Crossmark Church

A TWO-HANDED VIEW OF DOCTRINE
Crossmark holds to a “two-handed” view of doctrine. In other words, we differentiate between doctrinal matters essential to faithful Christianity and matters upon which faithful Christians can genuinely disagree. We hold essential matters in a closed hand. These include the Bible’s inerrancy and authority; God’s triune nature; man’s sinfulness; the reality of heaven and hell; and salvation according to the Scripture is by grace alone through faith alone by Christ alone to the glory of God alone. Other doctrinal areas are important, but Christians need not agree on them in order to be considered faithful. We hold these secondary issues in an open hand, including modes and timing of baptism, worship styles, and spiritual gifts. While our leadership may have deep
convictions about each of these open-handed issues, we desire to major on the essentials and show one another generosity concerning the less essential doctrines.

The Importance of Doctrine
There is a movement in the church today to minimize doctrinal truth. In some segments, it is seen as divisive and unnecessary. We reject this movement. While our pursuit of truth and our interaction with those with whom we disagree should be humble and gracious, we nevertheless are convinced that doctrinal clarity and integrity are essential in our pursuit of biblical community and unity. First Timothy 4:16 reads, “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.” Some rejected good doctrine and it says in First Timothy 1:19 “By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith.” We desire to fulfill what it says in Second Timothy 2:15 “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” Each of our pastoral staff must hold to the articles below and to the historic creeds of the Christian faith.*

Scripture
We accept the Bible, including the 39 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament, as the written Words of God. The Bible is the only essential and infallible record of God’s self-disclosure to mankind. It leads us to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Being given by God, the Scriptures are both fully and verbally inspired by God. Therefore, as originally given, the Bible is free of error in all it teaches. Each book is to be interpreted according to its context and purpose and in reverent obedience to the Lord who speaks through it in living power. All believers are exhorted to study the Scriptures and diligently apply them to their lives. The Scriptures are the authoritative and normative rule and guide of all Christian life, practice, and doctrine. They are totally sufficient and must not be added to, superseded, or changed by later tradition, extrabiblical revelation, or worldly wisdom. Every doctrinal formulation, whether of creed, confession, or theology must be put to the test of the full counsel of God in Holy Scripture. All of Scripture directly or indirectly points to Jesus. It is a picture of the incarnation of God’s history. [2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20, 21; Mark 13:31; John 8:31; John 20:31, John 5:39]

The Beginning

The Scriptures begin with the assertion that “In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth.” The Bible and the Church historically has affirmed that God has revealed himself in creation to show humanity the creative glory of God. Those inside and outside the Church for the last two centuries have questioned and debated this assertion since the advent of darwinism. Scripture affirms repeatedly that God created the universe in a systematic way, created the Earth perfect and without flaw, and entrusted the care of creation into the hands of humanity. The center of the creation narrative is God uniquely creating humanity in his image, for his purpose, and for his pleasure and entrusting them with paradise. God gave us six days to work and one day to rest, enjoy, and to worship Him. Humanity shortly after the beginning rejected God’s creative plan, worshipped the creation, and so marred themselves that only God can redeem us from our moral, spiritual, and social failures. Since the time of the fall we long for and await the restoration of all things to God.[Genesis 1:1-2, 26, 3:1-24, Exodus 20:11, 31:17, 34:21, Leviticus 23:3, Matthew 17:1, Hosea 6:7, Romans 5:12, 1 Cor. 5:12, 45-58, Isaiah 45:20-25, Romans 14:10-12, Phil. 2:9-11, Isaiah 26, 1 Thessalonians 5:3, Revelation 14:13, Romans 8:19-23, 2 Peter 3:1-13]

The Family
In the beginning God defined and performed the first marriage as a lifetime covenant and made it the foundation of the family. God blessed humanity with two sexes of male and female and in his image he created them with unique responsibilities and privileges. God created human sexuality as a blessing to husband and wives. God as Creator designed sex to lead to reproduction and he deemed that the family be the foundational institution of human society. Children from the moment of conception are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. The family is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood, or adoption. Parents are to illustrate and teach their children spiritual and moral values pointing their children to Christ. Children are to honor their parents for this is the first blessing with a promise. Part of the purpose of marriage and family is to illustrate who God is and who God is not. Genesis 1:26-28; 2:15-25; 3:1-20; Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Joshua 24:15, Proverbs 1:8, Malachi 2:14-16; 19:3-9; Mark 10:6-12; 1 Corinthians 7:1-16; Ephesians 5:21-33; 6:1-4; Hebrews 13:4; 1 Peter 3:1-7]

