Believes – CCFC-PA

What we believe as a “Friends church.”

GOD

We believe in one eternal God, omnipresent, unchanging, personal God, perfect in Holiness, wisdom, love, power, and justice without preceding cause or beginning: creator and preserver of all things, visible and invisible. (Deuteronomy 6:4, Mark 12:29, Psalm 90:1-2, Romans 1:20, Psalm 139:7-12, James 1:17, Malachi 3:6, John 14:9, Isaiah 6:3; 1 peter 1:15-16, Romans 11:33, I John 4:8, 1 Chronicles 29:11-12, Isaiah 40:26-28, E[hessians 1:18-20, Psalm 89:14, Romans, 3:26, Genesis 1:1)
He exists as one divine being and yet as a trinity of three distinct persons, identical, inseparable, and equal in divinity, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
He alone is worthy of our worship, honor, praise, and thanksgiving, now and always.

CHRIST JESUS

We believe Jesus Christ, the Word who was with God and was the Word, is the only begotten son of God. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, and is the express image of the invisible God. He combines the divine nature of God and human nature within himself in one perfect person’s personality, the God-Man. (John 1:1, John 1:14-18, 1 John 4:9, Mathew 1:18-20, Luke 1:34-35, Colossians 1:15,2:9,)
He lived and suffered in the world to show the way of life. He was crucified and died as the atonement for the son of the whole world, making the only provision whereby people can find forgiveness of sin and cleansing from all righteousness.
He died in our place and was raised on the third day for our justification; He ascended into heaven and sat at the right hand of God, ever living as our only mediator and high priest, making intercession for us, and from there, he will return to receive His church unto himself and judge the world in righteousness.

THE HOLY SPIRIT

We believe in the Holy Spirit, not as an impersonal principle or influence but as a divine and though distinct from the Father and Son, proceeding from both with whom He is equal in authority, power, glory, and title. (John 14:16-17, 16:13-14, John 15:26; 16:7, Mathew 18:19, 2 Corinthians 13:14)
He is the divine God or agent in the conviction of sin, regeneration, sanctification, and the believer’s assurance. (John 16:8, John 3:5, 1 Corinthians 6:11, Romans 8:15-16, Galathain 4:6)
He is given as an indwelling presence to every believer to be a teacher, guide, and source of comfort. He purifies the heart of the believer and imparts at His own choosing spiritual gifts for service and the building up of the body of Christ. He produces in believers the fruits of the spirit so that they may conform to the image of Christ.

THE BIBLE

As with early friends, we believe that all scripture, both of the Old and New Testament, is given by the inspiration of God, without error in all that it affirms, and is the only infallible rule of faith and practice. It is authoritative and trustworthy, sufficient for all believers, and always suitable for teaching, reproof, correction, and training in righteousness. (2 Timothy 3:16-17, Psalm 19:7-11, Psalm 119:4, 105, )
The Holy Spirit, who inspired the scripture, must ever be its true interpreter through divinely authorized records of the doctrine of the Bible. Whatever any person says or does of the guidance of the Spirit must be reckoned and accounted a delusion.
The scripture demands a believer’s complete obedience and is made increasingly open to those who study and obey it.

CREATION

We believe creation to be that free act of the triune God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, by which, in the beginning, and for His own glory, God made the whole visible and invisible universe without using pre-existing materials. From nothing to everything. (Genesis 1:1, 26-27, Hebrews 1:2, Colossians 1:16, Psalm 19:1-2, Nehemiah 9:6, John 1:3.)

SATAN

We believe the existence of the Evil one, that old serpent which is the Devil and Satan, deceivers who by his own choice rebelled against God and became evil, who tempted our first parents to sin, and who through their disobedience brought about the fall of the humanity, with all its attendant degeneracy unhappiness and misery. (Revelation 20:2, 12:7-9, Genesis 3:1-6, 2 Corinthians 11:3, Romans 5:12, 15-19, Genesis 3:17-19, Romans 8:18-22)
While Satan is active in this world, Christians, through the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in them, can resist Satan’s temptation and have victory over Him. Christ has crushed his head, and he is not over on the victory side; he is already a loser on the Cross.

HUMANITY

We believe that by a definite act, God created man and woman in His image, Holy and capable of knowing and obeying God’s will, to glorify God and enjoy His fellowship forever. (Genesis 1:26-27, 31; 2:7, Jame 3:9)
The Fall: we believe that Adam and Eve fell from this original state by voluntary disobedience, thus suffering the immediate loss of a perfect relationship with God and maintaining self and the center of their lives. By this act, they suffered spiritual death, and sin entered the world, and death by sin so that death and sin pass upon all humanity and to the creation order.

SALVATION

We believe that by the grace of God through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, a person may be reconciled to God and recover from their fallen state through justification, regeneration, sanctification, and the ultimate resurrection of the body. (Galatians 1:3-5, Ephesians 2:8-9, John 3:5, Romans 5:5, 4:25; 5:1; Titus 3:5-7, Colossians 3:9-11, 2 Thessalonians 2:13, 1 Peter 1:2. 1 Corinthians 15:20-22,)
It is also the will of God that believers receive the fullness of the spirit, which he will graciously grant in response to their full consecration to His will and their faith in Christ’s promises and his atoning death. Sanctification is thus a process in which the Holy Spirit continuously disciples the believers into the paths of Holiness and an act in which he cleanses the heart from an imperfect relationship and state.
We also further believe that the fullness of the Holy Spirit does not make believers incapable of choosing to sin, nor even from completely falling away from God. Yet, it so cleanses and empowers them to enable them to have victory over sin, to endeavor fully to love God and people, and to witness the living Christ to the world.

THE CHURCH

We believe the church has been comprised of all those from the apostles until now, both the triumphant and the living, who, through response to God’s gracious offer of salvation by repentance of their sins and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior, have been born again as new creations of Christ. This church is spiritual in nature, universal in scope, holy in character, and redemptive in its life and purpose.
We believe the church is not merely a gathering but a family of the same Father, Christ, the head of the family or church. It’s purposes are to make disciples of all nations by witnessing the grace and love of God through Christ and to live as a loving fellowship who build up one another in the grace and knowledge of God through Christ through the revelation of the Holy Spirit.
The church accomplishes its purposes by its existence as a particular local church congregation or by planting local churches worldwide. We believe in serving in order and organization; we approach blended, letting the Holy Spirit work in corporate services. It is an Evangelical church grounded on Pentecostalism. The church’s sacraments are only meant for believers to encounter, experience, and hear God’s voice. It’s through thanksgiving and prayer, through arts of Music and songs, hymns, and diligently studying the words =of God, live and witness and proclaim the Gospel, exercising the gifts and works of the Holy Spirit.