Theological Distinctives

​Hometown Hope Holds to the Following:

​

​

1. Belief that the one and only God is tri-personal, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit being distinct, divine persons, each being co-equal, co-eternal, and eternally existent. 

   • God the Father – We believe in God the Father, perfect in holiness, boundless in love, infinite in wisdom, measureless in power.  We believe that He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men, that He hears and answers prayers, and that He saves from sin and death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ, His son.

   • God the Son – We believe in Jesus Christ, God the Son, pre-existent with the Father, begotten by the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary, sinless in His nature and life, infallible in His teaching, making atonement for the sins of the world by His substitutionary death on the cross.  We believe that Jesus Christ is truly God and truly human, the unique, sure, and sufficient revelation of the very being, character, and purposes of God, beside whom there is no other god, and beside whom there is no other name by which we must be saved.  We believe in His bodily resurrection, His ascension into Heaven, His perpetual intercession for His people and His glorious Second Advent according to promise.  We believe that the promise of His second coming includes: first, “The Blessed Hope” of the believer, namely, the personal, premillenial, and pretribulational return of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to rapture His church according to I Thessalonians 4:13-18: second, His return later to earth with His saints to set up His millennial reign. Belief that the blessed hope of the personal return of Jesus provides both strength and substance to what the Church is doing, just as what we are doing becomes a sign of the hope of where we are going; both together leading to a consummation of history and the fulfillment of an undying kingdom that comes only by the power of God.

   • God the Holy Spirit – We believe in the deity and personality of the Holy Spirit.  We believe that He came from God to convince and convict the world of sin or righteousness and of judgment: and to regenerate, sanctify, indwell, and comfort and empower those who believe in Jesus Christ (John 16:7-11).

2. Belief that man was created in the image of God; that he sinned and thereby incurred not only physical death, but also that spiritual death which is separation from God.  We believe that all human beings are born with a sinful nature, and in the case of those who reach moral responsibility, become sinners in thought and deed by choice (Rom. 3:10-23; Rom. 5:12).

3. Belief in a literal heaven and a literal hell as presented in the Bible. 

4. Belief in the bodily resurrection of both the saved and unsaved.  These take place at different times.  Bodily resurrection of the saved before the Tribulation Period at the Rapture (Judgment Seat of Christ) and the bodily resurrection of the unsaved following the millennium at the Great White Throne Judgment.  The saved to eternal life and blessedness in Heaven and the unsaved to eternal, conscious suffering and woe in Hell (John 5:29).

5. Belief in the reality and personality of Satan (Luke 10:18).

6. Belief that the only ground for our acceptance by God is what Jesus Christ did on the cross and what he is now doing through his risen life, whereby he exposed and reversed the course of human sin and violence, died for our sins, redeemed us from the power of evil, reconciled us to God, and empowers us with his life "from above." We therefore bring nothing to our salvation. We receive his redemption solely by grace through faith. Repentance is a necessary corollary to saving faith, but repentance is not a work that we do, but it, too, is a gift that we receive.

7. Belief that new life, given supernaturally through spiritual regeneration, is a necessity as well as a gift and that the lifelong conversion that results is the only pathway to a radically changed character and way of life. Thus the only sufficient power for a life of Christian faithfulness and moral integrity in this world is that of Christ's resurrection and the power of the Holy Spirit.

8. Belief in the eternal security of the believer (John 10:27-29).

9. Belief that Jesus' own teaching and his attitude toward the total truthfulness and supreme authority of the Bible, God's inspired Word, make the Scriptures our final rule for faith and practice. Belief that the Bible was written by men who were moved by the Holy Spirit so that their writings were supernaturally and verbally inspired and free from error, as no other writings have ever been or ever will be.  They are the complete and final revelation of the will of God to man, and so are supreme authority in all matters of faith and conduct (II Tim. 3:16-17; II Pet. 1:19-21). The official translation that Hometown Hope embraces and utilizes in all of its ministries is the (1611) King James authorized version (II Tim. 3:16-17; II Pet. 1:19-21).

10. Belief that being disciples of Jesus means serving him as Lord in every sphere of our lives, secular as well as spiritual, public as well as private, in deeds as well as words, and in every moment of our days on earth, always reaching out as he did to those who are lost, as well as to the poor, the sick, the hungry, the oppressed, the socially despised, and being faithful stewards of creation and our fellow-creatures.

