OUR MISSION

To be a living community of Jesus Christ.

STATEMENT OF FAITH FOR PARMA CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP CHURCH

1. Regarding God:

1.A We believe in one God who is supreme over all creation. He is perfect in every way,
and infinite in presence, knowledge and power. God eternally exists in three persons: the Father,
the Son and the Holy Spirit.
1.B We believe that God the Father is the intentional and intelligent creator of all that
exists. He is the sustainer of all life and the final judge of all that He has made.
1.C We believe that God the Son, Jesus Christ, is the completely divine person in a
completely human body. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin, Mary. He
died innocent of personal sin on a cross, was buried, and rose again bodily by the power of God
on the third day. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God, from which place He
will return physically to the earth at the conclusion of the current age.
1.D We believe that God the Holy Spirit influences the seeker and indwells the believer
as the personal presence of God, to glorify Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit inspires, transforms, and
enables the believer for life within a right relationship with God, that being to be justified by
faith in Jesus Christ and sanctified by the Holy Spirit for wholehearted obedience to the will of
God. The Holy Spirit equips and empowers the believer for witness and ministry within the body
of Christ and in the world.

2. Regarding Scripture:

2.A We believe that the Bible is the inspired, accurate and reliable Word of God,
composed in the 66 canonical books of the Old and New Testaments. The Holy Spirit can and
does reveal God’s truth through any version commonly accepted by the general Christian church.
The Bible contains the complete and permanent revelation of God’s will for salvation and
spiritual, godly living. The Bible is the final authority for the Christian faith and life.
2.B We believe the Old Testament is the foundation for spiritual and doctrinal truth,
which is completed in Jesus Christ. Its moral instructions will never cease to be an accurate and
truthful revelation of the will of God for mankind. The Old Testament is comprised of the 39
canonical books of Genesis to Malachi.
2.C We believe the New Testament is the final written foundation for spiritual and
doctrinal truth, which is revealed in Jesus Christ. Its moral and spiritual instructions will never
cease to be the standard of the Christian faith and life for all mankind. It is comprised of the 27
canonical books of Matthew to Revelation.

3. Regarding Mankind:

3.A We believe God intentionally created mankind as a moral, intelligent and responsible
personal being, formed as both male and female in the image of God. As such, mankind is given
the moral authority of free will, with both its privileges and responsibilities.
3.B We believe that mankind knowingly and intentionally entered into sin, breaking a
right relationship with God by personal disobedience. Therefore, mankind became spiritually
dead and subject to both temporal and eternal separation from God.
3.C We believe that mankind may enter into a living, right relationship with God through
personal faith in the crucified and risen Lord, Jesus Christ and through the indwelling of the
Holy Spirit. On the basis of the shed blood of Jesus Christ, God forgives those who believe and
cleanses them from all spiritual impact of sin. The primary evidence of faith in Jesus Christ in a
believer’s life is repentance from sin and devotion to God. Through the Holy Spirit, God
empowers believers to live rightly in holiness and complete love for God and man. The primary
evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit in a believer’s life is the fruit of the Spirit.
3.D We believe that unity in the body of Christ is based on our common faith in the
person of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The common essentials of the Great Commandment
(to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and to love your neighbor
as yourself), the Great Commission (to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and teaching them to observe all Christ taught) and
matters which are clearly taught in Scripture provide the basis for Christian unity. Other matters
are discretionary, and may be studied, discussed and decided as a matter of personal conviction,
and therefore godly and competent people may have some variation in such matters, while
maintaining true unity in Christ.
3.E We believe that mankind may communicate with God through prayer and the study
of the Scriptures. Prayer may be of adoration and worship, confession and contrition,
thanksgiving and praise, supplication and request, and intercession and advocacy. The means of
prayer may be in silent thought, words, songs and music, writing, meditation, symbolic action,
silence or other means of communication. Effective prayer is based simply in faith, and is not
dependent upon style or means, but upon the character of God. God communicates through
inspiration by the Scriptures as well as through His Spirit to the individual or to His body.

4. Regarding the Church:

4.A We believe that the true Church is composed of all persons who have entered into a
right relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ and indwelling by the Holy Spirit.
4.B We believe that the universal spiritual sacraments of the Church in the present age
are baptism as an expression of faith in Jesus Christ, and communion in the Lord’s Supper, as a
continual remembrance of His sacrifice, death and resurrection until He returns. Marriage,
membership, burial and other rituals may also be vital expressions of faith and obedience to the
will of God, but without universal application.
4.C We believe that membership in the visible church is a privilege and responsibility
granted to any person who testifies to such a right relationship with God, and who is willing and
able to maintain their commitments to the body of believers who are connected together in a
temporal and/or corporate identity.

5. Regarding the End of the Current Age:

5.A We believe that all mankind will experience a bodily resurrection at the conclusion
of the present age, the lost to eternal punishment and conscious separation from God and the
saved to eternal blessing and conscious presence with God.
5.B We believe that God’s final judgment of mankind is based on the gracious and
complete work of Jesus Christ, and each person’s relationship Him, and not on an evaluation of
human performance or on an incidental decision concerning spiritual matters.