StoneBridge Online

StoneBridge Christian Church does not require that members subscribe to a formal creed. In a very real sense, "we have no creed but Christ, no book but the Bible." The twin bases of our unity are our faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and our adherence to the Bible as the inspired text for our teaching and the one sufficient constitution for governing congregational life.

Unity
We seek a unity of understanding in the essentials of our faith, yet we do not suggest that we must agree on all things pertaining to our walk in Christ. On many issues we have the freedom to disagree. We do ask, however, that all who accept and hold a leadership or teaching position at StoneBridge respect the following guidelines and resist any temptation to use their position as a forum from which to teach other views. Unity in the body depends upon harmony and mutual trust in the leadership.

Who is God?
The Bible teaches that God is Creator of our world and Sustainer and Lord of our lives.

What about Jesus?
Jesus Christ is the one and only living Son of God and our Savior. Through Jesus, God opened the way of abundant and eternal life through His death, burial and resurrection to all who call on Christ's name.

Who is the Holy Spirit?
The Holy Spirit is God Himself encouraging, guiding, and transforming us in the way of Christ.

The Bible
The Bible is the inspired Word of God. It is the authoritative rule of faith and practice for Christians
and the Church.Jesus instituted a new covenant with God that succeeded and transcended His former covenant with the people of Israel; hence we accept the Old Testament as preparatory to the New Testament and we rejoice that we are related to God through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and not through the law.

Church Membership
We are a free and independent church under Christ. Guided by a board of elders, we determine our own policies and practices in light of biblical expectations, and we voluntarily cooperate with other Christian groups in fulfilling our Lord's Great Commission. We have two requirements for church membership:
1) One must be a believer in Jesus Christ as the only Son of God, be willing to repent of sin and surrender to His Lordship, to confess this faith before others, to obey Him in Christian baptism and continue in faithful discipleship.
2) One must complete a StoneBridge Christian Church membership class.

Baptism
We practice baptism of the repentant believer by immersion in water, confident that this expresses the form and purposes of the New Testament precedent. The New Testament teaches that all believers receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit in relation to their faith, repentance and baptism.

Ministry
The New Testament teaches the ministry of all believers, recognizing that the Holy Spirit gives various gifts to members of the body so that every member can make a contribution to the effective ministry of the entire church.
We are, therefore, a Spirit-filled church seeking to do God's will and to become more like His Son, Jesus Christ. While we do not presume to dictate one's private worship practices, we have agreed that, for the sake of the unity of the body in our public worship and other sanctioned church meetings, we will not teach or practice what is commonly called speaking in tongues.

Prayer
We are a praying church. We daily lift before God fervent prayers of praise, confession, thanksgiving and petition.

Missions
We are a mission-minded church. We send and support evangelistic and benevolent missions throughout the world. We encourage our finest people to accept the call to a greater Kingdom service, and we support them through generous mission offerings.
All persons of all races have been created in the image of God and stand in need of the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
The church exists to serve the world. Therefore we send evangelists to rescue the perishing of the world. We participate in efforts to improve community life.
We want to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, offer hospitality to the stranger, clothe the naked, minister to the sick, and visit the imprisoned, as Jesus has instructed.

The Future
God, who created the heavens and the earth, will one day bring life on earth to a conclusion. While accepting various understandings of how God will bring this about, we trust that Christ will come again and will call His own to Himself.

Communion
We celebrate the Lord's Supper each Sunday, as we find the New Testament Christians did. In partaking of the bread and the wine, we remember our Lord's sacrifice for us and we strengthen our relationship with Him.

Resources
God expects wise management of our money and other resources in both our personal and our congregational lives. We encourage the tithe (ten percent) as the minimum the Bible teaches us to return to the Lord. In fact, we understand the governing principles to be that everything we have and are belongs to God. We do not hesitate to teach principles of Christian stewardship, agreeing with Jesus that "where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."