GENERAL FAQS

The Resurgence Training Center exists to train missional leaders to serve the church to transform cultures for Christ. Our commitment continues to be for our students to effectively reach cultures with the gospel, shepherd families, plant churches and fulfill the Great Commission, while staying Gospel-centered and biblically faithful. Students’ passions and hearts will be ignited and equipped for a more satisfying love of Jesus through living on mission as missionaries in all contexts.

Which program is for me? Is there a track I should follow?
The Missional Leadership Program and the Study Center programs in Seattle and Albequerque are unique programs aimed to prepare students in different ways for kingdom service.

The MBTS and CBTS are designed to serve students seeking foundational education in biblical and theological studies – to underpin and inform the Christian walk and missional living. While the program can be completed in one year, students may complete it on their own schedule over multiple academic years. For degree-seeking students who do opt for a multiple year completion tract, Re:Train staff will assist in course registration and academic planning. Courses are semester long courses (approximately 15 weeks) and meet once per week in a classroom setting.

The MML is a one-year, intensive, cohort-based program designed to prepare leaders to live on God’s mission in leading their churches and families, while staying culturally accessible and Biblically faithful. The program is designed after popular “executive style” graduate programs to serve students currently serving in full-time ministry or for those who do not have time for semester-long courses. The MML delivery system is month long intensive courses of personal study culminating in Friday/Saturday classroom sessions. Students meet physically nine times per academic year; six weekend courses and three, one-week courses.

In addition to delivery systems differences, the degree programs are also different in content and emphasis. If a student has little or no ministry experience or theological and biblical training, then we suggest that the student participates first in the CBTS or MBTS before the MML. You will find that the MML builds and focuses on the missional application of many of the themes and topics covered in standard Biblical and Theological programs, including the CBTS and MBTS.

If a student’s aim is ultimately a Master of Divinity, we suggest pursuing the MBTS and MML.

When do programs begin?
The Master of Missional Leadership program begins in August in Seattle, Nashville and Raleigh. Classes for the MBTS & CBTS programs begin meeting in September, though professors will assign course-work and reading to be completed by the first class. Currently, the MBTS and CBTS in Albuquerque, NM are 2-year programs. For a more detailed schedule, please see the specific degree page.

When are applications due and how will I know if I’ve been accepted?
Applications must be completed and post-marked by June 1st. Admitted applicants will be notified via e-mail beginning June 15th, 2010.

Where is the Resurgence Training Center located?
The Resurgence Training Center is headquartered in Seattle, WA and is a ministry of Mars Hill Church. Offices are located at 1411 NW 50th Street, Seattle, WA 98107.

Programs in:

What is Mars Hill Church?

Mars Hill Church lives for Jesus as a city within the city—knowing culture, loving people, and seeing lives transformed to live for Jesus.

Mars Hill Church began in 1996 with a core group of 12 people in the living room of Pastor Mark and Grace Driscoll. By God’s grace, the small Seattle neighborhood gathering soon blossomed to thousands of members and attendees from all corners of the Puget Sound region. In 2006, MHC became a multi-site church with the opening of the Shoreline Campus. As hundreds of community groups began spreading out from the MHC core – the church expanded to several new locations and multiple service times. From urban, downtown Seattle to suburban Bellevue, MHC is committed to living for Jesus as a city within a city – knowing culture, loving people and seeing lives transformed. Currently MHC has nine campuses, ten locations, and recently opened the first out of state campus in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

How does one apply for programs at the Resurgence Training Center?

For full-time degree seeking students in the Master of Missional Leadership and the Master or Certificate of Biblical and Theological Studies, please complete and mail or email the following documents to:

Resurgence Training Center
1411 NW 50th Street
Seattle, WA 98107
Email: admissions@retrain.org

• Application Form (form provided)
• $35 Application Fee (Make checks payable to Resurgence Training Center)
• Spiritual Autobiography (1 page Conversion and Call to Ministry)
• Church Affirmation (form provided)
• Official Transcripts sent from all institutions attended
• Three Recommendations – professional, personal, pastoral (forms provided)
• Resume or Vitae (For Master of Missional Leadership ONLY)

Are women allowed as students at Re:Train?
We are excited to equip women leaders in our Biblical and Theological Studies programs. The Master of Missional Leadership is a program for men only as it specifically equips pastors/elders. This is inline with our Biblical convictions on complementarianism.

How much is tuition for programs at the Resurgence Training Center?

