What We Believe at Stonewater Fellowship

We believe in one triune God, the Creator of all things. He is holy, infinitely perfect, and eternally exists in a loving unity of three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

God possesses limitless knowledge and sovereign power. From eternity, He has graciously purposed to redeem a people for Himself and to make all things new for His glory.

We believe that God has spoken and revealed Himself through the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, written through human authors.

As the verbally inspired, or God-breathed, Word of God, the Bible is without error in its original writings and has been faithfully transmitted and translated into modern languages. It reveals God’s will for salvation and is the ultimate authority for belief and life.

Therefore, the Bible is to be believed in everything it teaches, obeyed in everything it requires, and trusted in everything it promises.

We believe that God created Adam and Eve in His image, but they sinned when tempted by Satan.

In union with Adam, human beings are sinners by nature and by choice, alienated from God, and under His wrath. Only through God’s saving work in Jesus Christ can a person be rescued, reconciled to God, and renewed to spiritual life.

We believe that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh—fully God and fully human, one Person in two natures.

Jesus, Israel’s promised Messiah, was conceived through the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, rose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest, Advocate, and Lord.

We believe that Jesus Christ, as our representative and substitute, shed His blood on the cross as the perfect and all-sufficient sacrifice for our sins.

His atoning death and victorious resurrection are the only grounds for salvation.

We believe that the Holy Spirit glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ in everything He does.

He convicts the world of guilt, regenerates sinners, unites believers with Christ, and brings them into God’s family. He also indwells, illuminates, guides, equips, gifts, and empowers believers for Christlike living, Christian service, and ministry to the world.

We believe that the true church includes everyone who has been justified by God’s grace through faith alone in Christ alone. Believers are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which Jesus is the Head.

The universal church is expressed through local churches whose membership should be composed of believers.

Jesus established two ordinances—baptism and the Lord’s Supper—which visibly express the gospel. They are not the means of salvation, but when observed in genuine faith, they confirm and nourish the believer.

We believe that God’s justifying grace must not be separated from His sanctifying power and purpose.

God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially. We are called to care for one another, show compassion toward the poor, and seek justice for the oppressed.

Through God’s Word, the Spirit’s power, and prayer in Christ’s name, believers resist spiritual evil. In obedience to Christ’s commission, we make disciples among all people and bear witness to the gospel through both words and actions.

We believe in the personal, bodily, premillennial return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Christ will return at a time known only to God. This promise calls believers to remain expectant and motivates godly living, sacrificial service, and active participation in God’s mission.

We believe that God commands everyone everywhere to respond to the gospel by turning to Him in repentance and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ.

God will bodily raise the dead and judge the world. Unbelievers will face condemnation and eternal conscious punishment, while believers will experience eternal blessedness and joy with the Lord in the new heaven and new earth, to the praise of His glorious grace. Amen.