What We Believe

WHAT WE BELIEVE

Our church is rooted in this Baptistic tradition and faith: Scripture Alone, Grace Alone, Faith Alone, Christ Alone, and the Glory of God Alone.

These doctrines & distinctive are not original to us; our Baptist forefathers viewed themselves as the logical outcome of the Reformation principle of sola Scriptura.
(the idea that the Bible alone is the sole authority for faith and practice)

That being said, all of our beliefs and convictions are derived from the Bible and the Bible is our final and ultimate authority.

THEOLOGICAL DISTINCTIVES

The Church’s final and ultimate authority is the Word of God. There are, however, explanations of biblical doctrine which have served the church throughout its history. Confessions or Statements of Faith have been born out of moments of much-needed clarity.

Our Confession

We believe it is both prudent and useful to adhere to certain biblical statements and confessions in order that the doctrinal beliefs of this church may be clearly known.

That being said, we are a church that holds to the 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith.

This means that the elders of Gospelway and anyone who regularly teaches on behalf of the church subscribe to the the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession.

It is worth noting, that we do not require members of Gospelway to fully subscribe to the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession. We recognize that the confession is extensive in its content and do not want to place any undue burdens on membership.

The  subscription of unity allows the member to be unsure of their agreement with the all of the confession, while living in unity with each other amid our differences.

In other words, Unity in membership, consistency in leadership.

Our Distinctives

Confessional

We affirm a confessional understanding of the Christian faith and the church

Covenantal 

We affirm and interpret scripture through the tri-covenantal framework of the Covenant of Redemption, Covenant of Works, and Covenant of Grace.

Law/Gospel Distinction 

We affirm and teach using the historic understanding of the distinction between the law and the gospel.​

Redemptive/Historical

We interpret scripture and teach using a Redemptive/Historical Hermeneutic

The Two Kingdoms Principle

We distinguish between the Common and the Redemptive Kingdoms.

Ordinary Means of Grace

We affirm and teach that God works through the ordinary means of grace to impart, sustain, strengthen, and nourish the saints’ faith in Christ.

The most significant things in the Christian life happen when we are assembled together on the Lord’s Day.

Our Liturgy

We have a structured liturgy that we use every week and have designed it, so the entire service functions as a proclamation of the Gospel.

Our basic format is as follows:

  • Announcements and Opening Statements
    • These opening statements may include any announcements or other remarks as well as a brief welcoming. The goal is to put forward the temporal things, that the remainder of the service’s sole focus is on the worship of God, the work of Christ, and the working of the Spirit.
  • Call to Worship
    • The opening element of our service is the call to worship. Generally, a portion of scripture is read, and the practical and gospel application of the text is given. This helps us turn our minds towards the God.
  • Reading of the Law
    • The law illuminates the character of God and what He requires. It also demonstrates our inability to live out God’s standards and thus serves as a transition to the next section.
  • Confession of Sin
    • Considering the character of God and the requirements of the law, we recognize our sin, our unworthiness, and our desperate need for salvation. We also realize that none of us comes with a greater need of mercy and grace than another. In accordance with 1 John, as a body, we together in prayer, confess our sin and unworthiness to God and in our need cast ourselves on his mercy.
  • Assurance of Pardon
    • Following our prayer of confession, we read from Scripture a passage that assures us of God’s pardon of our sins in Christ by grace.
  • Corporate Singing (w/o Music)
    • After being given the assurance of our pardon and standing before God, we now can see our right to, and our motive for worship. We begin with a song of praise to God without musical accompaniment. This is done to help us turn our minds to the worship of Christ, concentrating on the written words, and not the “muscle memory” that music brings.
  • Reading of a Psalm
    • We read the Psalms because practically, the Psalms recognize all those emotions that we experience and teach us to offer them all to God. They remind us of how messy life can be and call us to pour our emotions worship to God. We also do this because the scriptures tell us to. (Eph. 5:19, Col. 3:16)
  • Corporate Singing (w/ music)
    • We join in corporate song about God and his grace. The amount and types of songs may vary here, but typically will be two songs from traditional and modern genres. Sometimes including “special led” music.
      • We strive to ensure that all worship includes corporate participation even if a person or group is leading in this song(s). For this reason, you will often find the lyrics to all our music available.
  • Reading of the Text
    • The reading and hearing of Scripture are some of the most important acts of worship. The introduction to the reading should indicate which text is being read and should invite the congregation’s careful attention to the text itself. For this reason, we may be phrases such as “Let’s call our attention to” or “This is the words of the Lord”.
  •  Prayer for Illumination
    • The prayer for illumination explicitly acknowledges the Spirit’s work in this part of worship by requesting God to act through the reading and preaching of Scripture. This Prayer may also acknowledge that we all come to Scripture with varying degrees of faith, trust, and knowledge. The prayer is offered for both the preacher and the listener, for both the speaking and the hearing of the Word. This practice emphasizes that the reading itself, not just the preaching, is made effective only by the work of God’s Spirit.
  • Sermon
    • We hear the proclamation of the Word of God. We generally will be working through a book of the Bible, though we may at times have a singular message or a short topical series. The style of preaching is typically an expository proclamation of the text.
  • The Lord’s Supper
    • We partake of the Lord’s Supper no less than once a month (The first Sunday of the month, plus certain occasions) highlighting again and resting in what Christ has done for us in the past, is doing for us in the present, and will do for us in future.
  • Doxology
    • We respond to the gospel that we have heard and the grace that we have received in worship with the classic Doxology, as so many Christians have done in the past. In this we are connected with the global and historical church who have used this song for ages.
  • Benediction
    • We close our service with a benediction, sending the people out in grace and peace of God, that they may go and be who they are in Christ.