self revelation. It was written by human authors, under the supernatural inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit. Jesus, being God, quoted from every portion of the Old Testament saying it was God’s word and then gave the apostles alone the authority to write the words of Scripture. Therefore, it is the supreme source of truth for Christian beliefs and living. Because it is inspired by God, it is truth without any mixture of error.
Jesus said His words would never pass away so that is why what is written in the Bible is the same as what is in the original manuscripts. God has ensured that His Word would never pass away through the Holy Spirit guiding the church as they determined the canon of Scripture and protecting the copying of Scripture so that we might know Him and worship Him today. The preservation and correct assembling of the canon of Scripture should ultimately be seen by believers, then, not as part of church history subsequent to God’s great central acts of redemption for his people, but as an integral part of the history of redemption itself. Just as God was at work in creation, in the calling of his people Israel, in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, and in the early work and writings of the apostles, so God was at work in the preservation and assembling together of the books of Scripture for the benefit of his people for the entire church age.
Ultimately, then, we base our confidence in the Bible and the correctness of our present canon on the resurrection of Jesus from the grave and the faithfulness of God. Thus, the Bible is useful and applicable to every generation because Jesus rose from the dead proving He is God and said His words are truth and would never pass away. Therefore, to disbelieve or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God. Secondly, to say that the Bible is not God’s word or not relevant today would be to believe that Jesus did not rise from the grave and is not God. The Apostle John said that not one word should be added or taken away from the Scripture, so the canon of Scripture is closed.
All of the Bible is about Jesus and points to Jesus. The Bible is divided into Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament speaks of the Old Covenant between God and Israel and points to the Messiah that will come and inaugurate a New Covenant that will be for all people. The New Testament speaks of the New Covenant of grace that is made possible by the Messiah, Jesus, fully satisfying the demands of the Old Covenant and His finished work on the cross and resurrection from the dead. The New Testament also looks forward to the second coming of Jesus Christ.

(2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20, 21, 3:2, 16; 2 Timothy 1:13; Psalm 119:105,160, 12:6; Proverbs 30:5; Matthew 24:35; Luke 24:27; John 5:39, 14:26, 16:13-14; Revelation 22:18-19)

About Baptism
Baptism by immersion symbolizes the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus and is your public declaration that you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. Baptism does not save you, but shows the world that you have already been saved. And while baptism is not required for salvation, it is a biblical command and demonstrates your love and obedience to Christ. Since baptism is for professing believers only, we do not baptize infants or children that have not personally given their lives to Jesus.

(Colossians 2:12; Acts 2:41; Ephesians 2: 8-9; Matthew 28:19-20)

About Communion
Communion, or the Lord’s Supper, is an ordinance given to all believers by Jesus Christ to remember his sacrifice for us and to symbolize the new covenant. The elements of bread and wine or juice are symbols of Christ’s broken body and shed blood. Communion is not a means of salvation. Rather, it is a testament of a believer’s faith in the atoning work of the cross.

(Matthew 26:26-30; Mark 14:22-26; Luke 22:19,20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-29)

About Prayer
Prayer is personal and corporate communication with God through our great high priest and one mediator, Jesus Christ. What we call “prayer” includes prayers of request for ourselves or for others (sometimes called prayers of petition or intercession), confession of sin, adoration, praise and thanksgiving, and also God communicating to us indications of his response. Prayer is not made so that God can find out what we need, because Jesus tells us, “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” God wants us to pray because prayer expresses our trust in God and is a means whereby our trust in him can increase. The primary emphasis of the Bible’s teaching on prayer is that we are to pray with faith, which means trust or dependence on God. God, as our Creator, delights in being trusted by us as his creatures, for an attitude of dependence is most appropriate to the Creator/creature relationship. Praying in humble dependence also indicates that we are genuinely convinced of God’s wisdom, love, goodness, and power—indeed of all of the attributes that make up his excellent character. As children look to their fathers to provide for them, so God expects us to look to him in prayer. He also wants us to love him and have fellowship with him. This, then, is a second reason why God wants us to pray: Prayer brings us into deeper fellowship with God, and he loves us and delights in our fellowship with him. A third reason God wants us to pray is that in prayer God allows us as creatures to be involved in activities that are eternally important. When we pray, the work of the kingdom is advanced. In this way, prayer gives us the opportunity to be involved in a significant way in the work of the kingdom. Genuine prayer is conversation with a Person whom we know well, and who knows us. Such genuine conversation between persons who know each other never depends on the use of certain formulas or required words, but is a matter of sincerity in our speech and in our heart, a matter of right attitudes, and a matter of the condition of our spirit.

