Mission, Values, and Beliefs

Our Mission:

Surprise Christian Church exists to equip and build up disciples who relationally transform the world for Christ.

Our Values

Respect for the Word

2 Timothy 3:16-17

There is no more vital part of your day then spending time in the Word of God. We hold a deep respect for the Bible including the methods of ministry that Jesus used.

Relational Transformation

Ecclesiastes 4:9

,

Proverbs 27:17

We are changed by a personal relationship with Jesus. Jesus also calls us to be in relationship with others. Because God designed us to be in community, we believe the greatest place of growth will be in relationships with other Christs followers.

Stories Matter

John 4:28-30

,

John 4:42

Your experience matters. The events and incidents positive or negative have shaped who you are. God has brought you through amazing things, so you can use them to minister to others. Share your story!

Get Real

Luke 5:5-11

,

Romans 15:7

When we live a life of honesty, with our struggles and victories we create a space for God to work in. Everyone is encouraged to be real at Surprise Christian Church.

Community Positive

Matthew 25:31-40

Surprise Christian Church wants to make an impact on our community, meeting the needs of individuals and partnering with others to impact Surprise.

Our Beliefs

Concerning God

There is one and only one living and true God. He is the Creator and Ruler over all things. 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.

Concerning the Father

The Father is the Sovereign Lord over all creation. God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe and His creatures, according to the purposes of His grace. God is Father to those who become adopted children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in His attitude toward all men.

Concerning 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.

Concerning 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 Savior, and effects regeneration. At the moment of receiving Christ through Faith, He baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ

Concerning Salvation

Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, 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. 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 Savior.

Concerning the Bible

The Holy Scriptures were written by men who were carried along by the Holy Spirit. The Scriptures are “God-Breathed” and therefore infallible and inerrant. The Scriptures were faithfully transmitted throughout history, from the original documents to the modern Bible.

Concerning 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 (Baptism and Communion), governed by His Word, and exercising the gifts invested in them by His Spirit, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth.

Concerning Baptism

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 Savior, the believer's death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus.

Concerning Communion

Communion is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the elements, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.

Concerning Marriage

Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is God's unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of sexual expression according to biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race.

Concerning Human Life

We believe that all human life is sacred and created by God in His image. This includes pre-born babies, the aged, the physical or mentally challenged, and every other stage or condition from conception through natural death. We are, therefore, called to defend, protect, and value all human life.

Concerning Gender & Sexuality

We believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as a male or female. These two distinct, complementary genders together reflect the image and nature of God. We believe that rejection of one’s biological sex/gender is a rebellion against the created order that God has established.