Kingdom people are dedicated to following the truth found within God’s WORD. God’s ‘logos’ or living word is the plumb line for those of us who desire to live for God’s Kingdom, and it becomes the source of light for our journey through this life. Psalm 119: 105

“Down through the history of the church many wonderful things have happened that have produced much fruit. But certain aspects of these things have led people to get out of line with Scripture and the church, simply because of the excitement of the movement and the intensity of the phenomena, often resulting in the birth of a cult. As Christians, we need to remain congruent with orthodoxy and orthopraxy, to maintain our focus on the ‘main and the plain’ in Scripture.” John Wimber

Three Circles of Values: Essentials, Traditions & Opinions. What's important & what's not that important? As we see it, when reading and applying the Bible to our lives, there are three circles of biblical values to be aware of. The first circle contains the absolutely vital truths found throughout scripture. We call these biblical truths the essentials. These essentials form a very small circle since there are just a few basic key truths we must believe in order to be authentic Christians. Without agreement on these matters, we actually aren't orthodox believers aligned with the Church and its' past two thousand years of history. Beyond the essentials are traditions. Traditions, or denominational "distinctives", form a significantly larger circle and are what makes the body of Christ rich and interesting. These traditions, formed primarily by applying specific biblical passages to our practices, make the church a diverse body instead of a single-cell ameba. Finally, the largest circle by far is formed by our biblical opinions. The longer we spend in the Christian life, the more we accumulate opinions, particularly as we pick and choose portions of scripture that best align with our particular world view.

Fighting between brothers and sisters in the Church is perpetuated when we forget the order of importance with the three circles of values. It happens when we make our 'traditions' into 'essentials' instead of allowing them to be negotiable. Or worse yet, it happens when we consider our 'opinions' about a topic to be an 'essential'. These dyslexic episodes must grieve the heart of God. When He has vital work for the church to be about, we have sometimes been found bickering over lesser biblical facts and figures, arguing about absolutely non-vital matters. (concepts from 'The Perfectly Imperfect Church' by Steve Sjogren)

MP3 Stream

GOD'S WORD...Adjusting Our Lives to God's Word by Senior Pastor Marty Boller given Mar 2008 [Download MP3 - 34 min]

“In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, diversity; in all things, charity.” St. Augustine

We BELIEVE that there is one God and Creator, eternally existing in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Deuteronomy 6: 3-4

We BELIEVE that the Bible is God's inspired and authoritative written revelation to us, containing His Kingdom Message of hope, love and redemption to a lost and dying world. 2^nd Timothy 3: 16-17

We BELIEVE in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, sinless life, miracles, death on the cross to provide for our redemption, bodily resurrection and ascension into heaven, present day ministry of intercession for us, and His second coming to earth in power and glory. Acts 4: 10-12

We BELIEVE in the personality and deity of the Holy Spirit, that He performs the miracle of new birth, and indwells, equips and empowers us to walk with God, accomplishing the works of His Kingdom through our humble service to Him. John 14: 16-17

We BELIEVE that we are created in the image of God, but because of our sin and selfishness, we become alienated from God. Only through abiding faith, trusting in Jesus Christ alone for our redemption, which is made possible by His atoning death on the cross and His resurrection, can true forgiveness of our sins be found and our lives be restored back with God. Ephesians 2: 4-9

For more doctrinal information from VINEYARD CHURCHES, USA visit www.vineyardusa.org

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