What We Believe:
We believe in the power that God has to transform our lives. The Bible is our only authoritative creed, however here are a few things we believe.
ABOUT GOD
There is one God, eternally existing in three distinct persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These three are co-equal and each possesses all the attributes of God. God is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe and everything in it.
Gen. 1:1, 26-27; Ps. 90:2; Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14
ABOUT JESUS
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is one with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is our Savior, who was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on a cross for us to take away our sin, and was raised from the grave after three days to demonstrate His defeat of sin and death. He ascended into heaven and will return to earth to reign as our powerful King.
Matt. 1:22-23; John 1:1-5; Romans 5:8; Heb. 2:14-15; 1 Cor. 15:3-4; Acts 1:9-11; Col. 2:9-10; 1 Tim. 6:14-15
ABOUT THE HOLY SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit is one with God the Father and Jesus Christ. Those who accept Christ as their Savior will receive the Holy Spirit to live inside them. The Holy Spirit serves as our comforter, guide and advocate. The Holy Spirit is given to Christians and provides guidance in living, an understanding of the Bible, and prayerful intercession.
Acts 1:8; John 14:16-17, 16:7-13; Gal. 5:25; 1 Cor. 2:12, 3:16; Eph. 1:13; 2 Cor. 13:14; 1 Peter 1:2
ABOUT THE BIBLE
Our foundation is based firmly upon the Bible as our ultimate authority on Christian beliefs and a guide to living. The Bible is divinely inspired by God, without error, given to man so that we may know and understand the truth of God and his love.
2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21; Ps. 12:6, 119:105
ABOUT HUMANITY
All people are made in the image of God and were created to live life in a relationship with God that honors him. Although we, as people, have been designed for this, we all have fallen short of God’s design for our lives. This inherent condition of a self-directed life that ignores God and his authority is called “sin” and that sin separates all humanity from God. Jesus came to save us from our sin.
Gen. 1:27; Isa. 53:6, 59:1-2; Rom. 3:23; Ps. 139:13-16; Col. 2:13-15
ABOUT SALVATION
Salvation is not something that can be purchased or earned. It is an unmerited gift from God provided by Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, and is received through faith. It is available to everyone who accepts Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. That faith is expressed through repentance of sin and baptism by immersion.
John 3:16; 2 Cor. 5:21; Acts 4:12; Rom. 5:10, 6:23, 10:10; Eph. 2:8-10
Mission Statement:
Verde Valley Christian Church exists to help each of us take steps from wherever we are to where God wants us to be by growing us in grace and truth through Jesus Christ in relationships designed by Him.
THIS MEANS ALL ARE WELCOME BECAUSE NONE OF US HAVE IT ALL TOGETHER.
We must continue to grow in grace and truth to better resemble Jesus. Though we are sinners, God loves us and sent his Son to prove it. We don't achieve His approval, we connect and receive it and enjoy a relationship with Him that changes us for the better and forever.
Through God's grace and in partnership with the Holy Spirit, we invite, encourage, and help individuals who are currently far from God, to move closer to where He wants them to be.
Core Statements:
Our core statements cover key principles to help the church take steps closer to where God wants us to be:
Love God Wholeheartedly
Love God with all your heart. (Matthew 22:37)
Everything else hangs on this commandment. Everything starts in a relationship with God made possible through Jesus Christ. You cannot grow spiritually if you love God half-heartedly. This doesn’t mean you are sinless. It means you are not holding anything back. You are willing to trust him with everything.
Do First Things First
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22: 37-40)
Loving your neighbor is listed with the greatest commandment. If we do not love our neighbor then we really don’t love God… (says, John, James, and the followers of Jesus). This means setting God's Kingdom as the priority and honoring him first thing. This sets the tone for the whole day, every day. We encourage spending time every day with Jesus: in prayer, thoughtful study, and doing life with him and for him in whatever you do. When you do this, turning to God and loving him, God fills you and renews you so that you are filled up with love, acceptance, and forgiveness, so that you can love others the way you have been loved.
Don't Do Life Alone
By this they will know you are my disciples, love one another. (John 13:35)
We believe that God designed us for community. He uses other people to grow us, and he uses us to grow other people. Because of that, we believe that being a part of a group should be an essential element in the life of a follower of Jesus. Since each group is composed of a unique set of individuals, they will all be a little different. However, the focus of each should be the similar: to pursue healthy relationships and help one another take steps to follow Jesus.
Saved People Serve People
Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else. (Mark 9:35)
We believe God is FOR you, so we are FOR you. One of the practical ways we, as followers of Jesus, live this out is through serving our community and one another. We are FOR the Verde Valley. This means we are FOR our schools. We are FOR our businesses. We are FOR adults, students and children. We are FOR people. We believe this church should take the place of a servant in this community by:
providing gatherings that help people move from wherever they are to where God wants them to be
putting Jesus on display in our community through serving
Followers Say Follow Me
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. (Matthew 28:19-20a)
Much to the shock of the other followers of Jesus, Jesus invited a notorious sinner by simply saying, “Follow me” (Matthew 9:9). Jesus came to rescue not condemn. We are to follow his example and his command, to make more disciples; then teach them to do the same.
Where do I begin?
If you’re just getting started at Verde Valley Christian Church, we want to invite you to Start Here.
Start Here will explain how to connect with Jesus and the church. Our mission is to help you take steps from wherever you are to where God wants you to be. In Start Here we start with Jesus. Then, we look to where God wants us to be and how we can begin taking steps in his direction. We’ll talk more about our beliefs and then we invite you to talk through the core statements and how we can live them out during a few conversations with a resource person.
Start Here is designed to be your first step at VVCC regardless of where you are coming from. We believe it will be helpful whether you know next to nothing about Jesus, or whether you’ve been following Jesus for many years — or somewhere in between.