What Christians Believe

      First let me give you the "tags" which may be familiar to you, although we encourage you not to put us in a "box" too quickly. We are Christians, we are Protestant, we are Presbyterian, we are members of the Presbyterian Church in America (which is the conservative group of Presbyterian churches). If you know much about theology or church history you will realize this means we believe the Bible to be true, in everything to which it speaks. By "true" we mean factual and accurate and not simply in the vague sense of "it's true for me but maybe not for you." We believe the Truth of the Bible is absolutely true for everybody in the whole wide world.
      Being part of the PCA means we are also Calvinists, but that is a discussion for another time. What is very important is that you know that we are people who believe that we are no better than anybody else, that we are all messed up people who have problems, that we are all broken in one form or another, and that we are sinners. We also believe in a God who is loving, compassionate, and has in mercy sought to save and deliver us from our guilt and from the things that keep us in various kinds of bondage.
      We are convinced that everyone is in need of grace, and we see that word as expressing some very wonderful things about God and his love for us. Grace is full of wonderful ideas and application. God loved the world so he sent his only Son, Jesus, into the world. Jesus, being God's son, is perfect and obeyed his Father fully and completely. He was altogether righteous. So, this God who became flesh then took the step necessary for any of us to be forgiven, and restored to a full relationship to the Father; he died for us, taking our sins on his own suffering body when he died on the cross.
      You may find this astounding, but we do believe the Bible is historically accurate when it says that Jesus physically rose from the dead. That is important because it reveals that the Father did accept the sacrifice of the son for our sins.
      Now here is an awesome thing, the Bible teaches that the moment someone believes that Jesus did die for them, and that they believe he rose again from the dead, and that they confess him as their Savior, that they are then "saved." This means that God looks upon them as righteous because he in his mercy applies to them all the goodness of Christ, and it means that all their sins are washed away because of the bleeding Jesus did on the cross. When we in fact believe we then have real peace with God and he no longer holds our sins against us, but we are completely and forever forgiven.
      Grace also means that when we continue to fail after becoming a Christian, and we freely admit that this is indeed the case, God continues to love us. However, it also means that his love convicts us of doing wrong and drives us back to confess and ask for forgiveness. We now aim for perfection, but we know we will not fully have it until Jesus completely changes us when we see him in heaven. We think those that say they are Christians but don't seek to live the walk, but only talk the talk, should wonder if they are really Christians at all.
      Yes, we do believe in heaven, and that all those who have been saved by Jesus will go there.
      Grace also is the power of mercy in our lives to give us insight into ourselves so we can see where we are messed up. Grace is the power of God available to us to deliver us from our weakness, our habits, our proneness to live in evil kind of ways. In fact we believe it is only by grace that we are saved and that we can live as Christians. To some this may sound like Christians have no confidence in themselves and that we aren't tough enough to do things on our own. They would be absolutely right, but absolutely wrong that we don't take responsibility for our lives or for things around us. History reveals of course that we Christians, when we live in obedience to Christ, take responsibility not only for ourselves, but also for the needs of others.
      New City Fellowship is a church that believes in a God of justice and mercy. Our faith teaches us that God is a reconciling God, making peace between people and himself, and making peace between different kinds of people. When Jesus died on the cross he forever blended Gentiles (non-Jews) together with Jews in his love, and his church. This is the foundation for all other kinds of reconciliation. Every one of us now has access to God, and we are brothers and sisters in Christ. We now must love each other, and we now have the power to forgive each other over past injustices and wrongs, including racial injustice.
      Not only has this been done for us, but we are now called into a life of justice and compassion for the poor and oppressed. To follow Jesus means we must care, for our neighbors, and for the poor, and to actually see Jesus in the lives of the poor. We are now set free to stop thinking only about ourselves but to share our food, homes, time, money, and love with all we meet, and see, and know who are in need. We are called to not just believe, but to do things, good things, to help widows, and orphans, and the poor.
      This is a little of what we are and what we believe. We are trying to change the world one life at a time, one neighborhood at a time, by being a church that makes an impact and a difference. We are trying to help people with wisdom, respecting their dignity, their culture, and calling them to follow this same Jesus Christ who has loved us, and changed us, and given us joy.

Randy Nabors