God can be known because He wants to be known. It is within His nature to know us, and He has hard-wired us to want to know Him by setting eternity in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Many people know a great deal about God without really knowing Him intimately and deeply. There are three fundamental and connected ways we can come to know God.

• God reveals Himself to people everywhere through observing His general revelation through creation. General revelation suggests that God reveals Himself in a very generic way through what He has created. Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” The Apostle Paul echoes that view in Romans 1:20, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – His eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made so that men are without excuse.” So, we can know God generally through looking long and hard at what God has created.
• We can know God more concretely by exploring His written Word, the Bible, and receiving it as the Holy Spirit teaches and enables us to understand it and live it out. The Bible is God speaking His truth to us in human words. Through the Bible, we hear God’s articulate voice as we intentionally take time to know to Scripture. Through the Bible, we hear God’s articulate voice as we take the intentional time to listen to Scripture read, preached, and taught; as we read it for ourselves, study it, memorize it, meditate upon it, and obey it.
• We come to know God by embracing His special revelation, the Living Word, Jesus Christ. General revelation is helpful and true, but it is insufficient to bring us to the place where we can know that God put on flesh, lived among us, loved us, died for us on a cross for our sins, and triumphantly rose again. This way of knowing God comes through following and experiencing the life of Jesus. Through studying carefully, respectfully, and obediently His life (John 1:1&12-14). Jesus’s own words state clearly that the only way to a relationship with God is through knowing Him – Jesus (John 14:6-7).

God is one being in three persons – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit (Mt. 28:19; Acts 2:38-39; and 2 Cor. 13:14), co-existing in perfect community and harmony. All of creation finds its source in Him (Gen. 1:1; Job 41:11; Ps. 50:10-12; Jn. 1:1-2; and Rev. 4:11). He is all knowing, all powerful, everywhere, and exists eternally (Exo. 3:14-15; Ps. 90:1-6; Isa. 40:13-14; 66:1; Rom. 11:33-36; and 1 Tim. 6:15-16). He holds everything together and is in the process of redeeming everything (Col. 1:17 and Rom. 8:19-22). God loves us and longs for us to be in relationship with Him (1 Jn. 1:3).

Jesus is “God in the flesh.” He existed in the beginning with God (Jn. 1:1 & 14). He was born of a virgin, lived without sin, died for our sin, rose again, and is Savior and Lord (Mt. 1:18-20; Lk. 2:11&52; 23:23-24; 23:53; Heb. 5:8-9; 1 Cor. 15:1-4; and Col. 1:15-20). He, alone, makes salvation possible (Acts 4:12 and John 14:6). He ascended into heaven where He is now our high priest, intercessor, head of the Church, and has all authority in heaven and on earth (Mt. 28:18; Acts 1:9; Rom. 8:34; Col. 1:18; and Heb. 4:14-5:10). He will return for a second time, gathering His followers, and judging those who have rejected Him (Mk. 13:32-37; Acts 1:9-11; Tit. 2:13; and Heb. 9:27-28).

The Holy Spirit is the active presence of God in the world, always seeking to glorify Jesus (John 16:13-15). He lives individually within those who believe in Jesus and corporately amongst all believers who comprise the Church (1 Cor. 6:19 & 3:16-17). He convicts people of sin, righteousness, and pending judgment (John 16:5-15). He is our Comforter, Guide, Teacher, and Helper, equipping us with spiritual gifts for service and transforms us into the likeness of Jesus (Jn. 14:15-17; 15:25-26; Acts 1:8; Rom. 8:1ff; 1 Cor. 12:1-11; and 2 Cor. 3:18).

The Bible contains both the Old and New Testaments. It is the uniquely inspired Word of God (2 Tim. 3:14-17 and 2 Pet. 1:15-21) and is without error or contradiction in its original form. It is the rule of faith and practice for Christians. It is through Scripture that we know God’s will and Christ’s authority. The Bible accomplishes all that God intends for it to accomplish (Isa. 55:10-11; Jer. 20:9; and Heb. 4:12).

God specifically and directly created human beings in His image (Imago Dei). Human life is sacred, beginning at conception. Therefore, each person should be loved, nurtured, protected, and developed. God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as a male or female. These two distinct and complementary biological genders reflect the image and nature of God (Gen 1:26-27). Throughout scripture, the husband-wife relationship illustrates the covenant relationship between Jesus Christ and His Church, the “Bride of Christ”. It is our sincerely held belief that the term “marriage” has only one meaning; the uniting of one man and one woman in a single, exclusive union, delineated in scripture (Gen 2:18-25).

We define all truth and all sin as God does in His written word, the Bible. All people are precious in His sight, but our disobedience to God (sin) separates us from Him (Isa. 53:6; 64:6-7; Rom. 3:23; 5:12-21; 6:23; and 1 Jn. 1:8). Because God desperately and intimately loves all people, he offers redemption and restoration to all who confess and forsake their sin, seeking His mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ (Act 3:19-21, Rom 10:9-10, 1Cor 6:9-11).

Because of our sin, we are in need of redemption. We cannot reconcile ourselves. Faith in Jesus, based on what He did for us at the cross, is the only way for people to be reconciled with God (Jn. 14:6; Acts 4:8-12; and Rom. 3:25-26). Salvation provided by Jesus is based on grace, and not merit (Eph. 2:8-9). God offers this salvation to every person and gives us the freedom to accept or reject His gift of redemption. (Jn. 3:16-18; 1 Tim. 2:3-4; and 2 Pet. 3:9) True Faith in Jesus is expressed by yielding and conforming our life and our own will to His will (repentance and obedience).

The Church is the community of believers throughout the world. We act as the body of Christ on earth and are His Bride. (Eph. 4:4-6; 5:22-33; Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 12:12-30; and 1 Tim. 3:15). People are added to the church upon their surrender, by faith, to Jesus. In addition, when anyone is added to Christ’s Church, he or she becomes a part of the priesthood of all believers, effectively making every Jesus-follower a serving minister in and through the church (1 Pet. 2:9-10).
The Church’s supreme mission is to make disciples (Mt. 28:18-20). Its cultural mandate is to care for the world God has created (Gen. 1:26 and 2:15) and to love all people (John 15:12), thereby making the local church the hope of the world.
Membership in the church is available for anyone to pursue.

To preserve the function and integrity of Eastview Christian Church as the local body of Christ and provide a biblical role model to her members and the community, all employees of Eastview Christian Church and those who serve as volunteers, agree to and abide by all tenants of our Statement of Faith (Matt 5:16, Phil 2:14-16, I Thess. 5:22).

Eastview’s statement of faith does not exhaust the extent of our biblical beliefs. The Bible itself, as the inspired and infallible word of God, speaks with final authority concerning truth, morality and the proper conduct of man. It is the sole and final source of all that we believe. For purposes of Eastview’s faith, doctrine, practice, policy and discipline, our Elder Leadership Team is Eastview’s final interpretative authority on the Bible’s meaning and application.