Beliefs, Baptism and Membership

What We Believe

God the Father – We believe in one God, Creator of all things, holy, infinitely perfect, and eternally existing in a loving unity of three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Having limitless knowledge and sovereign power, God has graciously purposed from eternity to redeem a people for Himself and to make all things new for His own glory.

God the Son – We believe that Jesus Christ is God incarnate, fully God and fully man, 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, arose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father as our High Priest and Advocate.

God the Holy Spirit – We believe that the Holy Spirit, in all that He does, glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ. He convicts the world of its guilt. He regenerates sinners, and in Him they are baptized into union with Christ and adopted as heirs in the family of God. He also indwells, illuminates, guides, equips and empowers believers for Christ-like living and service.

We believe that God has spoken in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, through the words of human authors. As the verbally inspired Word of God, the Bible is without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for salvation, and the ultimate authority by which every realm of human knowledge and endeavor should be judged. Therefore, it is to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that 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 we be rescued, reconciled and renewed.
We believe that Jesus Christ, as our representative and substitute, shed His blood on the cross as the perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice for our sins. His atoning death and victorious resurrection constitute the only ground for salvation.
We believe that the true church comprises all who have been justified by God’s grace through faith alone in Christ alone. They are united by the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, of which He is the Head. The true church is manifest in local churches, whose membership should be composed only of believers. The Lord Jesus mandated two ordinances, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, which visibly and tangibly express the gospel. Though they are not the means of salvation, when celebrated by the church in genuine faith, these ordinances 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, and to live out our faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor and justice for the oppressed. With God’s Word, the Spirit’s power, and fervent prayer in Christ’s name, we are to combat the spiritual forces of evil. In obedience to Christ’s commission, we are to make disciples among all people, always bearing witness to the gospel in word and deed.

We believe in the personal, bodily and glorious return of our Lord Jesus Christ. The coming of Christ, at a time known only to God, demands constant expectancy and, as our blessed hope, motivates the believer to godly living, sacrificial service and energetic mission.

Baptism by water immersion symbolizes the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Baptism doesn’t save you, but rather is an outward expression of an inward commitment to Jesus. We celebrate Believers’ Baptism in the spring and in the fall. Some of the sweetest moments at Big Creek Church are when people share their love and faith in Jesus through baptism.  read full position paper

In our society today there are many aspects of the culture that challenge what scripture has to say about various topics.  Somethings are clear and some are a matter of interpretation of scripture.  Our effort in this section is to address some of these subjects based on what we believe scripture teaches and lay them out so people know where we stand as a body.  We will be gradually adding to this section with other position papers that we commit to prayer and carefully discuss with the Elder team to extract what Big Creek Church’s position is on some of these topics.  Some of these topics also lead to application in terms of facility usage and so on.  If you have any questions or would like to discuss the position paper, please contact our Elder team and we will be happy to explain it further and address any concerns you may have. 

Marriage and Human Sexuality:  read Statement

Baptism: read Statement

Is Big Creek Church part of a denomination?

Big Creek Church is a member of the Evangelical Free Church of America, an association of more than 1500 churches worldwide. LEARN MORE 

For the Evangelical Free Church of America Statement of Faith CLICK HERE

Interested in being baptized?

We believe that baptism is an important event in the life of a believer. Baptism by water immersion symbolizes the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Baptism doesn’t save you, but rather it is an outward expression of an inward commitment to Jesus. As followers of Jesus, we are commanded to follow his example and be baptized, proclaiming to the world that we have responded to the free gift of grace and have committed our life to Christ.

Are you interested in being baptized? We would love to baptize you and celebrate what God is doing in your life! Some of the sweetest moments here are when people share their love and faith in Jesus through baptism.

Interested in being baptized?

Church Membership

Committing to your local church is beneficial for a number of reasons.  This is demonstrated in the New Testament in passages such as Acts 2:42 where Luke describes the Christians with “they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship”.

A personal benefit of church membership is the experience of being a part of something larger than yourself. Worshiping, learning and serving together can give you a profound sense of purpose as we pursue the mission of bringing the gospel of life to a broken world.

Jesus said that when we love one another, we are showing the world the power of the gospel (John 17:23).  As members of a local church, we commit to love and support one another. 

We offer a class about our core beliefs and the commitment of membership every few months. During this class, we’ll discuss what distinguishes the Evangelical Free Church of America from other denominations, how our church governance works, and much more to help you take one step closer to membership.

I'm interested / Upcoming classes