Mission & Beliefs

Phoenix Christian Grace Church is an evangelical non-denominational church. Following is our doctrinal statement:
1. We believe that the Bible is God’s authoritative communication to humans and is without error.
2. We believe that there is only one God, the Creator, who exists eternally in three persons of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
3. We believe that Jesus Christ is fully God and fully human, and that He died to take the punishment of all humans’ sins.
4. We believe that the Holy Spirit convicts people to believe in Jesus, and empowers Christians to live a godly life.
5. We believe that all humans are sinners and that the punishment for sin is Hell.
6. We believe that humans can only be saved from Hell by believing that Jesus died to take the punishment of their sins.
7. We believe that all Christians should be baptized by water and partake of the Lord’s Supper.
8. We believe that the worldwide church consists of all true Christians, and that every Christian should be active in a local church.
9. We believe that Jesus will return to earth.
10. We believe that all humans will rise from the dead and that Christians will spend eternity in Heaven and non-Christians in Hell.

Statement of Beliefs

I. The Scriptures

The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God's
revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine
instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and
truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all
Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles
by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end
of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme
standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions
should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is
Himself the focus of divine revelation.

Exodus 24:4; Deuteronomy 4:1-2; 17:19; Joshua 8:34; Psalms 19:7-10;
119:11,89,105,140; Isaiah 34:16; 40:8; Jeremiah 15:16; 36:1-32;
Matthew 5:17-18; 22:29; Luke 21:33; 24:44-46; John 5:39; 16:13-15;
17:17; Acts 2:16ff.; 17:11; Romans 15:4; 16:25-26; 2 Timothy 3:15-17;
Hebrews 1:1-2; 4:12; 1 Peter 1:25; 2 Peter 1:19-21.

II. God

There is one and only one living and true God. He is an intelligent,
spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, Preserver, and
Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other
perfections. God is all powerful and all knowing; and His perfect
knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future, including
the future decisions of His free creatures. To Him we owe the highest
love, reverence, and obedience. The eternal triune God reveals Himself
to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal
attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.

A. God the Father

God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His
creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to
the purposes of His grace. He is all powerful, all knowing, all
loving, and all wise. God is Father in truth to those who become
children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in His
attitude toward all men.

Genesis 1:1; 2:7; Exodus 3:14; 6:2-3; 15:11ff.; 20:1ff.; Leviticus
22:2; Deuteronomy 6:4; 32:6; 1 Chronicles 29:10; Psalm 19:1-3; Isaiah
43:3,15; 64:8; Jeremiah 10:10; 17:13; Matthew 6:9ff.; 7:11; 23:9;
28:19; Mark 1:9-11; John 4:24; 5:26; 14:6-13; 17:1-8; Acts 1:7; Romans
8:14-15; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 4:6; Colossians
1:15; 1 Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 11:6; 12:9; 1 Peter 1:17; 1 John 5:7.

B. God the Son

Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ
He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus
perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself human
nature with its demands and necessities and identifying Himself
completely with mankind yet without sin. He honored the divine law by
His personal obedience, and in His substitutionary death on the cross
He made provision for the redemption of men from sin. He was raised
from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as
the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into
heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One
Mediator, fully God, fully man, in whose Person is effected the
reconciliation between God and man. He will return in power and glory
to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission. He now
dwells in all believers as the living and ever present Lord.

Genesis 18:1ff.; Psalms 2:7ff.; 110:1ff.; Isaiah 7:14; 53; Matthew
1:18-23; 3:17; 8:29; 11:27; 14:33; 16:16,27; 17:5; 27; 28:1-6,19; Mark
1:1; 3:11; Luke 1:35; 4:41; 22:70; 24:46; John 1:1-18,29; 10:30,38;
11:25-27; 12:44-50; 14:7-11; 16:15-16,28; 17:1-5, 21-22; 20:1-20,28;
Acts 1:9; 2:22-24; 7:55-56; 9:4-5,20; Romans 1:3-4; 3:23-26; 5:6-21;
8:1-3,34; 10:4; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2:2; 8:6; 15:1-8,24-28; 2
Corinthians 5:19-21; 8:9; Galatians 4:4-5; Ephesians 1:20; 3:11;
4:7-10; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 1:13-22; 2:9; 1 Thessalonians
4:14-18; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; 3:16; Titus 2:13-14; Hebrews 1:1-3; 4:14-15;
7:14-28; 9:12-15,24-28; 12:2; 13:8; 1 Peter 2:21-25; 3:22; 1 John
1:7-9; 3:2; 4:14-15; 5:9; 2 John 7-9; Revelation 1:13-16; 5:9-14;
12:10-11; 13:8; 19:16.