Master of Missional Leadership: Program fee is $8,500.
Scholarships are available for students who are church members within the churches/networks below:

• Any Acts 29 Network church – $2,000 scholarship.
• Mars Hill Church & Partner churches – $4,000 scholarship.

This program is 1-year and not offered over multiple years.

Master of Biblical and Theological Studies: Program fee is $7,200.
Scholarships are available for students who are church members within the churches/networks below:

• Any Acts 29 Network church – $1,800 scholarship.
• Mars Hill Church & Partner churches - $3,600 scholarship.

• For students who opt to complete the degree over multiple years, a per credit hour tuition break down is below

Certificate of Biblical and Theological Studies: Program fee is $3,600.
Scholarships are available for students who are church members within the churches/networks below:

• Any Acts 29 Network church – $900 scholarship.
• Mars Hill Church & Partner churches - $1,800 scholarship.
• For students who opt to complete the degree over multiple years, a per credit hour tuition break down is below

Students do not need to apply for the scholarships. Instead indicate church affiliation on the appropriate application form. In order to receive the scholarship the student must be a member of the church for at least six months prior to enrollment.

Tuition covers the entire program for the 2010-2011 academic year, including Logos Software – Scholar Library (for MML), but does not include miscellaneous fees for travel, required textbooks, housing, and living expenses. Books, on average, are $75/class. Students paying tuition in full before classes begin receive a 3% tuition discount.

For students enrolled as degree seeking, tuition is due quarterly during the academic year. Additional tuition payment detail will be communicated after program admission.

How difficult are programs at Re:Train?
Our academic programs are designed to challenge, stretch and educate our students. We are committed to providing world-class faculty and accordingly, our programs are rigorous and inline with other Master and Certificate programs. Additionally, since we have credit transfer agreements with top-tier institutions, we will maintain strict course-work standards.

In our Master level programs, students can expect approximately 1,000 pages of reading and 25 pages of writing per class. Certificate students will have their reading and writing pared back for comparable courses.

Is the Resurgence Training Center accredited?
Currently the Resurgence Training Center is not accredited, though it has been awarded degree granting status with the Washington State Higher Education Coordinating Board. Additionally we are in process of applying with the North Carolina State Board of Education for degree authorization and are pursuing the same process with the states of Tennessee and New Mexico.

The Resurgence Training Center will be working closely with seminaries such as Western Seminary, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Phoenix Seminary and others, to seek partnerships whereby students can transfer the credits earned in the Master of Missional Leadership and Master of Biblical and Theological Studies degrees at the Resurgence Training Center toward a Master of Divinity degree at the respective seminaries. The number and nature of transfer credits awarded are at the discretion of the partner institution unless otherwise noted.

How do I request transcripts for completed coursework?
Upon degree completion, students will be given an academic transcript. For additional copies, please request from the Re:Train admissions staff. Transcripts, both sealed and unsealed, are $10. Final grades will be available approximately 8 weeks after degree program completion.

Can I spend the year with you guys?
Yes. In fact, we highly encourage this. One option for Master of Missional Leadership students to consider is the “Immersion Year.” Partner churches have offered free tuition to select students who will commit to spending the year interning and serving within the church while attending Re:Train. This is a fantastic opportunity to participate in the trenches of local ministry, build a network, get mentored, and soak up the experience of exciting, missional movements. Partner churches are committed to using Re:Train programs as the leadership development pipeline, so whether your interest is in church planting, becoming an executive pastor or leading corporate worship, the Immersion Year is an attractive route. Or simply spend the year gleaming best practices and return to your local church a more equipped and missional leader.

Are there internships available?
Students who pursue residency during the academic year can request a campus/church internship on the admission application. Re:Train will work with church pastors to connect you in an area of ministry that interests you. While we cannot guarantee that internships will be available, placement is likely. Internships are unpaid, but are great opportunities for networking, ministry experience, mentorship, and “dna” transmission from churches and men on the forefront of exciting, missional movements. Example areas include; Biblical counseling, worship/band development, administration, event planning, property management, community groups and more.

Will the Resurgence Training Center accept transfer credit for the degree program?
The Master of Missional Leadership degree programs is uniquely designed in practice and philosophy, so for this, we will not grant transfer credit. Students are eligible for transfer credit into our other degree programs. Please refer to the “Student Guide” for more information.