11. Belief that all followers of Christ are called to know and love Christ through worship, love Christ's family through fellowship, grow like Christ through discipleship, serve Christ by ministering to the needs of others in his name, and share Christ with those who do not yet know him, inviting people to the ends of the earth and to the end of time to join us as his disciples and followers of his way. Belief that every saved person should strive to be Christ-like by walking in the Holy Spirit, fully and constantly yielding his members to the indwelling Christ, so that he may always in life and word show forth the praises of Him who has called him out of darkness into His marvelous light.  We believe in a separated life for all believers as set forth in II Corinthians 6:14-7:1, including separation from unequally yoked marriages and worldly societies that are not that which would bring glory to our Savior’s name.

12. Belief in the visible church which is a company of believers in Jesus Christ, baptized, by immersion, on a credible confession of faith, and associated for worship, fellowship, and the fulfillment of the Lord's primary command as given in Matthew 28:18-20 .  We believe that to these visible churches was committed for perpetual observance, two ordinances - the baptism of believers by immersion and the Lord’s Supper.  We believe that God has laid upon these churches the task of preaching the Gospel to every creature, and the edification of the individual members of the Body of Christ (Matt. 16:18; Acts 2:47; I Cor. 11:23-32).

13. Belief that every human being has direct relations with God, and is responsible to God alone in all matters of faith; that each church is independent and autonomous, and must be free from any interference by any ecclesiastical or political authority; that, therefore the church and state must be kept separate as having different functions, each fulfilling its duties free from the dictation or patronage of the other.

14. ​​​​​​Belief that:

    • God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman.  We believe that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery and pornography are sinful perversions of God’s gift of sex.  Any employee of the church becoming pregnant as a result of consensual intercourse, outside of the marriage relationship, shall be terminated from employment (Gen. 2:24; Gen. 19:5,13; Gen. 26:8-9; Lev. 18:1-30; Rom. 1:26-29; I Cor. 5:1,6-9; I Thess. 4:1-8; Heb. 13:4).

    • The only legitimate marriage is the joining of one man, who has always been a man, and one woman, who has always been a woman (Gen. 2:24; Rom. 7:2; I Cor. 7:10; Eph. 5:22-23).

    • Men and women are spiritually equal in position before God but that God has ordained distinct and separate spiritual functions for men and women in the home and the church.  The husband is to be leader of the home and men are to be the leaders (Pastors and Deacons) of the church. Accordingly, only men are eligible for licensure and ordination by the church (Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:18; I Tim. 2:8-15; 3:4-5,12).

15. Belief that Christians are prohibited from bringing civil lawsuits against other Christians to resolve personal disputes.  We believe the church possesses all the resources necessary to resolve personal disputes between members.  We do believe, however, that a Christian may seek compensation from injuries from another Christian’s insurance company as long as the claim is pursued without malice or slander (I Cor 6:1-8; Eph 4:31-32). Criminal matters must always be referred to the proper law enforcement authorities.

16. Belief that every Christian, as a steward of that portion of God’s wealth entrusted to him, is obligated to support his local church financially.  We believe that God has established the tithe as a basis for giving, but that every Christian should also give other offerings sacrificially and cheerfully to the support of the church, the relief of those in need and the spread of the Gospel through missions.  We believe that a Christian relinquishes all rights to direct the use of the tithe or other offering once the gift has been made (Gen. 14:20; Prov. 3:9-10; Acts 4:34-37; I Cor. 16:2; II Cor. 9:6-7; Gal. 6:6; Eph. 4:28; I Tim. 5:17-18; I John 3:17)

17. Belief that God has given the church a great commission to proclaim the Gospel to all nations so that there might be a great multitude from every nation, tribe, ethnic group, and language group who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.  As ambassadors of Christ we must use all available means to reach the lost at home through home missions and the lost abroad through foreign missions (Matt. 28:19-20; Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46-48; John 20:21; Acts 1:8; II Cor. 5:20).

This statement of faith does not exhaust the extent of our faith.  The Bible (King James 1611) itself is the sole and final source for Hometown Hope Ministries.  We do believe, however, that the foregoing statement of faith accurately represents the teaching of the Bible, and therefore is binding upon all that affiliate with Hometown Hope.  All literature used in the ministry shall be (essentially) in complete agreement with the statement of faith.