What a community believes about God,
themselves, and the world around them is important. Most of the well-documented evils the church
has either condoned or actually been a part of, from slavery, the crusades, to
some of our current challenges with the environment and our global economy, are
all the fruits of a community that believes the wrong things. There is a growing number of people asking if
religion in general, and Christianity in particular, does more harm in the
world than good. We would argue that the
only hope for the world is for a great diversity of communities following the
life and teachings of Jesus. At
Restoration, we believe that theology is very important, not as an abstract set
of truth, but a robust, living truth. We
believe this is what Jesus meant when he said, “I am the way, and the truth,
and the life,” (John 14), and why the Holy Spirit is so vital to the church.
Our church and our denomination are
non-creedal. This means that we don’t
have a particular theological system that we all agree to. Instead, we see our theology as something
that unites and brings followers of Jesus together. Historically, the Apostles’ Creed has been
the standard test of orthodoxy for over 15 Centuries. It reads…
I believe in God
the Father Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth;
And in Jesus
Christ his only Son our Lord:
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, dead, and buried;
the third day he rose from the dead;
he ascended into heaven,
and sits at the right hand of God the
Father Almighty;
from thence he shall come to judge the
quick and the dead.
I believe in the
Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting
At Restoration, we
consider all who can agree with the Apostles’ Creed sisters and brothers, and
find unity amongst Christians essential to changing the world (John 17:20-21).