(Matthew 6:8-9; Luke 11:9-13; James 1:6-8, 5:14-15; Exodus 32:9-14; 2 Chronicles 7:14; 1 John 1:9; 1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 10:22; Acts 4:29-31)

About Marriage
Marriage is between one man and one woman for one lifetime. Husbands and wives should mutually submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. At the same time, husbands and wives have different needs in a marriage relationship and have different but equal roles. Husbands are to spiritually lead their families and love their wives like Christ loved the church. Wives should nurture their families and respect their husbands out of reverence for Christ. God hates divorce as it separates what He has joined together resulting in significant pain and brokenness for the entire family. However, according to Scripture, there are 3 grounds for divorce: adultery, abandonment and in certain cases of abuse. If anyone divorces their spouse for any other reason and remarries, that person is committing adultery. The marriage bed should be honored, therefore a couple should not live together or sleep together until they are married.

(Genesis 2:18-20, 24; Matthew 5:32, 19:4-6, 9; Luke 16:18; Ephesians 5:21-33; Romans 1:26-27; John 4:16-18; 1 Corinthians 7:15; Hebrews 13:4; Jude 1:7, 10-11, 19)

About Gender
God assigns each person their gender at conception according to His sovereign will. God’s best for each person, which is at the same time our ultimate satisfaction and joy, is found in fully embracing and pursuing that God assigned gender. Both male and female are created in the image of God and therefore have infinite value and worth. Male and female, while equal in value and worth before God, are different and therefore have different needs and roles in the created order.

(Genesis 1:27, Psalm 139:13-17, Matthew 19:4, Ephesians 5:21-33, 1 Timothy 3:1-11, Titus 1:5-9, 2:1-5)

About the Church
The church is the community of all true believers for all time. This definition understands the church to be made of all those who are truly saved. Paul says, “Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” Here the term “the church” is used to apply to all those whom Christ died to redeem, all those who are saved by the death of Christ. But that must include all true believers for all time, both believers in the New Testament age and believers in the Old Testament age as well. So great is God’s plan for the church that he has exalted Christ to a position of highest authority for the sake of the church: “He has put all things under his feet and has made Him the head over all things for the church which is his body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” Jesus Christ himself builds the church by calling His people to Himself. He promised, “I will build my church.” In the New Testament, the word “church” may be applied to a group of believers at any level, ranging from a very small group meeting in a private home or public gathering and all the way to the group of all true believers in the universal church from all times. Among many other names and illustrations, the church is called the family of God, the body of Christ and the bride of Christ. The church should preach God’s word and the gospel of Jesus, make disciples of Jesus, worship Jesus, love each other, serve each other and administer the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. A church must have and be led by Biblically qualified elders.

(Ephesians 1:22-23, 5:25; Matthew 16:18; Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 16:19; 1 Timothy 3, 5; Titus 1; 1 Peter 5)

About Missions
Throughout the Scripture, God’s desire through Christ is to redeem a people from every nation, tribe, people and language that will worship Him. Jesus told his disciples that they should “make disciples of all nations.” This evangelistic work of declaring the gospel is the primary ministry that the church has toward the world. Accompanying the work of evangelism is also a ministry of mercy, a ministry that includes caring for the oppressed, poor, orphan, unborn, widow, prisoner and needy in the name of the Lord. Such ministries of mercy to the world may also include participation in civic activities or attempting to influence governmental policies to make them more consistent with biblical moral principles. In areas where there is systematic injustice manifested in the treatment of the poor, the orphan, the unborn, the prisoner and ethnic or religious minorities, the church should also pray and—as it has opportunity—speak against such injustice. All of these are ways in which the church can supplement, not replace, its evangelistic ministry to the world and indeed adorn the gospel that it professes.

(Revelation 7:9-10; Genesis 12:1-3; Matthew 28:18-20; Isaiah 1:17; Matthew 25:31-46; Amos 5:24; Micah 6:8)