Christ Chapel of Essex
A Community of Hope
Statements
Vision, Mission, and Doctrine Statements
Our Vision Statement
Who We Are
“For King and Kingdom”
These words sum up the heart of our ministry, as expressed in our vision statement. All that we are and all that we have is dedicated to the service of the Lord Jesus Christ and the establishment of His everlasting kingdom on and over all the earth. Our congregation is modeled after our Lord’s eternal kingdom, which will be composed of people from “every tribe and language and people and nation.” (Revelation 5:9) as such, our congregation consists of a racially and socioeconomically diverse group of people who are united by the Spirit and by our devotion to serving the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We encourage each other to serve the Lord to the fullest extent of our giftings, which the Spirit gives without regard for gender or age or any other natural means of distinction.
“Preparing a People of Power
To Demonstrate God’s Love & Life”
Vision Statement
Christ Chapel of Essex will work to fulfill the Great Commission of building God’s Kingdom with the following distinctive:
Love: The atmosphere of Christ Chapel of Essex will be permeated with the warmth of God’s love and acceptance providing the ideal environment for the yeast of God’s kingdom to grow and spread. (Matthew 13:33, 1 John 4:7)
Healing: We pray together for God’s healing of our bodies, souls, and spirits. (Acts 10:38, John 20:21, John 5:1-4)
Unity: Christ Chapel of Essex will build bridges between churches, forstering unity to advance the Kingdom as the family of God. (John 17:20-21)
Body: Christ Chapel of Essex encourages everyone to actively participate in the ministry of the saints to the Lord, each other, and the world. (Ephesians 4:11-13, 1 Peter 2:9)
Biblical: Christ Chapel of Essex will work to model its ministries after the Biblical model revealed inthe New Testament.
Our mission Statement
Where We Are Going
“In essentials, Unity
In nonessentials, liberty
in all things, love”
The church’s mission statement expresses the unique objective of our ministry.
Our founding motto is a solidarity statement, expressing our unity with all true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition to being committed to fulfilling the goals of our mission statement, we are also committed to loving, working with, serving, and learning from all who are in the service of our Lord and King, without regard for their institutional church affiliation of variant views on nonessentials of the faith. As our Lord said, “…no-one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us. I tell you the truth, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name because you belong to Christ will certainly not lose his reward.” (Mark 9:39-41)
mission Statement
- To build a Christian Community filled with Love – Love for God and all people
- To be filled with God’s love to overflowing so that His warmth can be felt by all
- To train believers to fid and take their place in the Body of Christ, and help discover and develop their spiritual gifts.
- To instruct people in the knowledge of God, His son Jesus the Christ, His Holy Spirit, His salvation, and the foundational teachings of the faith. (Hebrews 6:1-3)
- To spend time in the presence of God until we are saturated with His love and message
- To be a people of prayer
- To build relationships with other Christian churches, joining with them in advancing the Kingdom of God and ministering to the body.
Our Doctrinal Statement
What We Believe
We believe in one sovereign God, eternally existing in three persons: the everlasting Father, His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, and the Holy Spirit, the giver of life; and we believe that God created the Heavens and the earth out of nothing by His spoken word, and for His own glory.
We believe that God has revealed Himself and His truth in the created order, in the Scriptures, and supremely in Jesus Christ; and that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are verbally inspired by God and inerrant in the original writing, so that they are fully trustworthy and of supreme and final authority in all they say.
We believe that Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, and was true God and true man, existing in one person and without sin; and we believe in the resurrection of the crucified body of our Lord, in His ascension into heaven, and in His present life there for us as Lord of all, High Priest, and Advocate.
We believe that God directly created Adam and Eve, the historical parents of the entire human race; and that they were created in His own image, distinct from all other living creatures, and in a state of original righteousness.
We believe that our first parents sinned by rebelling against God’s revealed will and thereby incurred both physical and spiritual death, and that as a result all human beings are born with a sinful nature that leads them to sin in thought, word, and deed.
We believe in the existence of Satan, sin, and evil powers, and that all these have been defeated by God on the cross of Christ.
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice, triumphing over all evil; and that all who believe in Him are justified by His shed blood and forgiven of all their sins.
We believe it is God’s will to heal. God is good and through the death of Jesus Christ, everyone can not only be forgiven, but also healed physically and emotionally.
We believe that all who receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith are born again of the Holy Spirit and thereby become children of God and are enabled to offer spiritual worship acceptable to God.
We believe that only those who are born again shall be eligible for membership in the local church.
We believe that water baptism and the Lord’s Supper are ordinances to be observed by the Church during this present age. They are, however, not to be regarded as a means of salvation.
We believe that the Holy Spirit indwells and gives life to believers, enables them to understand the Scriptures, empowers them for godly living, and equips them for service and witness.
We believe it is the will of God that each believer should be filled with the Holy Spirit and be sanctified wholly, being separated from sin and the world and fully dedicated to the will of God, thereby receiving power for holy living and effective service. This is both a crisis and a progressive experience wrought in the life of the believer often subsequent to conversion.
We believe that the gifts of the Spirit are for the present age to equip and edify the Church. All the gifts and ministries of the Spirit enumerated in Romans 12:4-8, I Corinthians 12-14 and Ephesians 4:11-13 are both for and active in today’s Church and that they are necessary to accomplish the work of Christ on the earth.
We believe that the one, holy, universal Church is the body of Christ and is composed of the communities of Christ’s people. The task of Christ’s people in this world is to be God’s redeemed community, embodying His love by worshiping God with confession, prayer, and praise; by proclaiming the gospel of God’s redemptive love through our Lord Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth by word and deed; by caring for all of God’s creation and actively seeking the good of everyone, especially the poor and needy.
We believe in the blessed hope that Jesus Christ will soon return to this earth, personally, visibly, and unexpectedly, in power and great glory, to gather His elect, to raise the dead, to judge the nations, and to bring His Kingdom to fulfillment.
We believe in the bodily resurrection of the just and unjust, the everlasting punishment of the lost, and the everlasting blessedness of the saved.
We believe that Jesus Christ is the Lord and Head of the Church and that every local church has the right, under Christ, to decide and govern its own affairs.
