BELIEFS

Our core beliefs about the Gospel, what it means to belong to the body of Christ, and how those beliefs are lived out in our church life.

Gospel Essentials

What holds our fellowship together

We believe in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as the verbally (every word) and plenary (complete) inspired (breathed out) Word of God, inerrant (without error) in the original autographs, and the only infallible (reliable) and authoritative rule of faith and practice.
We believe in the One Triune God, eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; Who is personal, spirit, and sovereign; Who is Creator, Upholder, and Ruler of all things; and Who has in His infinite love and grace provided for man’s eternal redemption.
We believe God, who created the entire universe, is deserving of perfect obedience and wholehearted worship from every human individual, made in his image, and He has made this right clear to everyone on earth. Every person is born a sinner and has chosen by nature to sin against the perfectly righteous, holy God who created them, and is without excuse for their sin.
Jesus Christ is the Son of God and was fully incarnated on earth and is now in heaven. He is the perfect expression of who God is. He is not a created being, having always existed as truly God, equal to the Father and Holy Spirit, while also being truly human.
Jesus Christ was born of a virgin mother, herself a sinner, and he lived a perfectly righteous life completely without sin, that fulfilled God the Father’s requirement of perfect obedience. He died an innocent Man, condemned to satisfy God’s righteous justice, and was buried a few hours later.
Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the third day after His execution, as prophesied in the Holy Scriptures, and He was vindicated of any and all charges of sin. Whoever places their personal trust in Jesus Christ’s death as a perfect substitute on their own behalf, and in Christ’s literal, physical, resurrection from the dead, is freed from both the punishment and power of sin.
We believe in the Holy Spirit; Who is the third Person of the Triune God and the divine Agent in revelation and regeneration; Who convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment; Who regenerates, baptizes, indwells, and seals all who become the children of God through Jesus Christ our Lord; and Who empowers, guides, teaches, sanctifies, and fills true believers in Christ, who daily surrender to Him. Every genuine believer has the Holy Spirit living in them and is therefore able and responsible to obey God’s commands, by the work of his grace. The Holy Spirit gives both gifts and graces to all believers for the edification of the Church and the benefit of others.
We believe in salvation by grace through faith, neither merited nor secured in part or whole by any virtue or work of man; that God requires man to repent of his sins and commit himself by faith to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; that Christ has saved us from the penalty of sin, is saving us from the power of sin, and will save us from the presence of sin, when He comes again; that this salvation is eternal in its duration; and that the believer is created in Christ Jesus unto good works.
We believe in the existence of Satan, who, having been created by God a holy and perfect being, through pride rebelled against God and became the great adversary of God and His people; that he is the leader of all evil spirits, the deceiver and god of this present world; that his powers are vast, but strictly limited by the permissive will of God, Who overrules all his wicked devices for good; that he was defeated and judged at the cross, and therefore his final doom is certain; that when we appropriate by faith our spiritual position in Christ, we are able to resist and overcome him by putting on the whole armor of God, by the blood of the Lamb, and through the power of the Holy Spirit.
We believe in the second coming of Christ; that His return will be personal, visible, and glorious; that the exact time is unrevealed but always imminent.
We believe that for those who have been called in Jesus Christ by faith for salvation there exists an eternal rest in God, heaven, namely life eternal with God forever. Likewise, for those who reject God’s free gift of salvation God has reserved eternal torment in a literal place called Hell.
We believe that marriage was instituted by God and thus, is exclusively between one man and one woman.

The Church

Christ's body on earth

We believe in the importance of the local church; that a New Testament church is a local assembly of baptized believers, gathered together by the Holy Spirit, assembled only in the name of Jesus, to observe the two ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper; to meet for worship, prayer, fellowship, and the preaching and teaching of the Word; to carry out the Great Commission of our Lord; that the New Testament officers of a local church are elders or bishops and deacons; and that each local church is a sovereign unit, independent of other churches, though there is a fellowship between true New Testament churches, and all churches are subject directly to the Lord.

Because Scripture clearly teaches that all genuine Christians (those who hold to the Gospel Essentials as described above) are members of the body of Christ, we do not have an official “Membership Policy” as such. Instead, we recognize as belonging to our Fellowship those who:

Profess to believe the essentials of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, as described above, so that they are named a brother or sister.
Attend Greenville Christian Fellowship.
Endeavor to walk in the Spirit in order to live a consistent Christian testimony.

Accountability

How we deal with self-destructive conduct

Because the Lord Jesus Christ places a responsibility upon all true Christian churches to hold one another accountable to obeying and honoring Him in their conduct, we actively practice church discipline according to Matthew 18. When a brother or sister of GCF habitually practices sin, we attempt to help him or her by implementing Matthew 18.