C. God the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired holy
men of old to write the Scriptures. Through illumination He enables
men to understand truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of
righteousness, and of judgment. He calls men to the Saviour, and
effects regeneration. At the moment of regeneration He baptizes every
believer into the Body of Christ. He cultivates Christian character,
comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they
serve God through His church. He seals the believer unto the day of
final redemption. His presence in the Christian is the guarantee that
God will bring the believer into the fullness of the stature of
Christ. He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in
worship, evangelism, and service.

Genesis 1:2; Judges 14:6; Job 26:13; Psalms 51:11; 139:7ff.; Isaiah
61:1-3; Joel 2:28-32; Matthew 1:18; 3:16; 4:1; 12:28-32; 28:19; Mark
1:10,12; Luke 1:35; 4:1,18-19; 11:13; 12:12; 24:49; John 4:24;
14:16-17,26; 15:26; 16:7-14; Acts 1:8; 2:1-4,38; 4:31; 5:3; 6:3; 7:55;
8:17,39; 10:44; 13:2; 15:28; 16:6; 19:1-6; Romans 8:9-11,14-16,26-27;
1 Corinthians 2:10-14; 3:16; 12:3-11,13; Galatians 4:6; Ephesians
1:13-14; 4:30; 5:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:19; 1 Timothy 3:16; 4:1; 2
Timothy 1:14; 3:16; Hebrews 9:8,14; 2 Peter 1:21; 1 John 4:13; 5:6-7;
Revelation 1:10; 22:17.

III. Man

Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image. He created
them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. The gift of
gender is thus part of the goodness of God's creation. In the
beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with
freedom of choice. By his free choice man sinned against God and
brought sin into the human race. Through the temptation of Satan man
transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original innocence
whereby his posterity inherit a nature and an environment inclined
toward sin. Therefore, as soon as they are capable of moral action,
they become transgressors and are under condemnation. Only the grace
of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to
fulfill the creative purpose of God. The sacredness of human
personality is evident in that God created man in His own image, and
in that Christ died for man; therefore, every person of every race
possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.

Genesis 1:26-30; 2:5,7,18-22; 3; 9:6; Psalms 1; 8:3-6; 32:1-5; 51:5;
Isaiah 6:5; Jeremiah 17:5; Matthew 16:26; Acts 17:26-31; Romans
1:19-32; 3:10-18,23; 5:6,12,19; 6:6; 7:14-25; 8:14-18,29; 1
Corinthians 1:21-31; 15:19,21-22; Ephesians 2:1-22; Colossians
1:21-22; 3:9-11.

IV. Salvation

Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered
freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, who by His
own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its
broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification,
sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from
personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.

A. Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God's grace whereby
believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of
heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which
the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of
grace.

Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God. Faith is the
acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire personality to
Him as Lord and Saviour.

B. Justification is God's gracious and full acquittal upon principles
of His righteousness of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ.
Justification brings the believer unto a relationship of peace and
favor with God.

C. Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by
which the believer is set apart to God's purposes, and is enabled to
progress toward moral and spiritual maturity through the presence and
power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Growth in grace should
continue throughout the regenerate person's life.

D. Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final
blessed and abiding state of the redeemed.

