What We Believe
Our Core Beliefs
These eight beliefs form the faith foundation of Cedar Ridge Church and shape how we follow Jesus together.
God
We believe God is the Creator and Ruler of the universe. His existence is eternal and He expresses Himself in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three are coequal and are one God.
God’s Word
We believe God gave us the 66 books of the Bible to be received as the inspired, authoritative, and infallible Word of God for salvation and life. We believe that despite their complexities, the scriptures can be understood, trusted, and followed. We seek to honor Jesus’ Lordship by submitting our lives to all that God has for us in them.
The Gospel
We believe God created all things and made human beings in His image, so that we could enjoy a relationship with Him and each other. But human beings lost their way, through Satan’s influence. Without Christ, we are spiritually dead, separated from God. Without His help, we gravitate toward sin and self-rule. The gospel is God’s good news of reconciliation. It was promised to Abraham and David and revealed in Jesus’ life, ministry, teaching, and sacrificial death on the cross. Jesus came as the promised Messiah of the Old Testament. He ushered in the kingdom of God, died for our sins according to Scripture, was buried, and was raised on the third day. He defeated sin and death and ascended to heaven. He is seated at the right hand of God and He is coming back to judge the world and to take His disciples to live with Him forever in the new heavens and new earth.
New Birth
God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. To believe in Jesus means we trust and follow Him as both Savior and Lord. When we commit to trust and follow Jesus, we express this faith by repenting from sin, confessing His name, and receiving baptism by immersion in water. Baptism, as an expression of faith, is for the remission of sins. We uphold baptism as the normative means of entry into the life of discipleship. It marks our commitment to regularly die to ourselves and rise to live for Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. We believe God sovereignly saves as He sees fit, but we are bound by Scripture to uphold this teaching about surrendering to Jesus in faith through repentance, confession, and baptism.
Christian Convictions
We believe the Scriptures reveal three distinct elements of the faith: essential elements which are necessary for salvation; important elements which are to be pursued in faithfully following Christ; and personal elements or opinion. For example, the gospel is essential. Every person who is indwelt by God’s Holy Spirit because of their faith in the gospel is a brother or a sister in Christ. Important but secondary elements of the faith are vital. Our faithfulness to God requires us to pursue them, even as we acknowledge that our salvation may not be dependent on getting them right. And thirdly, there are personal matters of opinion, disputable areas where God gives us personal freedom. But we are never at liberty to express our freedom in a way that causes others to stumble in sin. In all things, we want to show understanding, kindness, and love.
Discipleship
We believe that people are saved by grace through faith. The gospel of Jesus’ kingdom calls people to both salvation and discipleship. Saving faith will always involve discipleship. A disciple of Jesus is someone who follows Jesus, is changed by Jesus, and is on mission with Jesus. Therefore… discipleship is coming alongside someone to help them follow Jesus, be changed by Jesus, and be on mission with Jesus. Once we turn in faith to Jesus and follow Him, we personally seek to become more like Jesus so that Jesus would live through us. We seek to do good in our communities. We love and serve all people, as Jesus did, no strings attached. As we do good for others, we also seek to form relational bridges that we prayerfully hope will open doors for sharing the gospel with people.
Holy Spirit’s Role
We believe God’s desire is for everyone to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Many hear the gospel but do not believe it because they are blinded by Satan and resist the pull of the Holy Spirit. We encourage everyone to listen to the Word and let the Holy Spirit convict them of their sin and draw them into a relationship with God through Jesus. We believe that when we are born again and indwelt by the Holy Spirit, we are to live as people who are filled, empowered, and led by the Holy Spirit. This is how we walk with God and discern His voice. A prayerful life, rich in the Holy Spirit, is fundamental to true discipleship and living in step with the kingdom reign of Jesus. We seek to be a prayerful, Spirit-led fellowship.
Kingdom Life
We believe in the present kingdom reign of God, the power of the Holy Spirit to transform people, and the priority of the local church. God’s holiness leads us to reject lifestyles characterized by the works of the flesh described in Galatians 5 and many other scriptures. Love for one another should make the church like an extended family — a fellowship of married people, singles, elderly, and children who are all brothers and sisters to one another. This love should be expressed in the church and in the community. It leads to the breaking down of walls (racial, social, political). It also leads to evangelism, compassion, and forgiveness. In all of these ways of kingdom life, we believe that following Jesus as our king will lead us to be a distinct light in the world because they are counter-cultural to the way most people in the world live.