God

//deity

MD believes that God is the Great Designer of the universe and that he owns everything in it. We believe in the Trinity, that God is three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God is a good God and rules over and loves all mankind, just like a good Dad. We believe that God has shown Himself to us in his Word, the Bible, and that this is one of the greatest, most kind acts that God has given to us as humans: the ability to come to know him.

//Scripture

Neh. 9:6; 1 Chronic. 29:11; Matt. 28:19; 1 John 4:8; Rom. 15:4

The Bible

//bibliology

MD believes that the Bible is an extremely important book. We believe that the 66 books found in the Bible are the entire Word of God, and that we should not add or subtract from these core books. The Bible is so important to us because it tells the story of God’s love and redemption for sinful man (that’s us) by providing a Savior to deliver us from our own wickedness and sin. We have faith that the Bible is true because of the HUGE amounts of historical evidence which all point to the validity of the Bible.

//scripture

2 Timothy 3:16; 1 Corinthians 15:3

Jesus Christ

//christology

MD believes that Jesus was not just a man, but that He is who He says He is: part of the Trinity. That He is God! We believe that all of the prophecies of a Savior in the Old Testament are complete and came to pass in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. He was born of a virgin, Mary, lived a perfect, sinless life, was brutally murdered on a cross as a payment for our sin, was buried in a tomb, and physically rose from the dead three days after His death. After He rose, He showed Himself to a multitude of people and ascended into Heaven where He currently sits at the right hand of the Father. He’s now ruling and reigning as Lord of all things. We believe that the Bible teaches that Jesus will one day return, and that from that day forward, Christians will live in a perfect world of His design under His leadership.

//scripture

Matt. 15:56; John 21:20-22; Luke 1:26-38; 2 Cor. 5:21; Col 2:14; 1 Cor. 15:3-4; Luke 24:13-49; Luke 24:50-53; Heb 12:2; 1 Thess 5:1-2; Rev. 22:3-5

Man

//anthropology

MD believes that man is a unique part of creation and that God made us “in His own image.” That means that we were created to reflect God’s glory to the rest of creation, and worship God for all eternity. But, man sinned in the Garden of Eden, and, as a result, we now have a fallen nature, something corrupted from God’s first creation. Because of this blemish on man’s soul, God cannot be ok with us since our hearts are sinful and constantly rebel against Him and His Holiness. But, the story of God is one that provides a way for us to overcome our evil hearts in order that we can live forever with Him, and that is the perfect sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. Without Christ, man is doomed to worship only himself, and forsake the things of God.

//scripture

Gen 1; Rom. 5:12; Isaiah 6:1-5; 40:25; Acts 4:12

Salvation

//soteriology

The problem with sin is that it separates us from God, and that we have literally no way of reaching God on our own. Basically, we’re up a creek with no paddle in sight. But, the beauty of salvation is that Jesus Christ comes in and saves the day with His perfect sacrifice. It was the only thing acceptable to pay for the gross sins of all humanity. Jesus substituted His life for ours. Jesus lived the life we couldn’t live and died the death we should have died, so that we could have Life. Salvation. Man’s response to God is to acknowledge these facts and worship God by receiving the Holy Spirit to help us discern right from wrong so that we can turn away from our old ways of sin and toward the life that only God can give.

//scripture

Acts 2:12; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:23; Romans 5:6-8; Romans 6:3-4; Ephesians 2:8-10

The True Church

//ecclesiology

MD believes in and stands for the true church (Christians) which Christ died for. The church is not only a global connection of Christians, but is more clearly expressed in what we see as local churches. We believe these local expressions of the church are to be a living representation of all that Christ desires and describes in the New Testament. A local church is made up of true believers in committed relationship to both Jesus and each other, or what we call a Covenant Community. But how should a church work? Jesus didn’t leave us hanging. He set up a leadership role called an elder to be a shepherd of the people of the church. He also knew that there would be a lot to get done, so He created the position called a deacon to assist in serving the local church. We believe the church’s main role is to glorify God by leading and training its members to look more like Jesus, to gather for worship regularly, to love and care for each believer , and to speak into the surrounding community of God's great love.

//scripture

Ephesians 5:25-27; 1 Timothy 3:1-13; Matthew 28:19-20; Romans 15:6; Ephesians 4:12; John 13:34-35; Acts 1:8