WHO WE ARE

SCRIPTURE

Both Old and New Testaments, are the inspired Word of God, without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for salvation of men, and the Divine and final authority for all Christian faith and life.

ONE GOD

Creator of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

JESUS CHRIST

Jesus Christ is true God and true man, having been conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He died on the cross a sacrifice for our sins according to the Scriptures. Further, he arose bodily from the dead, ascended into Heaven, where, at the right hand of the majesty on High, He now is our High Priest and Advocate.

THE HOLY SPIRIT

The ministry of the Holy Spirit continues on in this present day. His mission is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, to convict men of sin, regenerate the believing sinner, indwell and fill, guide, instruct and empower for godly living and service. As He did at Pentecost, so He does today empowering the believer to do the work of the ministry, releasing His gifts to the Church, and filling the believer with power from on high.

MANKIND

Mankind was created in the image of God but fell into sin and is therefore eternally lost. Only through confession of sin, acceptance of the free gift of righteousness and the regeneration of the Holy Spirit can salvation and spiritual life be obtained.
That the shed blood of Jesus Christ and His resurrection provide the only ground for justification and salvation for all who believe, and only such as receive Jesus Christ are born of the Holy Spirit, and thus become children of God.

BAPTISM

Water baptism and the Lord's Supper are ordinances to be observed by the Church during this present age. They are, however, not to be regarded as means of salvation.

COMMUNION

On the first Sunday of every month, we observe communion as a collective church body. It may look a little different than you might be used to. We take communion in smaller family or home group units. You could call this more of a "family style" approach. All are welcome to partake of communion whether you are a member or a first time visitor. Our only request is that you be a Christian. Communion is available all other Sundays to the left of our stage during praise and worship. It is open to you as you feel led as an expression of worship.

THE CHURCH

The true Church is composed of all such persons who, through saving faith in Jesus Christ, have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and are united together in the body of Christ of which He is the Head. Only those who are thus members of the true Church shall be eligible for membership in the local church. Every local church has the right under Christ, to decide and govern its own affairs.

CHRIST'S RETURN

We believe in the personal and imminent coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and that this "Blessed Hope" has a vital bearing on the personal life and service of the believer.

RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD

At the end of time, Jesus Christ will resurrect the believer to everlasting blessedness and joy with the Lord, and the unbeliever to judgment and everlasting conscious punishment.

INTIMACY WITH GOD & OTHERS

Intimacy with God and intimacy with others is a pillar in our church. It is the ultimate goal that we hope to accomplish in every aspect of our ministry. God's greatest commandments are to love Him and one another. Ministry that produces these two things fulfills the ultimate call of the Christian life.

PEOPLE ARE PRIORITY

We strive to focus on people, inside and outside the walls of our church, long before we focus on programs.

SIMPLICITY

Simplicity is the pathway to making people a priority. When our methods, processes, and metrics become complex, people are the greatest casualty. Simplicity allows space for the Holy Spirit to bring people closer to God and others. This is not an excuse to lower our standard of excellence. Rather it is an obligation to make sure that we never complicate our methods so much that there is no longer room for God to move in what we are doing.

WORK HARD & GIVE STUFF AWAY

Above all else, God is a generous Father. He loved us so much that He GAVE His only Son for us. The Church is an extension of God on this earth, so we too must be generous whether within our walls, in our community, our nation, or to the uttermost parts of the world. This generosity flows out of our commitment to excellence. We will always have an abundance of God's blessing to give away to others.

SERVANT LEADERSHIP

1 Peter 2:9 tells us that our adoption into God's Kingdom has made us, "a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation." Members of God's Kingdom are leaders in this world. What kind of leaders are we called to be at Freedom Fellowship? From the pastoral staff, the nursery worker, to the janitor, we are called to be servant leaders. The work that God has allowed us to do for Him is our greatest honor. We should approach it humbly and with great gratitude. God's Kingdom is about serving one another.

TRANSFORMATION

Romans 12:2 says, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." Ministry in this church should produce this very verse in the lives of those who come. Our roadmap is to see people saved, healed, trained, and then released into ministry. We are called to be a safe place for hurting and broken people to receive healing. The next step is to disciple and train a new generation of servant leaders. This training process produces amateur individuals and a mature body of believers.

SEEK GOD'S HEART NOT JUST HIS HAND

We are a church that seeks to understand God's heart and see His hand move. When we begin to understand the heart, we will be far more effective as a church at seeing intimacy with others in the lives of those we touch.

FREEDOM FELLOWSHIP CHURCH

We are a charismatic, evangelical, community church that embraces intimacy with God and intimacy with other people.

