WHAT WE

BELIEVE

What is our purpose?

The purpose of New Hope West is to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ in such a way that turns non-Christians into converts, converts into disciples, and disciples into mature, fruitful leaders who will in turn go into the world and reach others for Christ. At New Hope, we believe that fulfilling this purpose statement is dependent on four different areas of spiritual growth.

Core Value #1

We Believe that every person, Christian and non-Christian alike, is valuable to God and to His Kingdom.

Because people are eternally valuable to God, they are to us as well. Responsible evangelism will always be our cause and ongoing discipleship will always be the core of the ministry.

(Matthew 18:14; Matthew 25:45; 2 Peter 3:9)

Core Value #2

We Believe that “doing church as a team” is God’s design for effective ministry.

A Spirit-empowered serving with the willing hearted involvement of every person is vital to God’s plan being accomplished.

(Ecclesiastes 4:9-12; Psalm 133:1; Ephesians 4:11-16; 1 Peter 2:4-9)

Core Value #3

We Believe that a simple presentation of Jesus Christ in creative ways will impact and transform lives.

Relating to our culture through redeeming the arts while remaining true to the Scriptures is a balance we will always keep. This allows us to present the Gospel in such a way that reaches the heart.

(1 Corinthians 9:22, 23; Acts 17:33-34)

Core Value #4

In keeping with the Great Commandment, we believe every member should commit to a lifestyle of consistent spiritual growth with honest accountability.

A genuine love for God is always the first priority. Every Christian should yearn for continual spiritual growth. Therefore, discipleship through small groups, accountability, and open honesty is critical to maturing in our faith.

(Mark 12:29-31; Acts 2:44-47; 1 Peter 2:2; 1 Timothy 4:7-8; Proverbs 27:17)

Core Value #5

We Believe that every member is a minister who has been given gifts to be discovered, developed, and deployed.

We are a gift-based, volunteer-driven church. Each believer will find his greatest joy and fulfillment when serving in his spiritual gifts and passion. Every believer is created for ministry, gifted for ministry, authorized for ministry, and needed for ministry.

(Mark 10:45; Ephesians 2:10; Romans 12; 1 Corinthians 12:14-20)

Core Value #6

We Believe that God is worthy of our very best.

Therefore, a growing spirit of excellence should permeate every activity. Not perfection but excellence with consistent evaluation and a willingness to improve for the sake of the Kingdom of God are distinctive of growing ministries.

(Psalm 78:72; Daniel 5:12; Colossians 3:17; Ecclesiastes 10:10)

Core Value #7

We Believe that genuine love and caring relationships are key to the life of every endeavor.

Refusing to give audience to a spirit of complaining, we will instead be courageous in solving every problem in a way that honors God and builds biblical character. We value healthy relationships by protecting the unity of the Spirit in our church.

(Romans 16:17; 1 Corinthians 13:8;  Ephesians 4:3; James 1:2-3; 1 Peter 3:8-9)

Core Value #8

We Believe that the most effective evangelism happens through people inviting people.

We believe that a life will reach a life. Each believer develops genuine relationships with friends and family and extends an invitation to them. Evangelism gets to be a normal, natural lifestyle of winning others to Christ, one by one.

(Proverbs 11:30; John 1: 43-45: John 4: 28-30)

Core Value #9

We Believe in identifying and training emerging leaders who are fully committed to Christ and who will reach their generation with the Gospel.

God is raising up men and women who will take the baton of godly character, authentic faith, and servant-hearted leadership into the next generation.

(2 Timothy 2:2; 1 Timothy 3:1; Titus 1:5-9; Psalm 78:6, 7)

STATEMENT OF FAITH

God 

We believe in the only true God Who created all things and upholds all things by the word of  His power in Whom we live and move and have our being, a God of truth and without iniquity,  just and right is He, and He shall judge the world. We believe that the Godhead eternally exists in three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalm 9:3; Mark 12:29; John 1:1-4; John 17:3; Mat. 28:19-20; Acts 5:3,4; Acts17:28; 2 Cor. 13: 14; Heb.1:1-3; Rev. 1:4-6; Rev. 4:11)

Scripture 

We believe all Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17). We believe that the sixty-six books of the Protestant Bible are all given by the inspiration of God in the sense that the Holy Spirit guided holy men of old in their choice of the very words of the sacred writings. ( 2 Pet. 1:21; 1 Cor. 2:13; Mark 12:26, 36; Mark 13:11; Acts 1:16; Acts 2:4 )