What does it mean that the Resurgence Training Center programs are “church-based”?
As a church and as a movement, we are wholeheartedly investing in the leadership through the preaching, teaching, and other ministries of the church, including teaching from our theological and missiological convictions. Resurgence Training Center students who choose residential options will be folded into the life of Mars Hill and partner churches. Likewise, seasoned leaders in a variety of ministry areas are committed to the development, training and coaching of students.

What does it mean that the Master of Missional Leadership is a “cohort-based” program?
A “cohort-based” format means that a limited number of students will be admitted to the program, and will go through the entire program together. The cohorts will be anywhere from 12-20 people. It is anticipated that 5-7 cohorts will be formed of like-gifted leaders including a church planter cohort, campus pastor cohort, and mixed cohorts including worship pastors, community group pastors, biblical living pastors, administrative pastors, biblical families pastors, and those undecided.

Where do students live?
Resident students are free to live anywhere in the Seattle, Albuquerque, Raleigh and Nashville areas. Students pursuing the MML degree can choose to commute to classes and seminars. At this point the Resurgence Training Center does not own dormitories or married housing units; however, many people from Mars Hill Church and partners churches offer rooms and apartments in their homes.

If you are a degree-seeking student and desire housing, please indicate on your admission application and we will try to connect you with a host. Please budget for a hotel if you travel, to ensure you can afford to stay if housing isn’t available. The City, our online social network is a great place to connect with students before class begins to discuss shared hotels, rental cars, etc.

How is the Resurgence Training Center governed?
The Resurgence Training Center is governed by the Executive Elders and Board of Directors of Mars Hill Church.

Who administrates, teaches, and coaches at the Resurgence Training Center?

The administrators, teachers, and coaches in the Resurgence Training Center are men who gladly embrace the Mars Hill Church Statement of Faith and the Gospel Coalition Confessional Statement, and are members of Mars Hill Church or other like-minded congregations and institutions.

All professors will be chosen because of their exceptional knowledge in their respective field of study and their ability to teach in a useful and practical way. All professors will be world-class academicians in well-respected institutions or practitioner scholars who have the appropriate teaching credentials.

What are the core beliefs of Mars Hill Church and the Resurgence Training Center?

Below is the original Mars Hill Statement of Faith. Additionally, you can reference the Gospel Coalition Confessional Statement for further detail of our beliefs. For more details you can watch the sermon series Doctrine for a more in depth look at our beliefs.

A Word on Our Doctrinal Statement from Pastor Mark Driscoll…

The doctrinal statement of Mars Hill Church was first formulated prior to our public launch in 1996 when I was a new Christian and new pastor. That original doctrinal statement is still helpful for understanding our convictions and can be found here.
However, while our original doctrinal statement still reflects the core beliefs of our church, over the years our studies have clarified much of our thinking and have caused us to become more precise and devoted to some doctrines, which our original statement does not reflect. Our doctrinal convictions have not changed but rather have matured by God’s grace. Subsequently, we are working on updating our doctrinal statement as an elder team.

What helped precipitate this conviction for an improved doctrinal statement was my participation in the drafting of a confession of faith and philosophy of ministry as a member of The Gospel Coalition (Confessional Statement). That team included our leaders D. A. Carson and Tim Keller, along with such gifted Bible teachers as John Piper, Alistair Begg, Kent Hughes, Mark Dever, Ligon Duncan, Bryan Chapell, Crawford Loritts, Erwin Lutzer, James MacDonald, C. J. Mahaney, Ray Ortlund, and Phil Ryken, among others.

An updated and more robust Mars Hill Church doctrinal statement and the accompanying book will be published in 2010. Until then, it is our hope that these two doctrinal statements are sufficient to clarify what we believe as a church.

For Jesus’ Fame,
Pastor Mark Driscoll

More…on what we Believe

The Scriptures
We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the verbally inspired word of God, the final authority for faith and life, inerrant in the original writings, infallible, and God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16, 17; 2 Peter 1:20, 21; Matthew 5:18; John 16:12, 13).

The Godhead
We believe in one Triune God, eternally existing in three persons—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—coeternal in being, co-eternal in nature, co-equal in power and glory, having the same attributes and perfections (Deuteronomy 6:4; 2 Corinthians 13:14)

The Person and Work of Christ
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, became man without ceasing to be God, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary in order that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man (John 1:1–2, 14; Luke 1:35). We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished our redemption through His death on the cross as a representative, vicarious, substitutionary sacrifice, and that our justification is made sure by His literal, physical resurrection from the dead (Romans 3:24; 1 Peter 2:24; Ephesians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:3–5). We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where, as our High Priest, He fulfills the ministry as Representative, Intercessor, and Advocate (Acts 1:9, 10; Hebrews 7:25; Hebrews 9:24; Romans 8:34; 1 John 2:1–2). We believe Jesus is coming again to judge the living and the dead (1 Peter 4:5; Romans 14:9; 2 Timothy 4:1).