CHARISMATIC

As a charismatic church, we believe in the fullness and power of the Holy Spirit Who lives and works in and through believers to change our lives and the lives of those around us. As a result, we become more Christlike, experience the power of God bringing His Kingdom to Earth and enjoy communion with God and with each other.

EVANGELICAL

We hold the Bible to be the inerrant Word of God. By it, we find His will for our lives, discover God's design for righteous living, and receive comfort and encouragement for all life's circumstances. We believe Jesus Christ to be the only Son of God Who was with God in the beginning, sent to Earth as a man, born of a virgin, Mary, to pay the price for our sins. He is the only means for salvation and access to God and eternal life. Likewise, He is the sole solution to any and all troubles in this world.

COMMUNITY

We are a regional church whose mission is to see lives saved unto God, healed by the Holy Spirit emotionally, spiritually, and physically, trained for the work of the ministry, and released to be salt and light in their communities. God calls us to minister in places such as church, work, schools, homes, and neighborhoods through relationships. Our members embrace a relationship with God and relationships with other people as our model of ministry.

RELATIONAL MINISTRY

One of the unique qualities of Freedom Fellowship is what is termed "Relational Ministry." Relational ministry means that the emphasis is on people and their needs, whether those needs are spiritual, physical or emotional. The opposite of this approach is to emphasize processes over people, production over caregiving, and programs over transformation in lives. Though we value process and organization, the value of people and their needs are held to a higher priority.

Relational ministry begins with our mission statement, “Intimacy with God and intimacy with others.” The Relational church is people driven, prayer focused, people serving, and it prioritizes transformation of lives.

PASTOR LED

The senior pastor is the leader of both the staff and elders. His primary responsibility is to seek God's direction for the church and to cast that vision to the church.

ELDER GOVERNED

The group of elders provide spiritual oversight for the church and play a key role in helping to seek God's direction for the church.

STAFF RUN

The staff is charged with taking the vision cast by the senior pastor and confirmed by the elders and making it happen. The day-to-day operations of the church and the ministry that flows from it are run primarily by the staff.

CONGREGATION OWNED

The heartbeat of the church is the congregation. Ownership is both a privilege and responsibility. It is a privilege to belong to something, but with belonging comes the responsibility of serving, praying for, and caring for the church body.

VISION

Our vision is to create intimacy with God and intimacy with others. Intimacy with God happens through worship and the Word. Worship is not just music but includes it. It is also giving, prayer, etc. Our main service on Sunday morning is an act of worship—we invite others to worship God, creating intimacy with God.

Intimacy with others happens through fellowship. Intimacy with God produces intimacy with others—we want to do things together. The concept begins in Genesis 2:18. Man was not intended to be alone. We need others. What does this look like? It looks like fellowship—a word relegated to something much less important than it really is. Fellowship is one of the most important things the church does.

Jesus came not just to forgive sin, but also so that He could reconcile man’s relationship with God and others. We need a vertical relationship, but also horizontal relationships. Every time we come together as a church we foster this.

To move closer to the vision we need a plan.

THE PLAN

Save. Heal. Train. Release.

SAVE

First and foremost, we desire to see people saved. Surrendering one’s life to Jesus is the only way to get new life, find forgiveness of sins, and follow God. We desire that every single person we encounter would make the decision to surrender their lives to Jesus. This is absolutely the first step.

HEAL

New life doesn’t stop at salvation. We also want to see people healed. This is an important step because people have experienced so much pain that they need time to be healed before they can be trained and released.

In addition to having a relationship with Jesus, we offer resources such as Home Ministries, Bible studies, and pastoral counseling to help you find healing.

To see what healing looks like, we have to go back to Genesis 2:18 – God created man to have relationships with others – He knew that we needed other people to simply “come alongside.”

Healing happens when others will simply come alongside. The church is really good about telling people what to look like but also needs to show how we get there. We do this through others.

TRAIN

We want to equip people to do something, to have a job. This doesn’t mean that as soon as you get here, you’re going to do what you’ve done before.

We think the best way to come into a church is to begin by simply getting to know one another, but there comes a time when once assimilated, we start to become equipped to play our role in the Kingdom.

Train, but not too quickly.

RELEASE

We want to release people into their areas of giftings. Not everyone is going to get up and preach, but everyone does have a unique and valuable role to play in the Kingdom. We want to provide many opportunities for you to find fulfillment, and fulfillment happens when we are serving in our God-given capacity. In Step Three of this book, you will find some examples of where you can get plugged in. We recommend looking at that list and contacting the director of that area so that you can begin to use your gifting for the Kingdom.