Memorial Church - Quarryville, PA

WE BELIEVE THIS BODY OF CHRIST WAS GIVEN A MISSION

In Luke 19:10 we learn that Jesus “came to seek and to save what was lost.” We are to align our lives with Jesus, who spoke and lived a simple truth, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. (Mark 2:17)”

We join with Jesus, our sister churches, and all the angels of God in celebrating whenever the lost sheep is found, the lost coin recovered, and the lost son welcomed home! (Luke 15:1-10).  Our efforts beat with the gracious heart of a missionary God.

Therefore,in grateful worship of our gracious Father, under Jesus Christ’s authority, and empowered by the Holy Spirit’s abiding presence, we are commissioned to

Go and make disciples of all peoples,
baptizing them into new life, and teaching them by the scriptures to live His ways.

This mission is an expression of our collective identity in Christ. It is our singular, guiding, and only church mission. (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16; Luke 24:45-49; John 20:21-23)

In this season we have discerned three calls (strategies) upon our church:

• Define church around a clear, Biblically-founded discipling process
  A church celebrating God’s goodness every step of every disciple’s way, taking very seriously our role as growing disciples who make new disciples.
• Grow the kingdom by reaching out to the unsaved
  A church rejoicing in the ever-expanding family of God, meeting their needs, offering the gospel in ways that connect with them, never abandoning them.  
• Grow the kingdom by reaching across generations to the young
  A church pouring abundantly into children and youth, staying with them for every step of spiritual growth into adulthood, preparing them to make disciples.

WE BELIEVE IN THE LOVE OF GOD FOR ALL PEOPLE.

This love has been made manifest in Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God. We believe that God offers all persons a new life in Jesus Christ. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” (John 3:16-17)

WE ARE SAVED THROUGH THE CROSS OF JESUS CHRIST.

The message of salvation as proclaimed in the Bible is that Jesus Christ came into the world to save the lost.  He was born of a virgin, proclaimed the truths of God, demonstrated God’s power through signs and miracles, died on the cross for the sins of the world, rose again from the dead, and is coming again to establish the eternal Kingdom of God. “He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.” (1 John 2:2)

BY GOD’S GRACE WE FREELY CHOOSE JESUS CHRIST AS SAVIOR AND LORD.

We are given free will, relying upon God’s grace to “come before” – enabling us to choose. We believe that this salvation is available to any person who would open his or her heart to God. “If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

WE BELIEVE AND TESTIFY TO HIS BODILY RESURRECTION

Jesus said to Thomas, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29)

WE ARE LED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT

We believe in the Holy Spirit as the presence of God within us, who calls us to yield to God, and empowers us to obey his sovereign will. Through the presence of the Holy Spirit each member of God’s family can become the person God designed him or her to be. “Those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.” (Romans 8:14)

WE BELIEVE THE BIBLE IS GOD’S WORD

The scriptures are our primary authority for faith and practice, containing everything needful for salvation.  All of our doctrine, fellowship, and service is born out of our reverence for God’s Word. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

WE HAVE EXPERIENCED THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN

We are not immune to temptation, nor exempt from from sin’s ravages. We are sinners in need of a savior. “Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you.”

WE CELEBRATE GOD’S DESIGN FOR SINGLENESS, MARRIAGE, AND FAMILY

Jesus said, “At the beginning the Creator made them male and female. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” (Matthew 19:4-6)

WE LIVE AS THE CHURCH

We believe that God has called us together in love and service to each other and our community.  We believe in the church as the body of Christ, established to serve as his representatives and ambassadors in this world (see the mission at top). We believe that our mutual fellowship is pleasing to God, and that by sharing in work together, we share in the joy of the Lord. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthians)

WE LIVE AS DISCIPLES

By God’s grace we seek to love one another as Christ first loves us, and to follow Christ’s example and teachings in everyday life. We extend an open invitation to all those who do not yet know Jesus as Lord to allow us to introduce you to the Savior who loves you and died for you. “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.” (John 8:31)

WE SEEK TO WORSHIP IN SPIRIT AND TRUTH

Jesus said, “A time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” (John 4:23-24)

WE PREPARE FOR AND AWAIT HIS PROMISED RETURN

Jesus said, “Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.” (Revelation 22:12)