Humankind 

We believe that humankind, originally created in the image and after the likeness of God, fell  from their high and holy estate by Adam eating the forbidden fruit. As the consequence of his disobedience, the threatened penalty of death was then and there inflicted so that their moral nature was not only grievously injured by the fall, but they totally lost all spiritual life,  becoming dead in trespasses and sins and subject to the power of the devil and the flesh Gen.1:26; Gen 2:17; John 5:40; John 8:53; Rom. 5:12; 18; Rom. 6:23; Gal. 5:16-21, Eph. 2:1-3; 1 Tim. 5:6; 1 John 3:8

Salvation 

We believe that Christ, in the fullness of the blessings He has secured by His obedience unto  death, is received by faith alone and that the moment we trust in Him as our Savior, we pass  out of death into everlasting life, being justified from all things, accepted before the Father  according to the measure of His acceptance, loved as He is loved, and having His place and  portion, as linked to Him, and one with Him forever, thus entering the kingdom of God (John 3:5; 16; 36; 5:24; 17:23; Acts 13:39; 4:12; Rom. 5:1; 1 Cor 3:11; 15:3-4; Eph. 2:4-6, 13; 2 Thes. 1:9; Heb. 1:3; 9:24; 1 John 4:17; 5:10-12 )

Second Coming 

We believe in the imminent personal return of Christ for His Church and His premillennial  coming to establish His kingdom on earth. We believe that though we are to actively  evangelize, the world will not be converted during the present dispensation but is fast ripening  for judgment. Hence, the Lord Jesus Christ will come in person to introduce the millennial  age, followed by judgment and the consummation of the kingdom of God (Jer. 33; Zech. 14; Luke 12:40; 2 Thes. 2:3-8; 2+Tim. 3:1-5; Titus 1:11-15; 2:13; Rev. 19-22).

Holy Spirit 

We believe that the Holy Spirit, not as an influence, but as a Divine Person, the source and  power of all acceptable worship and service, is our abiding Comforter and Helper, that He  comes into life at the moment of justification, and that He never takes His departure from the  Church nor from the feeblest of the saints save those who apostatize; He is therefore ever  present to testify of Christ, seeking to occupy us with Him, and not with ourselves nor with our experiences. We believe in spiritual gifts, including the five-fold equipping gifts of the Spirit. We believe in Jesus’ ongoing ministry by His Spirit, which evidences in the manifestations found in 1 Cor. 12-14 and the Book of Acts (John 7:38-39; 14:16-17; 15:26; 16:13-14; Acts 1:5; 8; Rom. 8:9; 1 Cor. 12 :3-13; Eph. 4:11-12; Phil.3:3).

Church 

We believe that the Church is composed of all who are united by the Holy Spirit to the risen  and ascended Son of God, that by the same Spirit we are all baptized into one body, and thus  being members one of another, we are responsible in good conscience to keep the unity of the  Spirit in the bond of peace, loving one another with a pure heart fervently (Mat. 16:16-18; Acts 2:32-47; Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 12:12-27; Eph. 1:20-23 4:3-10; Col. 3:14-15).

Christian Living 

We believe that we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God  prepared in advance that we should do, remembering our responsibility to pray for all those  who are of the household of faith (Eph. 2:8-10; 1 Tim. 2:1-2; Gal. 6:10). We believe that we  are called with a holy calling to walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, and to so live in  the Spirit that we do not fulfill the lusts of the flesh; but the flesh being still in us to the end of  our earthly pilgrimage needs to be kept constantly in subjection to Christ, or it will surely  manifest its presence to the dishonor of His name.

Morality 

We believe God created humanity, male and female, reflecting the image and likeness of God.  Each person’s biological sex has been sovereignly appointed by God and is an irreversible  aspect of his or her nature. The first human, Adam, sinned and thereby incurred the judgment  of both physical death and spiritual death, which is eternal separation from God. Therefore, all human beings, with the exception of Christ Jesus, are born with a fallen nature, are accountable for their sin, and need to be born again. Rejection of one’s God-ordained biological sexuality reflects a rejection of God’s plans and purposes. God has established and revealed a divine order to regulate humanity in the Scripture. Human institutions reflecting that order are a marriage of a man and a woman, family, and human government. (Rom. 1:18-32; 6:1-14; 8:12-13; 13:14; Gal. 5:16-25; Eph. 4:22-24; Col. 3:1-10; 1 Pet. 1:14-16; 1 John 3:5-9).

Sanctity of Human Life 

We believe that all human life is sacred and created by God in His image. Human life is of  inestimable worth in all its dimensions, including pre-born babies, the aged, the physically or  mentally challenged, and every other stage or condition from conception through natural death.  We are therefore called to defend, protect, and value all human life (Psalm 139).