The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit
We believe that the Holy Spirit is a person who convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; He is the Supernatural Agent in regeneration, baptizing all believers into the body of Christ, indwelling and sealing them unto the day of redemption (John 16:8–11; 2 Corinthians 3:6; 1 Corinthians 12:12–14; Romans 8:9; Ephesians 5:18).

The Total Depravity of Man
We believe that man was created in the image and likeness of God, but that through Adam’s sin the race fell, inherited a sinful nature, and became alienated from God; man is totally depraved and of himself utterly unable to remedy his lost condition (Genesis 1:26, 27; Romans 3:22, 23; 5:12; Ephesians 2:1–3, 12).

Salvation
We believe that salvation is the gift of God brought to man by grace and received by personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, whose precious blood was shed on Calvary for the forgiveness of our sins (Ephesians 2:8–10; John 1:12; Ephesians 1:7; 1 Peter 1:18–19).

Eternal Security and Assurance of Believers
We believe that all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God’s power and are thus secure in Christ forever (John 6:37–40; 10:27–30; Romans 8:1, 38, 39; 1 Corinthians 1:4–8; 1 Peter 1:5). We believe that it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God’s Word, which clearly forbids the use of Christian liberty as an occasion for the flesh (Romans 13:13, 14; Galatians 5:13; Titus 2:11–15).

The Ministry and Spiritual Gifts
We believe that God is sovereign in the bestowing of spiritual gifts. It is, however, the believer’s responsi¬bility to attempt to develop their sovereignly given spiritual gift(s). The baptism of the Holy Spirit occurs at conversion and is the placing of the believer into the Body of Christ. We also believe that particular spiritual gift(s) are neither essential, nor prove the presence of the Holy Spirit, nor are an indication of deep spiritual experience (1 Corinthians 12:7, 11, 13; Ephesians 4:7–8). We believe that God does hear and answer the prayer of faith, in accordance with His own will, for the sick and afflicted (John 15:7; 1 John 5:14, 15). We believe that it is the privilege and responsibility of every believer to minister according to the gift(s) and grace of God that is given to him (Romans 12:1–8; 1 Corinthians 13; 1 Peter 4:10–11).

The Church
We believe that the church, which is the body and espoused bride of Christ, is a spiritual organism made up of all born-again persons (Ephesians 1:22, 23; 5:25–27; 1 Corinthians 12:12–14; 2 Corinthians 11:2). We believe that the establishment and continuance of local churches is clearly taught and defined in the New Testament Scriptures (Acts 14:27; 18:22; 20:17; 1 Timothy 3:1–3; Titus 1:5–11). We believe in the autonomy of the local churches, free of any external authority and control (Acts 13:1–4; 15:19–31; 20:28; Romans 16:1,4; 1 Corinthians 3:9, 16; 1 Corinthians 5:4–7, 13; 1 Peter 5:1–4). We recognize believer’s baptism and the Lord’s supper as scriptural means of testimony for the church (Matthew 28:19, 20; Acts 2:41, 42; Acts 18:8; 1 Corinthians 11:23–26).

The Gospel Coalition Confessional Statement

The Tri-une God
We believe in one God, eternally existing in three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who know, love, and glorify one another. This one true and living God is infinitely perfect both in his love and in his holiness. He is the Creator of all things, visible and invisible, and is therefore worthy to receive all glory and adoration. Immortal and eternal, he perfectly and exhaustively knows the end from the beginning, sustains and sovereignly rules over all things, and providentially brings about his eternal good purposes to redeem a people for himself and restore his fallen creation, to the praise of his glorious grace.

Revelation
God has graciously disclosed his existence and power in the created order, and has supremely revealed himself to fallen human beings in the person of his Son, the incarnate Word. Moreover, this God is a speaking God who by his Spirit has graciously disclosed himself in human words: we believe that God has inspired the words preserved in the Scriptures, the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, which are both record and means of his saving work in the world. These writings alone constitute the verbally inspired Word of God, which is utterly authoritative and without error in the original writings, complete in its revelation of his will for salvation, sufficient for all that God requires us to believe and do, and final in its authority over every domain of knowledge to which it speaks. We confess that both our finitude and our sinfulness preclude the possibility of knowing God’s truth exhaustively, but we affirm that, enlightened by the Spirit of God, we can know God’s revealed truth truly. The Bible is to be believed, as God’s instruction, in all that it teaches; obeyed, as God’s command, in all that it requires; and trusted, as God’s pledge, in all that it promises. As God’s people hear, believe, and do the Word, they are equipped as disciples of Christ and witnesses to the gospel.

