What We Believe

We believe that the God who spoke light out of darkness continues to address His people through the writings He breathed out by His Spirit. We receive the Old and New Testaments as the unified story by which God makes known His character, His covenant purposes, the gospel, and the salvation accomplished in Jesus Christ. We confess that all Scripture is God-breathed, faithful, and effective, accomplishing the purpose for which God sends it. We believe the Scriptures are trustworthy in all they affirm, giving the church a lamp for her feet and a light for her path.

We believe in the one God, who is the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, who made heaven and earth, who spoke light into the darkness, and who upholds all things by His powerful word.

We believe in God the Father, the eternal and unbegotten One, the maker of heaven and earth, from whom are all things and for whom we exist.

We believe in God the Son, the eternal Word who was with God and was God, the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, eternally begotten of the Father, who became flesh in Jesus Christ, lived in perfect faithfulness, died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried, and was raised on the third day.

We believe in God the Spirit, the giver of life, who was active in creation, spoke through the prophets, and proceeds from the Father, being given through the Son to accomplish the purposes of God.

We believe that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are one God, sharing the same divine life and glory, equal in power and majesty, working inseparably in all that God does.

We believe the gospel is the good news that God has fulfilled His promises in Jesus the Messiah. He lived in perfect faithfulness, bearing our sins as the suffering servant, giving His life as a ransom, and dying for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures. He was buried, and on the third day God raised Him in accordance with the Scriptures. From His throne He pours out the Holy Spirit on His people, extending His saving rule among the nations. He will come again as the Judge of the living and the dead, gathering His people, banishing evil, and making all things new.

We believe that all who repent and believe the good news are united to Christ by the Spirit, sharing in His death and resurrection and receiving His life. By God’s grace, faith is the given means by which sinners receive the saving work of Jesus the Messiah. We believe that through the gospel God declares the ungodly righteous through Jesus Christ. We believe that those whom God justifies are also renewed by His Spirit.

We believe that God calls His people to a life of steadfast faithfulness, continuing in the grace they have received until the day of Christ. Scripture speaks of the dangers of drifting, growing cold, turning aside, and falling away. 

We believe that perseverance is both our calling and God’s gracious work. 

We believe that those who endure to the end inherit what God has promised.

We believe that the Church is the bride of Christ with Christ as the bridegroom, who will be with Him forever. We believe that  the Church is the body of Christ, joined to Him as its head and filled with His life. 

We believe that the Church is visible in local assemblies where believers devote themselves to the Scriptures, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer. We believe that the Church is called to endure in faithfulness.

We believe that Jesus Christ fulfills and transforms all forms of leadership. 

We believe that the risen Christ gives leaders to His Church for its good. 

We believe that Christ calls and the church affirms elders to shepherd the church under Christ as the chief shepherd. Because Scripture consistently presents the office of elder in male-specific terms and does not affirm women serving as elders, River Church ordains only qualified men to the office of elder.  

We believe that the Holy Spirit also raises up deacons to serve the needs of the body, embody Christ’s compassion, and ensure that practical matters are carried out with wisdom and integrity.

We believe that baptism is the God-given sign through which those who turn from their old life to Christ are marked as His own and welcomed into the life of His people. 

We believe that in the book of Acts, those who repent and believe in Jesus are baptized, calling on His name, receiving forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit, and being joined to the community of disciples. We generally practice this baptism by immersion.

We believe that baptism signifies union with Christ and participation in His kingdom.

We believe that baptism is a decisive act of allegiance to Jesus the Messiah. 

We believe that the Lord’s Supper is the covenant meal Christ has given to His people, rooted in the story of God’s redemption and fulfilled in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. 

We believe that when the Church gathers to break bread, we participate in the body and blood of Christ. 

We believe that the Lord’s Supper trains the Church in endurance and hope. 

We believe that the Table belongs to the gathered people of God who have entered the new covenant through repentance and faith and who continue to walk in fellowship with Christ and His body. 

We believe that God calls His people to walk in holiness, truth, and love, and that He graciously corrects those who wander from His ways. 

We believe that Jesus teaches His Church to practice discipline with humility, patience, and mercy. 

We believe that discipline is a ministry of restoration. 

We believe that church discipline anticipates the final judgment, in which Christ will present His people holy and blameless. When the Church practices discipline with faithfulness and mercy, it bears witness to the coming day when all things will be set right. The goal of discipline is therefore not exclusion but reconciliation; not punishment but life; not severing but healing; not condemnation but the joy of restored fellowship.

We believe that Jesus Christ will come again in power and glory as He promised.

We believe that God will judge the world in righteousness through Jesus Christ.

We believe that evil will be judged and banished, and that those who do not belong to Christ will face His judgment.

We believe that God’s ultimate purpose is the renewal of all creation.

We believe that the redeemed will dwell with God forever in the new heavens and the new earth.

We believe that God created humanity in His image as male and female and ordained marriage as a covenantal, one-flesh union between one man and one woman. Marriage is God’s gift, reflecting His faithful love and pointing to the union of Christ and His Church.

We believe that sexual intimacy is a good gift from God, given for this covenantal union, and that outside of marriage sexual expression becomes disordered. God calls His people to holiness with their bodies, walking in purity, faithfulness, and self-control.

We believe that God’s design for humanity as male and female is a good and purposeful gift. Though sin brings confusion and distortion, God restores His people in Christ, calling them to live in accordance with His created design with humility, holiness, and mutual honor.

We believe that God forms families and a household of faith in the Church, where children are nurtured, parents are called to faithful instruction, and all—married and single—are received, cared for, and formed together into the likeness of Christ.

We believe that through Jesus Christ God forgives, renews, and restores all who repent and believe, and that the Church is called to speak truth in love, walk patiently with one another, and cultivate a community of holiness, grace, and hope.