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Our Doctrinal Statement
of Faith:
The Apostle Paul commands us in
Titus 2:1
"You must teach what is in
accord with sound doctrine.” While there are many
teachings and doctrines concerning the Christian faith, we
have formulated the following ten
"We Believe"
statements to express what we consider to be the essential,
core doctrines of our Christian faith. On these truths we
stand united and of one mind.
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WE BELIEVE the Bible,
both Old and New Testaments, to be the inspired, infallible, and
inerrant Word of God, the complete revelation of His will for
the salvation of humankind, and the Divine and final authority
for all Christian faith and life. |
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2 Tim 3:15-17;
2 Pet 1:21;
Heb 4:12;
Psalm 19:7-8,
Matt 5:17-18 |
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WE BELIEVE that there is
one living and true God, the Creator and Sustainer of all
things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three
Persons... Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. |
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Deut 6:4;
Gen 1:26,Gen
3:22;
Psalm 33:6-9;
Matt 28:19;
2 Cor 13:14; 1
Tim 1:17 |
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WE BELIEVE in God the
Father, an infinite, sovereign, personal Spirit, perfect in
holiness, wisdom, power, and love, that He concerns Himself
mercifully in the affairs of humanity. He hears and answers
prayer; and He saves from sin and death all who come to Him
through Jesus Christ. |
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John 3:16,
John 4:24;
1 John 4:8;
Rom 5:8;
Rom 11:33-36 |
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WE BELIEVE in God the
Son... the Lord Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man, having
been conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary,
that He lived a sinless life and died on the cross, shedding His
blood as the only acceptable sacrifice for our sins, that He
rose bodily from the dead, ascended into heaven, where at the
right hand of God He now sits as our High Priest and Advocate,
and that His literal and personal return to earth in power and
glory is imminent. |
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Heb 1:1-3,
Heb 2:9-10,
Heb 4:14-16;
1 Tim 2:5,
1 Tim 3:16;
Php 2:5-11;
Matt 1:18-23;
1 Cor 15:3-4;
1 Thess 4:16-17,
Rev 1:8,
Rev 5:8-14 |
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WE BELIEVE in God the
Holy Spirit, sent forth from the Father and the Son, whose
ministry is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, to convict
humanity of their sin, to effect spiritual rebirth in the
repentant sinner, and to indwell, sanctify, guide, instruct, and
empower the believer for godly living and service. |
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John 3:3,John
5;
John 6:63;
John 16:7-15 |
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WE BELIEVE that humanity
was created in the image of God but fell into sin, and are now
sinners by nature and choice, under condemnation, separated from
God and spiritually dead. |
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Rom 3:23,
Eph 2:1-3 |
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WE BELIEVE that salvation
is a free gift from God; that a sinner is saved by grace through
faith alone, wholly apart from any human merit; that all who
believe in Jesus Christ and His atoning work on the cross,
receiving Him through faith, in true repentance, confessing Him
as both Savior and Lord, will be saved. |
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Acts 4:12,
John 1:12;
Rom 1:16,
Rom 3:21-26,
Rom 6:23;
Eph 2:8-9;
Titus 3:5-7 |
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WE BELIEVE in the bodily
resurrection of the dead... of the believer to a glorified,
eternal life in heaven with the Lord, of the unbeliever to
judgment and eternal punishment. |
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Acts 24:14-15;
1 Cor 15:20-58;
Heb 9:27-28;
2 Cor 5:10;
Matt 25:31-46;
Rev 20:10-22:7 |
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WE BELIEVE in the one,
true Church, consisting of born-again believers from all
nations, regenerated by faith in Christ, united together in the
body of Christ of which He is the head, who assemble together in
local fellowships for worship and edification, and whose primary
mission is to reach out to the lost with the gospel of Jesus
Christ. |
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Heb 10:24-25;
Rom 12:4-5;
Eph 4:11-13 |
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WE BELIEVE that water
baptism and the Lord's Supper are ordinances for believers,
commanded by the Lord Jesus Christ, which are intended to be
observed by the Church during the present age. They are,
however, not to be regarded as a means of salvation. |
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Matt 26:26-28;
Matt 28:19-20;
1 Cor 11:23-26 |
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| This
Doctrinal Statement of Faith
expresses the essential, core of beliefs in which we, as a
church fellowship, stand united. To participate in membership
at VLBF requires one to accept these ten fundamental tenants of
faith. While there are many other "secondary" doctrines, some
of which we may "agree to disagree," the above doctrines are
fundamental in uniting the Christian community of faith and
serve to identify true Christianity from the cults of false
religion |
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The Christian
church, historically, has allowed many secondary doctrines and
practices to be a cause of division. We at VLBF seek to adhere
to Augustine's statement made centuries ago:
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"In the essentials, unity; in
the non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.”
