Risen Church affirms the historic Nicene Creed as our primary statement of faith. All orthodox streams of Christianity affirm this creed, which dates back to the 4th century. It is more than an intellectual checklist of doctrines.
It is a confession of worship that forms us as the people of God and draws us together into the life of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The Church is God’s Plan A established over 2000 years ago. It exists to share the Good News of Jesus with the world and equip those who follow him. While our church owns a building in North County, The Church is the gathering and growing of God’s people in community.
We are passing through earth with an eternal destination. We will exist eternally either with or apart from God. To be eternally separated from God is Hell, and to be in eternal union with Him is Heaven.
John 3:16 • Romans 6:23 • Revelation 20:15 • Philippians 2:5-11
Baptism is our public declaration that we have accepted the gift of salvation through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.
God is one God, who exists eternally in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Jesus Christ is both completely human, and completely God. Jesus came as the perfect sacrifice who took on our sin and shame so we could take on His righteousness through his resurrection. Jesus is the substitution satisfying the penalty of sin which is death.
The Holy Spirit is equal with God the Father and the Son. He enters our lives at the moment of salvation and is our daily helper in understanding truth, guiding our actions, and accessing the living power of God. We live by the Spirit’s guidance daily.
Acts 1:8 • Galatians 5:25 • Corinthians 2:12 • Ephesians 1:13
It was written by human authors under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit. Because each word is inspired by the Spirit of God, it is without error and forever relevant to our daily lives.
You were made on purpose, in the image of God, for fellowship with Him. Everyone is created with unique giftings, purpose, and worthy of respect and dignity.
Our conversations will always orient toward conflict if we don’t fiirst establish the rules of grace. We may not agree on every non-essential topic surrounding faith, but there is always a seat at the table for you.
We affirm the divine inspiration, truthfulness and authority of both Old and New Testament Scriptures in their entirety as the only written Word of God and the only infallible rule of faith and practice. God’s Word has the power to accomplish God’s purposes in the world. The message of the Bible is addressed to all people. The Holy Spirit still speaks today through the Scriptures, illuminating the minds of God’s people in every culture to perceive its truth freshly through their own eyes and thus disclosing to the whole church ever more of the many-colored wisdom of God.
Marriage is designed by God to be a lifelong covenant between a man and woman that is characterized by faithfulness and self-giving, sacrificial love. Marriage is also meant for fruitfulness: it carries the potential for the procreation and care of children. As a union of two equal yet different persons, male and female, marriage reveals both the design of creation and the goal of salvation. One of the ways the Bible describes the union of heaven and earth and of God and His people is through the metaphor of marriage. And yet, marriage is not a more elevated status than singleness. Jesus is the fullness of a flourishing human being and was single in His earthly life. Every single human is the image of God, and is therefore complete before God, bestowed with the dignity and purpose of reflecting God’s rule in the world. Moreover, singleness bears witness to the full arrival of God’s Kingdom when marriage is no more and God will be all in all.
Marriage is designed by God to be a lifelong covenant between a man and woman that is characterized by faithfulness and self-giving, sacrificial love. Marriage is also meant for fruitfulness: it carries the potential for the procreation and care of children. As a union of two equal yet different persons, male and female, marriage reveals both the design of creation and the goal of salvation. One of the ways the Bible describes the union of heaven and earth and of God and His people is through the metaphor of marriage. And yet, marriage is not a more elevated status than singleness. Jesus is the fullness of a flourishing human being and was single in His earthly life. Every single human is the image of God, and is therefore complete before God, bestowed with the dignity and purpose of reflecting God’s rule in the world. Moreover, singleness bears witness to the full arrival of God’s Kingdom when marriage is no more and God will be all in all.
We hold to a historic orthodox biblical definition of human sexuality and gender. We believe God has designed marriage to be enjoyed in the commitment of lifelong relationship between one man and one woman for one lifetime.
(Genesis 1, Psalm 100, Romans 1)
The Kingdom of God is a central theme throughout the Bible, representing God’s rule expressed through His power in a particular place (all over creation), through a particular people (Israel first, then the church in the new covenant). God’s throne is established on a foundation of both righteousness and justice, uniting the two as essential elements of God’s reign. The Gospels reveal Jesus as the Kingdom-bringer, the one who inaugurates the arrival of God’s reign on earth through his incarnation, ministry, death, and resurrection. At his ascension, Jesus takes the throne and rules as King by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit at work through the church. The culmination of the Kingdom comes when Jesus returns and brings about the renewal of all things. The church lives between the “now” and the “not yet” of God’s reign. The mission of the church in relation to the Kingdom of God is to announce and to anticipate the Kingdom of God. The church announces the Kingdom, proclaiming the good news and inviting people to experience God’s forgiveness and life-giving rule. The church also anticipates the Kingdom’s arrival in fullness by seeking to live now as it will be then. This looks like engaging in acts of mercy, praying for miracles, giving and receiving forgiveness, bringing about reconciliation, and more as we seek and to see God’s Kingdom come and will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
The church is a community of the Kingdom of God. We are a people who have been redeemed by Jesus, called by His name and made a new creation; we are being filled with the Spirit as one new family to live together under the reign of Jesus and walk together in the Way of Jesus. The church expresses its life together as it gathers in worship and is sent in mission throughout the world. We recognize that the Scriptures admonish us to continue gathering together to glorify God and edify (build up) each other. Though God is present throughout His world, we believe that God is specially present when the church gathers in Jesus’s name. The church is also sent out from the gathering by the power of the Holy Spirit on mission with Jesus into the world for the good of others and the glory of God.
We believe in making space for the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, welcoming the Spirit to move in whatever way God pleases while also exercising wisdom and discernment for each context. For this reason we eagerly desire all spiritual gifts and seek for everyone of all ages to practice them regularly in a fitting and orderly way, while also remaining open to the holy wildness of the Spirit’s work.
In the context of prayer ministry, spiritual gifts are to be exercised in a way that submits to pastoral leadership and honors the people present and their stage in the journey of faith as well as their unique story. We embrace a loving posture, recognizing that the purpose of the prophetic is to strengthen, encourage, comfort, and build up the church.
Every good gift comes from our good and generous Father. As children of God, we want to allow the Holy Spirit to help us cultivate lives of generosity that demonstrate the heart of our Father. We learn from the Old Testament practice of tithing that giving of our resources is to be done regularly and symbolically. The principle of “first fruits” invites us to honor God with the fruit of our labor as a sign that everything we have comes from God and belongs to God. In the New Testament, we find that giving to God is to be an act of worship that is brought to the house of worship (see Acts 5), continuing a theme from the various practices of tithes and offerings in the Old Testament. Both Jesus and Paul urge us to give generously not begrudgingly. Living with generosity requires embracing simplicity and contentment, both of which are virtues the Bible exhorts us to embrace. At Rockharbor, we desire followers of Jesus to give regularly, symbolically, and generously to God through the local church as an act worship.