Genesis 3:15; Exodus 3:14-17; 6:2-8; Matthew 1:21; 4:17; 16:21-26;
27:22-28:6; Luke 1:68-69; 2:28-32; John 1:11-14,29; 3:3-21,36; 5:24;
10:9,28-29; 15:1-16; 17:17; Acts 2:21; 4:12; 15:11; 16:30-31;
17:30-31; 20:32; Romans 1:16-18; 2:4; 3:23-25; 4:3ff.; 5:8-10; 6:1-23;
8:1-18,29-39; 10:9-10,13; 13:11-14; 1 Corinthians 1:18,30; 6:19-20;
15:10; 2 Corinthians 5:17-20; Galatians 2:20; 3:13; 5:22-25; 6:15;
Ephesians 1:7; 2:8-22; 4:11-16; Philippians 2:12-13; Colossians
1:9-22; 3:1ff.; 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24; 2 Timothy 1:12; Titus
2:11-14; Hebrews 2:1-3; 5:8-9; 9:24-28; 11:1-12:8,14; James 2:14-26; 1
Peter 1:2-23; 1 John 1:6-2:11; Revelation 3:20; 21:1-22:5.

V. God's Purpose of Grace

Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He
regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. It is
consistent with the free agency of man, and comprehends all the means
in connection with the end. It is the glorious display of God's
sovereign goodness, and is infinitely wise, holy, and unchangeable. It
excludes boasting and promotes humility.

All true believers endure to the end. Those whom God has accepted in
Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the
state of grace, but shall persevere to the end. Believers may fall
into sin through neglect and temptation, whereby they grieve the
Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, and bring reproach on the
cause of Christ and temporal judgments on themselves; yet they shall
be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.

Genesis 12:1-3; Exodus 19:5-8; 1 Samuel 8:4-7,19-22; Isaiah 5:1-7;
Jeremiah 31:31ff.; Matthew 16:18-19; 21:28-45; 24:22,31; 25:34; Luke
1:68-79; 2:29-32; 19:41-44; 24:44-48; John 1:12-14; 3:16; 5:24;
6:44-45,65; 10:27-29; 15:16; 17:6,12,17-18; Acts 20:32; Romans 5:9-10;
8:28-39; 10:12-15; 11:5-7,26-36; 1 Corinthians 1:1-2; 15:24-28;
Ephesians 1:4-23; 2:1-10; 3:1-11; Colossians 1:12-14; 2 Thessalonians
2:13-14; 2 Timothy 1:12; 2:10,19; Hebrews 11:39–12:2; James 1:12; 1
Peter 1:2-5,13; 2:4-10; 1 John 1:7-9; 2:19; 3:2.

VI. The Church

A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local
congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the
faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of
Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and
privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the
gospel to the ends of the earth. Each congregation operates under the
Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a
congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as
Lord. Its scriptural officers are pastors and deacons. While both men
and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor
is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.

The New Testament speaks also of the church as the Body of Christ
which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages, believers from
every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.

Matthew 16:15-19; 18:15-20; Acts 2:41-42,47; 5:11-14; 6:3-6; 13:1-3;
14:23,27; 15:1-30; 16:5; 20:28; Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:2; 3:16;
5:4-5; 7:17; 9:13-14; 12; Ephesians 1:22-23; 2:19-22; 3:8-11,21;
5:22-32; Philippians 1:1; Colossians 1:18; 1 Timothy 2:9-14; 3:1-15;
4:14; Hebrews 11:39-40; 1 Peter 5:1-4; Revelation 2-3; 21:2-3.

VII. Baptism and the Lord's Supper

Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name
of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience
symbolizing the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen
Saviour, the believer's death to sin, the burial of the old life, and
the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a
testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a
church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church
membership and to the Lord's Supper.

The Lord's Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of
the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine,
memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second
coming.

Matthew 3:13-17; 26:26-30; 28:19-20; Mark 1:9-11; 14:22-26; Luke
3:21-22; 22:19-20; John 3:23; Acts 2:41-42; 8:35-39; 16:30-33; 20:7;
Romans 6:3-5; 1 Corinthians 10:16,21; 11:23-29; Colossians 2:12.

