The Holy Bible: The entire Holy Bible is the only complete doctrinal statement of Grand River Church. It is the authoritative Word of God, and in its original writing, it is wholly inspired by God, and thereby unchanging and without error.

Triune God: God is three distinct persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. These three are co-equal and co-eternal as well as all powerful, all knowing, and ever present.

God the Father: God the Father is the Creator of all things, seen and unseen. He is spirit and person, not merely an idea or force. He is perfect in holiness and love. So great is His love for humanity that He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, into this world to save humanity from its sin and to reconcile humanity to Himself. Through Jesus Christ, fallen humanity is freely given the right to become children of God the Father and to live in intimate relationship with Him for eternity. God the Father loves His “adopted” children just as He loves His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ: Jesus Christ is God the Son, the second person of the Trinity. He existed with the Father from the beginning and was the agent through whom the Father created all things, seen and unseen. Now and forever, Jesus sustains the created universe with the power of His word. He is the Lord of all.

Two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ became Man when He was conceived of God the Father, by the power of the Holy Spirit (the third person of the Trinity), in the womb of a virgin named Mary. Consequently, He is the Son of God. In His earthly life, Jesus was 100 percent God and 100 percent man. He is the only man to have lived a perfect, sinless life, though He was tempted to sin in every way. Jesus’ earthly ministry was centered on pleasing God the Father and doing His will. Filled with the Holy Spirit, Jesus selflessly proclaimed the love of the Father for fallen humanity and demonstrated that love by healing the sick, delivering those oppressed by demons, and by performing various other good works, natural and supernatural. Given His unique relationship with His Father, Jesus was and is the only means by which a person can enjoy relationship with God the Father.

Jesus was not crucified for what He did, but for who He claimed to be -- God the Son. His death on the cross and the shedding of His blood completely atoned (paid) for the sin of all humanity – past, present and future -- and fully satisfied a holy God’s requirement for perfect justice. By the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day further demonstrating His divinity. Fully God and fully Man, Jesus ascended into heaven where He now reigns with God the Father. He will return to the earth in glory and power and will judge every person who has ever lived. He will reward those who have accepted Him as Lord and Savior with eternal life in God’s presence and punish those who have rejected Him by sending them to hell, a place created for Satan and his horde of fallen angels, a place of eternal separation from God.

The Holy Spirit: The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. He is also spirit and person, not merely an idea or force. The Holy Spirit, also known as the Spirit of truth, inspired the writers of the Holy Bible. After Jesus ascended to heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit to comfort and direct His church and to empower her to reach the lost.

No person can receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior without the help of the Holy Spirit. He testifies of Jesus Christ through the words and deeds of believers.

He convicts the world of sin and draws sinners to repentance, by which God then forgives them. Christians are people who have invited the Lord Jesus Christ to come and live inside them and to lead them by His Holy Spirit. The fruit of living by the Spirit is love, joy, peace, and many other godly qualities as well as freedom from sin and the oppression of demonic spirits. Called the “Spirit of adoption,” the Holy Spirit confirms in the hearts of believers that they are truly children of God, and joint heirs with Christ.

The Holy Spirit also manifests Himself through a variety of spiritual gifts, which are given to believers for the encouragement and comfort of the church. Moreover, His gifts demonstrate the reality of the resurrected Christ, and confirm the power of the Gospel. The lists of spiritual gifts found in the Bible are not necessarily exhaustive, and the gifts may occur in various combinations. All believers are encouraged to earnestly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gifts of prophecy and tongues. These gifts always operate in harmony with the Scriptures and are not to be used in violation of Biblical parameters.

The Fallen State of Humanity: The first human beings, Adam and Eve, were created in the likeness of God and were innocent and sinless in nature, destined to live eternally in this state. Adam and his wife Eve, however, were tempted by a rebellious angel named Satan to disobey God and to declare their independence from Him. Their insurrection brought them under the dominion of Satan, and they were permanently corrupted by his influence and nature as well as by their own independence and pride. Consequently, every human being born since Adam and Eve is by nature rebellious and sinful. And since every human being, except Jesus Christ, has violated in thought, word or deed God’s moral code, none is righteous, and all are found guilty. According to God’s system of justice, all sin is punishable by death, natural and spiritual. Hence, all human beings are living out a death sentence from which they can do nothing to free themselves.

The Gift of Salvation: God the Father sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to demonstrate His great love for fallen humanity. The greatest demonstration of Father’s love occurred when He permitted His sinless Son to be brutally murdered on a cross by sinful human beings. In response to this heinous crime, God the Father mercifully accounted Jesus’ sacrificial death, the shedding of His Son’s innocent blood, as legal payment for the sin of the entire world, including the sin of the very people who put Jesus to death.

To be saved from the consequences of sin, a person must simply believe (have faith) that Jesus has already paid in full the price for his sin. The person receives Jesus as his Savior and allows the blood of Jesus to be applied to his respective case. This application occurs when a person repents (turns away) from his sin and self-centeredness and commits to follow Jesus.

