unveiling glory in an age of confusion and shame
faith statement
THE BIBLE
We believe that the Bible is the infallible word of the Creator, that it speaks to us with authority, clarity, and that all people can know the living God through the revelation of his Son, Jesus Christ, as revealed in Scripture. We are committed to paving many avenues into the Bible for people of many ages, to increase human proximity to God’s living and active story that has life-giving power to penetrate and change the human heart. Our treatment of the Scriptures assumes that a response of faith in Jesus Christ and a life lived in the power of the Holy Spirit is the desired outcome of God for his written word.
CREATION
We believe that the universe was formed by the word of God spoken at the beginning of time, as recorded in the book of Genesis. We believe that God sustains all life on earth, and that no realm of his creation is outside the scope of his authority, power, and care. We believe that the creation awaits the return of its Maker with eager expectation, and that when he returns to earth he will make all things new, including the creation itself, as a home where God will dwell forever with the people he has redeemed.
GOD AND MANKIND
We believe that God presents himself in Scripture as a trinity - one God existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is wholly good, kind, and wise, and manifests his goodness in creation through his creation and sustaining care for creation, his plan of redemption, and his sovereign authority over the lives of every man, woman, and child ever to have lived. The God presented in The Bible is the one true and living God over all realms, events, nations, and persons, regardless of whether or not he is recognized as such. We believe that God’s central desire is to be known in the world for his grace and love, and that his offer of grace extends to every living person, to be received by faith. We long to see people reunited with the God in whose image they are created, and for whom their souls thirst.
JESUS CHRIST
We believe that the man, Jesus Christ, is fully God and fully human. We believe that all of Scripture’s promises are spoken to and fulfilled by Jesus Christ. We believe that Jesus portrays the image of God as a perfect example to both men and women of the life-giving dominion that God extends to creation and according to which mankind is created. We desire to teach and portray the man Jesus as the “hero” of the story of the Bible, and to see him received as the hero of every person’s life story.
THE CHURCH
We believe that our union with Jesus Christ through faith is to be worked out and grown through an ongoing relationship with other people united to him by faith. The normal platform for this unity is the local church, in which individual believers can grow in love, humility, and spiritual maturity by sharing their life of faith with other believers personally.
WHAT WE BELIEVE
Our desire is to exhibit the love of God to all people, including those who do not share our beliefs as described below. However, the resources and events sponsored by Brineknit will reflect the following biblical teachings:
HUMAN SEXUALITY
We believe that a person’s biological gender - male or female - is an aspect of God’s image in that person (Gen 1:27). We believe that to be completely fulfilled in our humanity, each human being must identify with God as the source of his or her original gender. We long to see God revive his people in their maleness or femaleness as an expression of his love for them and his care for creation. We believe that any practice or exploration of one’s sexuality that is not consistent with the biological gender God has given them will ultimately harm them, because it will further alienate them from the God who is the source of their identity. We believe that any sexual relationship outside that of a husband and a wife is outside of God’s design and as a result will lead to harm for those involved, and ultimately in human society (Gen 2:22-25). This includes not only sexual relationships outside of marriage, but also any sexual activities that do not contribute to the bond of trust and love between a husband and a wife. We believe that the sexual brokenness prevalent in our world is the result of deep spiritual fracture and disorientation from God, and that the only remedy to sexual brokenness is genuine emotional and spiritual reorientation to the God of intimacy and love. We long to see personal renewal come through repentance and reconciliation with God in all areas of sexual brokenness.
