Beliefs

Our Beliefs

The New Canaan Worship Center is a Bible-believing church. We believe God has revealed Himself through the Scriptures, and the Scriptures are to be taught using sound doctrine. We emphasize every portion of Scripture, the birth, life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the mission of the body of believers, and the ministering work of the Holy Spirit in the world today.

New Canaan accepts the Scriptures as the revealed will of God, and adopts the following statements of Fundamental Truths and Doctrine:

THE BIBLE

The Old Testament and the New Testament are the inspired, infallible, authoritative Word of God.

The Word is the complete revelation of Godâ??s eternal and unchanging will for all of mankind. (1 Thessalonians 2:13, 2 Peter 1:19-21)

The Word is the divine and final authority for the Christian life. (2 Timothy 3:16)

GOD

There is only one God in the three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

God is the infinitely perfect and eternally existent Creator of all things. (Matthew 28:19, Matthew 3:16-17, 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14, Ephesians 4:4-6, 2 Corinthians 13:14)

JESUS

Jesus is the union of God and Man. He is the True God and True Man, conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. (Matthew 1:23, Luke 1:27, Isaiah 7:14)

He lived a sinless life and died on the cross as a sacrifice for the sins of all men. (1 Corinthians 5:7, Ephesians 5:1-3, Hebrews 9:26, Hebrews 4:15)

He arose bodily from the dead, ascended at the right hand of the Father as our high priest and advocate. (2 Corinthians 5:14-16, 1 Corinthians 15:3-5, Hebrews 6:19-20)

SALVATION

Man was created in the image of God, but fell into sin, which resulted in his spiritual death and separation from God.

Only through regeneration (being born-again) by the Holy Spirit, can salvation and spiritual life be obtained. (John 3:5-8,1 Peter 1:22-24, John 3:16)

You are born again when you confess that Jesus is Lord of your life and believe that God raised Him from the dead. Old things are gone and all things are new! (Romans 10:9-10, Romans 6:23, 2 Corinthians 5:17)

WATER BAPTISM & COMMUNION

Water Baptism and Communion are ordinances to be observed in the Church.

They are not means of salvation. The shed blood of Jesus Christ and His resurrection provide the only grounds for justification and salvation. (Matthew 28:19, Romans 6:4, Colossians 2:12, 1 Corinthians 11:23-36)

HOLY SPIRIT

The Holy Spirit operates in our daily lives. He indwells, comforts, guides, instructs, and empowers the believer for godly living and service with the final purpose of glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ in the earth. (John 14:16-17, John 15:26)

Every believer should be filled with the Holy Spirit, with the initial evidence of speaking in tongues. (Mark 16:17, Acts 2:4)

PRAYER

Prayer is a lifestyle.  Every born-again, spirit-filled believer should maintain a consistent prayer life by praying regularly with their understanding and in tongues. (Ephesians 6:18, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

FAITH

Without faith it is impossible to please God. Those who have been born again shall live by faith and this pleases God. (Hebrews 11:6, Hebrews 10:38, Galatians 3:11, Romains 1:17, Habakkuk 2:4)

When we are born again we are redeemed from the curse of the law found in the Old Testament, which consisted of poverty, sickness, and spiritual death (separation from God). (Deuteronomy 28, Galatians 3:13)

We obtain this redemption by faith in the Word of God which reveals to us His great and precious promises given so we can partake in the divine nature. (2 Peter 1:3-4)

THE CHURCH

The universal church is composed of all those who are born again. Jesus Christ is the Lord and head of the church. (Ephesians 1:22)

He has provided leadership for the local church through the ministry gifts, which only He can give. (Ephesians 4:10-12,1 Corinthians 12:27-29)

Every local church has the right, under Christ, to decide and govern its own affairs. (Colossians 1:18, 1 Timothy 3)

SECOND COMING

The premillenial second coming of Jesus Christ is two-part in nature. He will come in the air to resurrect the righteous dead and catch the living saints. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18, Acts 1:11)

He will then come to earth to establish His physical Kingdom and begin His thousand-year reign. (2 Timothy 4:1, Hebrews 12:28, Revelation 20:1-6)

RESURRECTION

There will be a bodily resurrection of the dead. Believers go to the everlasting joy with the Lord and unbelievers to judgment and eternal punishment, apart from God. (Romans 8:11, 1 Corinthians 6:14, 1 Corinthians 5:12-16, 2 Corinthians 5:8-10, Hebrews 6:2, Hebrews 9:27)