VIII. The Lord's Day

The first day of the week is the Lord's Day. It is a Christian
institution for regular observance. It commemorates the resurrection
of Christ from the dead and should include exercises of worship and
spiritual devotion, both public and private. Activities on the Lord's
Day should be commensurate with the Christian's conscience under the
Lordship of Jesus Christ.

Exodus 20:8-11; Matthew 12:1-12; 28:1ff.; Mark 2:27-28; 16:1-7; Luke
24:1-3,33-36; John 4:21-24; 20:1,19-28; Acts 20:7; Romans 14:5-10; I
Corinthians 16:1-2; Colossians 2:16; 3:16; Revelation 1:10.

IX. The Kingdom

The Kingdom of God includes both His general sovereignty over the
universe and His particular kingship over men who willfully
acknowledge Him as King. Particularly the Kingdom is the realm of
salvation into which men enter by trustful, childlike commitment to
Jesus Christ. Christians ought to pray and to labor that the Kingdom
may come and God's will be done on earth. The full consummation of the
Kingdom awaits the return of Jesus Christ and the end of this age.

Genesis 1:1; Isaiah 9:6-7; Jeremiah 23:5-6; Matthew 3:2; 4:8-10,23;
12:25-28; 13:1-52; 25:31-46; 26:29; Mark 1:14-15; 9:1; Luke 4:43; 8:1;
9:2; 12:31-32; 17:20-21; 23:42; John 3:3; 18:36; Acts 1:6-7; 17:22-31;
Romans 5:17; 8:19; 1 Corinthians 15:24-28; Colossians 1:13; Hebrews
11:10,16; 12:28; 1 Peter 2:4-10; 4:13; Revelation 1:6,9; 5:10; 11:15;
21-22.

X. Last Things

God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its
appropriate end. According to His promise, Jesus Christ will return
personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised;
and Christ will judge all men in righteousness. The unrighteous will
be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment. The
righteous in their resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their
reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord.

Isaiah 2:4; 11:9; Matthew 16:27; 18:8-9; 19:28; 24:27,30,36,44;
25:31-46; 26:64; Mark 8:38; 9:43-48; Luke 12:40,48; 16:19-26;
17:22-37; 21:27-28; John 14:1-3; Acts 1:11; 17:31; Romans 14:10; 1
Corinthians 4:5; 15:24-28,35-58; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Philippians
3:20-21; Colossians 1:5; 3:4; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18; 5:1ff.; 2
Thessalonians 1:7ff.; 2; 1 Timothy 6:14; 2 Timothy 4:1,8; Titus 2:13;
Hebrews 9:27-28; James 5:8; 2 Peter 3:7ff.; 1 John 2:28; 3:2; Jude 14;
Revelation 1:18; 3:11; 20:1-22:13.

XI. Evangelism and Missions

It is the duty and privilege of every follower of Christ and of every
church of the Lord Jesus Christ to endeavor to make disciples of all
nations. The new birth of man's spirit by God's Holy Spirit means the
birth of love for others. Missionary effort on the part of all rests
thus upon a spiritual necessity of the regenerate life, and is
expressly and repeatedly commanded in the teachings of Christ. The
Lord Jesus Christ has commanded the preaching of the gospel to all
nations. It is the duty of every child of God to seek constantly to
win the lost to Christ by verbal witness undergirded by a Christian
lifestyle, and by other methods in harmony with the gospel of Christ.

Genesis 12:1-3; Exodus 19:5-6; Isaiah 6:1-8; Matthew 9:37-38; 10:5-15;
13:18-30, 37-43; 16:19; 22:9-10; 24:14; 28:18-20; Luke 10:1-18;
24:46-53; John 14:11-12; 15:7-8,16; 17:15; 20:21; Acts 1:8; 2;
8:26-40; 10:42-48; 13:2-3; Romans 10:13-15; Ephesians 3:1-11; 1
Thessalonians 1:8; 2 Timothy 4:5; Hebrews 2:1-3; 11:39-12:2; 1 Peter
2:4-10; Revelation 22:17.