We are followers of Jesus Christ. We believe that Jesus taught us, in his life and words, what it means to truly worship and serve God. We believe he took on himself the inescapable consequence of our sin—death—and that he rose from the dead. Because he took our death, we can now receive his life.
We accept the New Testament Gospels as faithful accounts of Jesus’ life and teachings. Because Jesus held firmly to the Scriptures as the inspired Word of God, as divinely authoritative and without error, so do we. We accept the Bible as the final and only infallible authority and standard of faith. We evaluate all ideas, traditions and actions according to the teaching of Scripture.
We believe that, as Scripture teaches, the God of the Bible is the one true God. We believe he created everything that exists. We believe God eternally exists in three personally distinct ways: as Father, as Son and as Holy Spirit. We believe that, in Jesus, God became one of us so we could know him and come into relationship with him. We not only pattern our lives after Jesus, we worship him as God incarnate. We believe there is no way to come into true relationship with God except the way God himself has provided through his own life, death and resurrection.
We believe the Spirit draws us to Jesus so we can experience new spiritual life through placing our faith in him. We believe God is spiritually renewing and transforming us, making us like Jesus. We believe that God calls us to live lives of humble obedience to him, continual spiritual growth and maturity, and loving service to others. We believe he calls us to live out this new life in community with our fellow believers, his church. We believe he sends us out to tell others of his love and truth, so they also may enter into relationship with Christ, becoming his followers. We believe that one day Jesus Christ will come again to bring all things to perfect renewal and completion in him.
The Orchard is a member church of the National Association of Evangelicals, and in harmony with the NAE’s Statement of Faith.