We seek to glorify God in all that we do and all we experience. We should offer hope to a hopeless world by, through, and because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Therefore, LHC’s mission statement is simply:
We will pursue an intimate relationship with God because he pursues us.
We recognize the Bible as God’s Word to us and the final authority for our lives.
We’re an honest-to-goodness family and we’ll love each other, respect each other, and point each other to Jesus...even when it’s hard.
We will laugh hard, loud and often. Nothing is more fun than serving God with people you love!
We believe it’s a sin to make the Gospel boring! We will constantly surprise people with engaging presentations in extraordinary, unexpected environments.
We will do anything short of sin to reach people who don’t know Christ. To reach people no one is reaching, we’ll have to do things no one is doing.
We know the most effective way to make disciples is in personal relationships.
The church does not exist for us. We are the church, and we exist for the world.
We give up things we love for things we love even more. It’s an honor to sacrifice for Christ and his church.
We will pray bold prayers because bold prayers honor God. With God, playing it safe is risky.
We believe there is one God. He created everything that exists. He is perfect in all ways and exists eternally. This one God expresses himself in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God loves us and is actively engaged in our lives.
"The Bible" isn't really a book -- it's a library of books. We believe the 66 books contained in the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, are the inspired Word of God. While the Bible has been translated into many languages and in many helpful versions, its books are without error in their original form. The Bible reveals God's plan to rescue humans and all creation from evil and sin through Jesus Christ. For the Christ-follower, the Bible is the primary authority for life and faith.
We believe that Jesus of Nazareth is our King, the promised Messiah, the Son of God. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, and existed historically (approximately 4 BC - 30 AD) as both fully God and fully human. He was crucified on a Roman cross, died, was buried, resurrected 3 days later, ascended to the Father, and lives today. His life, death, and resurrection are the fulfillment of Scripture and he alone is the hope of all humanity.
The Holy Spirit is God present with us today. In the Bible we see the Holy Spirit creating, empowering humans for God's purposes, and helping us become new creations. All true followers of Jesus Christ are indwelled with the Holy Spirit. He produces fruit (evidence) of "new creation" in us and endows us with gifts so that we can fulfill our purpose in the Church and God's Kingdom.
Humans were created, male and female, "in the image of God". This means our created purpose is to show God's image to the world. We do this by living lives that reveal God, his love, and his plans for the world. However, humans sin and fail in that purpose. Because of our sin, we are unable to restore our relationship with God by our own efforts. This restoration can only take place through faith in Jesus Christ and submission to the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus provides the means for us to be saved from our sins and be restored into relationship with God. He did this by offering himself as a sacrifice for the sins of all humans. All who place their faith in Jesus as Lord (master) and Savior are saved.
The true Church (global Church, or "big-C Church") is made up of everyone who follows Jesus by faith. The Church is comprised of local churches ("little-c church") that live out their faith in community and unity. Jesus Christ is the head of the Church worldwide and the local church. Local churches are instructed to appoint elders for spiritual leadership, to observe water baptism as a means of personal proclamation of faith in Jesus, and to observe communion (or the Lord's Supper) as a means of remembering together the death/sacrifice of Jesus Christ for our sins.
While the seeds of Christ's Kingdom are continually being planted by Jesus and his followers, we believe that Jesus will personally return to fully inaugurate his Kingdom, the New Heaven and New Earth. No one knows when this will happen, but Scripture tells us to be prepared for it to happen at any time. Jesus will judge the living and the dead. Those who are found faithful to Jesus will be resurrected anew and receive a reward of eternal life in God's peace, joy, and presence. Those who are unbelievers will spend eternity in punishment and separation from God.
At LHC we work hard at unity both within our church and with the other churches of our community. We feel a strong sense of partnership with other Dixon churches to share Jesus together in love and cooperation. While denominationalism is not something we're big on, Living Hope Church is a member church of the Evangelical Free Church of America. The EFCA is an Christian denomination that consists of approximately 1,500 congregations. You can read the EFCA statement of faith by following the link below.