The Trinity
There is one God from the beginning revealed in three persons: infinite, eternal, almighty, and perfect in holiness, truth, and love. In the unity of the godhead there are three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, co-existent, co-equal, co-eternal. The Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Holy Spirit, yet each is truly Deity. One God-Father, Son and Holy Spirit-is the foundation of Christian faith and life. [Genesis 1:1,26; Deuteronomy 6:4; John 1:1,3; Matthew 28:19; John 4:24; Romans 1:19,20; Ephesians 4:5,6]

God the Father
God the Father is the Creator of heaven and earth. By his word and for his glory, he freely and supernaturally created the world from nothing. Through the same Word he daily sustains all his creatures. He rules over all and is the only Sovereign. His plans and purposes cannot be thwarted. He is faithful to every promise, works all things together for good to those who love him, and in his unfathomable grace gave his Son, Jesus Christ, for mankind’s redemption. He made man for fellowship with himself, and intended that all creation should live to the praise of his glory. [Luke 10:21,22; Matthew 23:9; John 3:16; 6:27; Romans 1:7; I Timothy 1:1,2; 2:5,6; I Peter 1:3; Revelation 1:6]

Jesus Christ
Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, is the eternal Word made flesh, supernaturally conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. He is perfect in nature, teaching, and obedience. He is fully God and fully man. He was always with God and is God. Through him all things came into being and were created. He was before all things and in him all things hold together by the word of his power. He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation, and in him dwells the fullness of the godhead bodily. He is the only Savior for the sins of the world, having shed his blood and died a vicarious death on Calvary’s cross. By his death in our place, he revealed the divine love and upheld divine justice, removing our guilt and reconciling us to God. He rose bodily from the grave, victorious over death and the powers of darkness, and for a period of 40 days appeared to more than 500 witnesses, performing many convincing proofs of his resurrection. He ascended into heaven where, at God’s right hand, he intercedes for his people and rules as Lord over all. He is the Head of his body, the Church, and should be adored, loved, served, and obeyed by all. [Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-38; John 1:1; 20:28; Romans 9:5; 8:46; II Corinthians 5:21; I Peter 2:21-23; John 20:30, 31; Matthew 20:28; Ephesians 1:4; Acts 1:11; Romans 5:6-8; 6:9,10; Hebrews 7:25; Hebrews 9:28; I Timothy 3:16]

The Lordship of Christ
Scripture is clear that Jesus Christ is Lord of all. Therefore, Jesus Christ must be our passion and priority and we should aspire to both know Him and love Him more fully. We must long to see Him have preeminence in all things. We desire to see a Church of Christ-centered, “Jesus-intoxicated” people who pursue all that we do by Godʼs grace and for His glory. We believe we need the ministry of the Holy Spirit to lead us into a new and fresh intimacy and communion with the Lord Jesus that results in greater obedience to all that He commands. Christʼs Lordship must be first and foremost in our church or we will miss our most important priority and fail in all of our other pursuits. [Col. 1:18; 3:16-17, 23-24]

The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life in this world, convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Through the proclamation of the gospel he persuades people to repent of their sins and confess Jesus as Lord. By the same Spirit a person is led to trust in divine mercy. The Holy Spirit unites believers to Jesus Christ in faith, brings about the new birth, and dwells within the new Christian. The Holy Spirit has come in to us and the world to glorify the Son. The Son in turn came to glorify the Father. He will lead the Church into a right understanding and rich application of the truth of God’s Word. He is to be respected, honored, and worshiped as God the Third Person of the Trinity. [John 14:16,17,26; 15:26,27; John 16:9-14; Romans 8:9; I Corinthians 3:16; 6:19; Galatians 5:22-26]

Empowerment by the Spirit
In addition to effecting regeneration and sanctification, the Holy Spirit also empowers believers for Christian witness and service. While the Holy Spirit at conversion indwells all genuine believers, the New Testament indicates the importance of an ongoing, empowering work of the Spirit subsequent to conversion as well. Being indwelt by the Spirit and being filled with the Spirit are theologically distinct experiences. The Holy Spirit desires to fill each believer continually with increased power for Christian life and witness, and imparts his supernatural gifts for the edification of the Body and for various works of ministry in the world. All the gifts of the Holy Spirit at work in the church of the first-century are available today in the way that they were at work then without mixture or error, are vital for the mission of the church, and are to be earnestly desired and practiced. [Ezekiel 36:27, Joel 2:28, Micah 3:8, Malachi 2:15-16, Acts 2:14-47,
Romans 8:23, 1 Corinthians 12:4-12, Galatians 5:16-26, 1 Thessalonians 1:6]