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The Story
of Vesper Lake Bible Fellowship: |
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Vesper Lake Bible Fellowship began as the North Akron Apostolic
Christian Church in 1931. And later moved to our current
location in 1978. At that time the name was changed to Vesper
Lake Apostolic Christian Church. The name Vesper Lake Bible
Fellowship was officially added in 2000 to clarify our identity
and promote a more community centered church.
Our church embraces many values that make us unique as a church:
things like a firm commitment to the Lordship of Jesus Christ,
an emphasis on prayer, a striving for strong biblical teaching
and preaching of God's Word, the importance of healthy
relationships and service to one another, ministry by the whole
church and not just by paid professionals, and a passion to see
the lost come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior. |
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The Story
of the Apostolic Christian Church: |
| The Apostolic Christian Church denomination has its roots in the
"anabaptist" movement which grew from the Protestant
Reformation of the 16th century. The changes begun by
Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli were seen as only the beginning by
many "radical reformers" who desired to return to a New
Testament pattern of a "believer's church." |
The anabaptists, rejected infant baptism as
a sacrament, which takes for granted that one becomes a
Christian by being born into a supposedly Christian society or
family. They were convinced that true believers are those who
choose, by means of a personal decision for Christ, through
faith, to receive Him as Lord and Savior... thus effecting a
new, spiritual rebirth which joins them to the visible community
of believers. Anabaptists believed in water baptism, but only
for those who had made a conscious decision to follow Christ.
"Believer's baptism" by immersion is seen as an outward sign of
in inward change.
Samuel Froehlich (1803-1857), the founder of the Apostolic
Christian Church, was an ordained minister in the Swiss
Protestant State Church until he was branded a "sectarian" and
dismissed for preaching Anabaptist doctrine. Through his
involvement with other anabaptist groups, notably the Swiss
Brethren and Mennonites, Froehlich was encouraged to begin a new
church for believers. By the time of his death, less than
twenty years later, the evangelistic-minded Froehlich had
established 110 churches throughout Switzerland and Germany.
These churches were eventually registered under the official
name in Europe as "Evangelical Baptist."
After the death of Froehlich, the church continued to grow,
moving into areas of Hungary, Romania, and Yugoslavia where the
church was called "Nazarene." Suffering economic hardship and
persecution for their "pacifist" and "non-combatant" stance,
many of the European believers began to immigrate to the United
States in the late 1800's.
It was here in America that the church formally took the name
"Apostolic Christian." Their European names, "Evangelical
Baptist" and "Nazarene" were already registered by others with
the U.S. government. So, with the desire to cling fast to the
teachings of the New Testament, and to pattern their church life
after that of the early apostolic church, the name became
"Apostolic Christian" to define this small, evangelical,
"believer's church" denomination.
Today, in North America there are approximately 150 Apostolic
Christian churches with 15,000 members scattered across the
United States and Canada. There are two official Apostolic
Christian denominations: "The Apostolic Christian Church of
America" and "The Apostolic Christian Church (Nazarean)." The
latter is the denomination with which our church chooses to
associate. Our denomination has an aggressive missions program,
started in the last 40 years, with major mission works in
Brazil, New Guinea, Argentina, and Africa. The numbers of
churches and members in these countries has far outpaced our
growth in North America. |