By the blood of Jesus, a person is purchased or redeemed out of spiritual bondage. By the blood of Jesus, a person is acquitted from his death sentence and stands before God legally justified. By the blood of Jesus, a person’s old, sinful nature is nailed to the cross, the power of sin is broken in his life, and the person becomes a new, spiritual creation, “born again,” and free to walk in holiness. A saved person enters into a rest from all efforts to save himself and to justify himself by good works, as he can add nothing to what the blood of Jesus has already done. This unmerited favor of God is called “grace.” By God’s grace, not human works, a person is brought into full relationship with God.

Living in Relationship with God: The essence of Christian living is intimacy with God the Father, through Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Just as the Triune God is One, so Christians are called to live in “oneness” with God. Jesus demonstrated His love for the Father during his earthly life, and as Christians receive Christ into their lives, they too become one with the Father. Christianity is centered on relationship not rules. Those who love God with their whole heart, mind and soul will seek to please Him and not offend Him. Hence, lovers of God fulfill the moral law of God as a by-product of their relationship with Him.

In repentance, a person chooses to turn from a lifestyle of sin and to live in right relationship with God, following Him, rather than rebelling against Him. Repentance does not earn or buy God’s love; nor does it earn or buy a person’s salvation. God loves every human being unconditionally, and Jesus has already paid the price of salvation for every sinner. Repentance is a sinner’s rightful response when his sinful nature is seen in the light of the Father’s unmerited love and the sacrifice offered by Jesus on the cross. Repentance does release the fruit of God’s forgiveness into a person’s life by releasing that person from the shame and guilt of sin.

In the sacrament of water baptism, a Christian identifies with the burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Submersion in water represents the burial of the old nature, and arising from water represents the emergence of the new creation. Given the intended symbolism of baptism, a person is totally immersed in the baptismal waters. Water baptism, however, is more than just a symbolic Christian rite. The Christian is baptized “into Christ” thereby deepening his relationship with Christ in a substantive way. The spiritual transaction that takes place at baptism is a mystery, which means its complete meaning and significance cannot be fully understood. The sacrament of water baptism is reserved for individuals who have reached a level of spiritual maturity sufficient to understand the need for salvation and repentance.

God the Father promises His children the gift of the Holy Spirit. Each Christian is ordained to be a temple in which the Spirit of God dwells. To be baptized in the Holy Spirit is to be totally immersed in or to be totally under the influence of the Spirit of God. The manifestation of this indwelling is spiritual fruit (character) and gifts (power) in the life of the believer. By the Holy Spirit, Christ, the hope of glory, lives in each believer. Christians are admonished not to grieve the Holy Spirit, but to allow Him to flow in and through them freely.

In the sacrament of communion, believers in Jesus Christ share an intimate meal with their Lord and Savior in remembrance of His sacrifice for them on the cross. The bread represents the body of Christ broken for His friends, and the wine (or grape juice) represents the blood of Christ shed for the remission of their sins. Communion affords believers an opportunity to enter ever more deeply into fellowship with Jesus. Like water baptism, the complete meaning and significance of Communion cannot be fully understood.

Christians praise and worship God individually and corporately to demonstrate their love to Him. Since what a person worships in life is what a person values or deems worthy, worshipping God expresses and even reveals the value and worth Christians ascribe to Him in their individual and corporate lives. God responds to praise and worship by inhabiting it. In other words, God manifests His presence to His people when they worship Him in spirit and truth. All expressions of praise and worship described in the Psalms – singing, clapping, shouting, dancing, playing instruments, lifting hands, kneeling, and bowing – are valid expressions in Christian worship today. Painting, drawing, drama, poetry and other creative/artistic expressions can also be praise and worship, so long as they demonstrate the artist’s love of God.

Only second to loving God with one’s whole heart, mind and soul is the command to love one another. Because God loves people passionately and because He lives in the believer, the believer will inevitably demonstrate the love of God to fellow believers and the rest of the world, even enemies. Just as Jesus did not come to be served but to serve, those in whom the Spirit of Christ (the Holy Spirit) lives will serve and lay down their lives for others. Jesus promises the believer that any act of love done for a needy person is an act of love done for Himself. Good works, then, are the fruit of a saved life and never the means by which salvation is attained. Christian leaders are called to be leading servants and are directed by the Lord Himself to not “lord it over” the people they lead but to love them as Christ loves them, with passion and humility.

The Church: The universal church is the Bride of Christ, that corporate person made up of believers who love Jesus passionately and who serve Him faithfully. The universal church is also the Body of Christ, the means by which the Spirit of Christ (the Holy Spirit) accomplishes God’s will in the earth today. Central to the work of the Body of Christ is the Great Commission, the goal of which is to make disciples of all nations.

The universal church is comprised of local churches, which are comprised of individual church members who are joined together by God with a bond of love. Just as each member has a God-ordained role to play in a specific local church, so each local church has a God-ordained role to play in the greater universal church. Jesus has given ministry gifts to the church, universal and local, to equip members for the work of ministry (service) and to build up and strengthen God’s body of believers. These ministry gifts are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. As there is neither male nor female in Christ, women, no less than men, are called and gifted to proclaim the gospel and do all of the works of the church, local and universal.

Grand River Church is a divinely ordained local church, manifesting the universal church on a practical level, founded in accordance with the principles and precepts revealed by God in the Holy Bible, specifically those outlined in the above Statement of Faith.