Creation of Humanity
We believe that God created human beings, male and female, in his own image. Adam and Eve belonged to the created order that God himself declared to be very good, serving as God’s agents to care for, manage, and govern creation, living in holy and devoted fellowship with their Maker. Men and women, equally made in the image of God, enjoy equal access to God by faith in Christ Jesus and are both called to move beyond passive self-indulgence to significant private and public engagement in family, church, and civic life. Adam and Eve were made to complement each other in a one-flesh union that establishes the only normative pattern of sexual relations for men and women, such that marriage ultimately serves as a type of the union between Christ and his church. In God’s wise purposes, men and women are not simply interchangeable, but rather they complement each other in mutually enriching ways. God ordains that they assume distinctive roles which reflect the loving relationship between Christ and the church, the husband exercising headship in a way that displays the caring, sacrificial love of Christ, and the wife submitting to her husband in a way that models the love of the church for her Lord. In the ministry of the church, both men and women are encouraged to serve Christ and to be developed to their full potential in the manifold ministries of the people of God. The distinctive leadership role within the church given to qualified men is grounded in creation, fall, and redemption and must not be sidelined by appeals to cultural developments.

The Fall
We believe that Adam, made in the image of God, distorted that image and forfeited his original blessedness—for himself and all his progeny—by falling into sin through Satan’s temptation. As a result, all human beings are alienated from God, corrupted in every aspect of their being (e.g., physically, mentally, volitionally, emotionally, spiritually) and condemned finally and irrevocably to death—apart from God’s own gracious intervention. The supreme need of all human beings is to be reconciled to the God under whose just and holy wrath we stand; the only hope of all human beings is the undeserved love of this same God, who alone can rescue us and restore us to himself.

The Plan of God
We believe that from all eternity God determined in grace to save a great multitude of guilty sinners from every tribe and language and people and nation, and to this end foreknew them and chose them. We believe that God justifies and sanctifies those who by grace have faith in Jesus, and that he will one day glorify them—all to the praise of his glorious grace. In love God commands and implores all people to repent and believe, having set his saving love on those he has chosen and having ordained Christ to be their Redeemer.

The Gospel
We believe that the gospel is the good news of Jesus Christ—God’s very wisdom. Utter folly to the world, even though it is the power of God to those who are being saved, this good news is christological, centering on the cross and resurrection: the gospel is not proclaimed if Christ is not proclaimed, and the authentic Christ has not been proclaimed if his death and resurrection are not central (the message is Christ died for our sins . . . [and] was raised”). This good news is biblical (his death and resurrection are according to the Scriptures), theological and salvific (Christ died for our sins, to reconcile us to God), historical (if the saving events did not happen, our faith is worthless, we are still in our sins, and we are to be pitied more than all others), apostolic (the message was entrusted to and transmitted by the apostles, who were witnesses of these saving events), and intensely personal (where it is received, believed, and held firmly, individual persons are saved).

The Redemption of Christ
We believe that, moved by love and in obedience to his Father, the eternal Son became human: the Word became flesh, fully God and fully human being, one Person in two natures. The man Jesus, the promised Messiah of Israel, was conceived through the miraculous agency of the Holy Spirit, and was born of the virgin Mary. He perfectly obeyed his heavenly Father, lived a sinless life, performed miraculous signs, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead on the third day, and ascended into heaven. As the mediatorial King, he is seated at the right hand of God the Father, exercising in heaven and on earth all of God’s sovereignty, and is our High Priest and righteous Advocate. We believe that by his incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension, Jesus Christ acted as our representative and substitute. He did this so that in him we might become the righteousness of God: on the cross he canceled sin, propitiated God, and, by bearing the full penalty of our sins, reconciled to God all those who believe. By his resurrection Christ Jesus was vindicated by his Father, broke the power of death and defeated Satan who once had power over it, and brought everlasting life to all his people; by his ascension he has been forever exalted as Lord and has prepared a place for us to be with him. We believe that salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved. Because God chose the lowly things of this world, the despised things, the things that are not, to nullify the things that are, no human being can ever boast before him—Christ Jesus has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.