Salvation
We believe that man was created by God in His own image; that he sinned and thereby incurred physical, spiritual and eternal death, which is separation from God; that as a consequence, all human beings are born with a sinful nature and are sinners by choice and therefore under condemnation. We believe that those who repent and forsake sin and trust Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are regenerated by the Holy Spirit and become new creatures, delivered from condemnation and receive eternal life. Those regenerated by God are called the elect of God and their salvation is not of themselves it is the gift of God [John 3:14; 5:24; John 5:30; 7:13; 8:12; 10:26; Romans 9:22; II Thessalonians 1:9; Rev. 19:3,20; 20:10;14,15; 21:18; Psalm 51:7; Jeremiah 17:9; James 1:14; Romans 3:19; 5:19; Proverbs 28:13; I John 1:9; John 3:16; John 1:13; II Corinthians 5:17; Romans 8:1, John 1:13]

The Church
God by his Word and Spirit creates the Church, calling sinful men out of the whole human race into the fellowship of Christ’s Body. By the same Word and Spirit, he guides and preserves that new redeemed humanity. The Church is not a building, religious institution or denomination. Rather, the Church universal is made up of those who have become genuine followers of Jesus Christ and have personally appropriated the gospel. The Church exists to worship and glorify God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It also exists to serve him by faithfully doing his will in the earth. This involves a commitment to see the gospel preached and churches planted in all the world for a testimony. The ultimate mission of the Church is the making of disciples through the preaching of the gospel. When God transforms human nature, this then becomes the chief means of society’s transformation. Upon conversion, newly redeemed men and women are added to a local church, in which they devote themselves to teaching, fellowship, the Lord’s Supper, and prayer. [Ephesians 3:10; Ephesians 2:19-22; 1 Corinthians 12]

Water Baptism
Water Baptism is a sacrament of the New Testament, ordained by Jesus Christ, not only for the solemn admission of the party baptized into the visible Church, but also to be unto him a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, of his ingrafting into Christ, of regeneration, of remission of sins, and of his giving up unto God, through Jesus Christ, to walk in newness of life: which sacrament is, by Christ’s own appointment, to be continued in his Church until the end of the world. Water baptism is to be administered as a sign of the covenant. It is an act of obedience. The efficacy of baptism is not tied to that moment of time wherein it is administered; yet, notwithstanding, by the right use of this ordinance the grace promised is not only offered, but really exhibited and conferred by the Holy Spirit, according to the counsel of God’s own will, in his appointed time. [Matthew 28:18-20, 1 Cor 12:13, Rom 4:11, Col 2:11-12, Rom 6:5, Gal 3:27, Titus 3:5, Mark 1:4, Rom 6:3-5, Mat 28:19-20, John 3:5, 8. Acts 2:38, 41; Gal 3:27; Eph 5:25-26; Titus 3:5.] For more on this please read our statement on baptism.

Communion
As with water baptism, Communion that is the Lord’s Supper is to be observed by those who have become genuine followers of Christ and have professed Jesus as Lord. This sacrament symbolizes the breaking of Christ’s body and the shedding of his blood on our behalf, and is to be observed repeatedly throughout the Christian life as a sign of continued participation in the atoning benefits of Christ’s death. As we partake of the Lord’s Supper with an attitude of faith and self-examination, we remember and proclaim the death of Christ, receive spiritual nourishment for our souls, and signify our unity with other members of Christ’s body in communion with the saints. [1 Corinthians 11:23-34]

Last Things
The Consummation of all things includes the visible, personal and glorious return of Jesus Christ, the resurrection of the dead and the translation of those alive in Christ, the judgment of the just and the unjust, and the fulfillment of Christ’s kingdom in the new heavens and the new earth. In the Consummation, Satan with his hosts and all those outside Christ are finally separated from the benevolent presence of God, enduring eternal punishment, but the righteous, in glorious bodies, shall live and reign with him forever. Married to Christ as his Bride, the Church will be in the presence of God forever, serving him and giving him unending praise and glory. Then shall the eager expectation of creation be fulfilled and the whole earth shall proclaim the glory of God who makes all things new. [Matthew 16:27; Mark 14:62; John 14:3; Acts 1:11; Phil. 3:20; I Thessalonians 4:15; II Timothy 4:1; Titus 2:13; I Corinthians 4:5; I Corinthians 15; II Thessalonians 1:7-10; Revelation 20:4-6,11-15]