The Justification of Sinners
We believe that Christ, by his obedience and death, fully discharged the debt of all those who are justified. By his sacrifice, he bore in our stead the punishment due us for our sins, making a proper, real, and full satisfaction to God’s justice on our behalf. By his perfect obedience he satisfied the just demands of God on our behalf, since by faith alone that perfect obedience is credited to all who trust in Christ alone for their acceptance with God. Inasmuch as Christ was given by the Father for us, and his obedience and punishment were accepted in place of our own, freely and not for anything in us, this justification is solely of free grace, in order that both the exact justice and the rich grace of God might be glorified in the justification of sinners. We believe that a zeal for personal and public obedience flows from this free justification.

The Power of the Holy Spirit
We believe that this salvation, attested in all Scripture and secured by Jesus Christ, is applied to his people by the Holy Spirit. Sent by the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ, and, as the other Paraclete, is present with and in believers. He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and by his powerful and mysterious work regenerates spiritually dead sinners, awakening them to repentance and faith, baptizing them into union with the Lord Jesus, such that they are justified before God by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. By the Spirit’s agency, believers are renewed, sanctified, and adopted into God’s family; they participate in the divine nature and receive his sovereignly distributed gifts. The Holy Spirit is himself the down payment of the promised inheritance, and in this age indwells, guides, instructs, equips, revives, and empowers believers for Christ-like living and service.

The Kingdom of God
We believe that those who have been saved by the grace of God through union with Christ by faith and through regeneration by the Holy Spirit enter the kingdom of God and delight in the blessings of the new covenant: the forgiveness of sins, the inward transformation that awakens a desire to glorify, trust, and obey God, and the prospect of the glory yet to be revealed. Good works constitute indispensable evidence of saving grace. Living as salt in a world that is decaying and light in a world that is dark, believers should neither withdraw into seclusion from the world, nor become indistinguishable from it: rather, we are to do good to the city, for all the glory and honor of the nations is to be offered up to the living God. Recognizing whose created order this is, and because we are citizens of God’s kingdom, we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, doing good to all, especially to those who belong to the household of God. The kingdom of God, already present but not fully realized, is the exercise of God’s sovereignty in the world toward the eventual redemption of all creation. The kingdom of God is an invasive power that plunders Satan’s dark kingdom and regenerates and renovates through repentance and faith the lives of individuals rescued from that kingdom. It therefore inevitably establishes a new community of human life together under God.

God’s New People
We believe that God’s new covenant people have already come to the heavenly Jerusalem; they are already seated with Christ in the heavenlies. This universal church is manifest in local churches of which Christ is the only Head; thus each local church” is, in fact, the church, the household of God, the assembly of the living God, and the pillar and foundation of the truth. The church is the body of Christ, the apple of his eye, graven on his hands, and he has pledged himself to her forever. The church is distinguished by her gospel message, her sacred ordinances, her discipline, her great mission, and, above all, by her love for God, and by her members’ love for one another and for the world. Crucially, this gospel we cherish has both personal and corporate dimensions, neither of which may properly be overlooked. Christ Jesus is our peace: he has not only brought about peace with God, but also peace between alienated peoples. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both Jew and Gentile to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. The church serves as a sign of God’s future new world when its members live for the service of one another and their neighbors, rather than for self-focus. The church is the corporate dwelling place of God’s Spirit, and the continuing witness to God in the world.

Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
We believe that baptism and the Lord’s Supper are ordained by the Lord Jesus himself. The former is connected with entrance into the new covenant community, the latter with ongoing covenant renewal. Together they are simultaneously God’s pledge to us, divinely ordained means of grace, our public vows of submission to the once crucified and now resurrected Christ, and anticipations of his return and of the consummation of all things.

The Restoration of All Things
We believe in the personal, glorious, and bodily return of our Lord Jesus Christ with his holy angels, when he will exercise his role as final Judge, and his kingdom will be consummated. We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the just and the unjust—the unjust to judgment and eternal conscious punishment in hell, as our Lord himself taught, and the just to eternal blessedness in the presence of him who sits on the throne and of the Lamb, in the new heaven and the new earth, the home of righteousness. On that day the church will be presented faultless before God by the obedience, suffering and triumph of Christ, all sin purged and its wretched effects forever banished. God will be all in all and his people will be enthralled by the immediacy of his ineffable holiness, and everything will be to the praise of his glorious grace.