Values and Beliefs

Who we are

At Antioch Community Church Quincy we aim to be people who are Loving God, Sharing Life, and Proclaiming Jesus. Our entire vision is summed up in these three statements. They are short and easy to remember; and by God's grace, we aim to live them out every day!

Below are some practicals of what these values look like for us in our lives.

Loving God

Intimacy with Jesus through prayer and worship.
The Bible as God inspired and life transforming.
The presence of God in every setting.

Sharing Life

Building lifelong friendships through sacrificial living.
Reproducing life through discipleship, small groups and church planting.

Proclaiming Jesus

Taking risks to make Jesus known.
Extending God's Kingdom by evangelism and church planting throughout the world.

Our Relational Values

Our goal is to express our devotion to the Father's and Jesus' heart for people as expressed by the following values.

Passionate Worship

Loving Jesus extravagantly

Jesus said that the Father is seeking those who worship Him in Spirit and in truth. We practice a life of worship that invites the presence of Jesus into all that we say and do.

See also Mt. 26:6-13; Jn. 4:23, 5:19-23, 14:21, 15:15; Col. 3:16, 17

Humble Service

Looking beyond ourselves

Jesus came to serve, not to be served. He modeled this selfless lifestyle with both His disciples as well as society’s lost, outcast, and oppressed. As Jesus’ disciples, we follow Jesus’ example and prioritize the needs of others.

See also Is. 53:1-12; Mt. 15:34-39, 20:25-28; Jn. 13:1-17; Eph. 4:1-3; Phil. 2:1-11

Authentic Relationships

Cultivating a community of trust

Jesus’ relationships were marked by honesty, vulnerability, and accountability. We aspire to be genuine and gracious with those inside and outside the church. In doing so, we demonstrate our unwavering commitment to one another.

See also Mt. 18:15-17; Acts 2:42-47; Rom. 15:5-7; Eph. 4:15; Col. 3:12-15

Honoring Collaboration

Empowering the strengths of others

Jesus lived with and developed an exceptional team of disciple-makers. Their diverse spiritual gifts, talents, and personalities joined together to become the epicenter of the new Church—the hope of the world. As Jesus’ followers, we emulate His process by honoring and empowering the unique grace that resides within every believer.

See also Eccl. 4:9-12; Rom. 12:3-8; 1 Cor. 12; Heb. 10:24-25; 1 Pt. 4:10; Rev. 5:9

Courageous Generosity

Excelling in the joy of giving

Jesus modeled selfless generosity. After Pentecost, His disciples followed His lead as they shared resources with one another. His extravagant love continues to inspire us to work diligently, live simply, and give joyfully.

See also Mt. 25:14-30, 26:6-13; Acts 2:44-45, 4:32-35; Rom. 12:13; 2 Cor. 8-9; Jas. 2:14-19

Radical Compassion

Engaging brokenness with the heart of Jesus

Jesus looked at broken humanity through the lens of love and responded with compassion. He loved everyone just as they needed to be loved. We follow Jesus’ lead by seeing the world through God’s grace-filled eyes, and becoming real-time messengers of His grace, hope, and healing.

See also Ex. 22:21-25; Ps. 146; Is. 58, 61; Mt. 9:35-38, 25:31-46; Lk. 7:22-23; Eph. 4:32; Jas. 1:26-27

Our Beliefs

If we were to describe our theology simply, we would say this: “We are all about Jesus. We want to be like Him, introduce others to Him, and live like He told us to. We believe the Bible and desire to study it to grow in a deeper relationship with Jesus.”

In short, we are all about Jesus.

The Bible

We believe that the Bible is the inspired, authoritative, living, eternally reliable Word of God equally in all parts and without error in its original manuscript, absolutely infallible, and our source of supreme revelation from God, superior to conscience and reason, though not contrary to reason; and it is therefore our infallible rule of faith and practice and necessary to our daily lives (II Timothy 3:16-17; I Peter 1:23-25; Hebrews 4:12).GOD

We believe in one God who has revealed Himself in three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Romans 1:20, Matthew 28:19). The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all co-eternal, all stand equally superior to time, free from the temporal distinctions of past and future (FATHER - Deuteronomy 33:27; Psalm 90:2; Psalm 102:27; I Timothy 1:17; SON - John 1:1-2; John 8:58; Hebrews 1:8; I John 1:2;Revelation 1:8; SPIRIT - Hebrews 9:14; 1 Corinthians 3:17-18).

Jesus Christ

We believe in Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son, who came into the world to reveal the Father, and was the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person; that through Him all things were made. We further believe that in Christ dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily and that He was very God and very Man (John. 1:1-2 & 14; I Tim. 3:16; Acts 7:37-38; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 1:15,16).

We believe in Jesus Christ's pre-existence, incarnation, virgin birth, sinless life, miracles, substitutionary and atoning death, bodily resurrection, bodily ascension into heaven, exaltation, present rule at the right hand of God, coming personal return in power and great glory, and in His everlasting Kingdom and dominion (Acts 1:11; 3:19-21; Daniel 7:14; Revelation 20:4). We acknowledge His Lordship -- that Jesus Christ is Lord over all things in heaven and on earth, and under the earth (Phil. 2:9-10).

The Holy Spirit

We believe the Holy Spirit is God personally with us today. He was sent by Jesus to pour the love of God into our hearts, teach and remind us of all things, convict us of sin, righteousness, and judgment and glorify Christ. He dwells in the heart of every believer upon salvation and seals him until the day of redemption. The Holy Spirit speaks to us through the Bible, intuitive thoughts, other people and circumstances. We believe in His present ministry, His indwelling, His empowering, His impartation of gifts for today, and His transforming power in the lives of all believers (I Cor. 12:4-11, Gal 5:22-23).

We further believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit according to Scripture (Matthew 3:11; Luke 3:21-23, 4:1-2, 14, 18-19; Acts 2:4, 4:31, 10:46, 19:6). We hold that the real evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is one's response to the Word of God (John 16:13), a Christ-like life, showing forth Christ's character, and experiencing and manifesting the gifts and fruit of the Holy Spirit (John 15:26; 16:14;Galatians 5:22-23; I Cor 12:4-11). The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not a one time event, but in Scripture God calls us to be "continually filled with the Holy Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18).

Man and Sin

We believe that man was created in the image of God by a good, direct and immediate act of God in order that man might glorify God and enjoy Him forever (Genesis 1:26-27; 2:4).

We believe that man by transgression fell from a state of righteousness and holiness in which he was first created into total spiritual depravity, a state of death in trespasses and sins in which he is held as a slave of sin and an enemy of God. Thus every person is born with an inherited sin nature and volitionally sins, whereas apart from the grace of God, we are all deserving of death and eternal separation from Him in hell. As such, he is unable to attain divine righteousness by his own efforts or good works but must be redeemed and delivered by God's grace and the power of the gospel (Genesis 3; Psalm 51:5; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 3:23; Romans 5:12-21; Romans 6:23; I Corinthians 15:1-4; 2 Thessalonians 2:5-10).

Salvation

We believe that repentance and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ are a necessary part of God’s work of justification of the believer. Through faith in the shed blood of Christ for the forgiveness of sins and His resurrection from the dead, he or she is justified and made a partaker in the death of Christ (Romans 5:1,9; 10:9-10). We believe that "it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). We believe that faith comes through hearing God's word (Romans 10:17). We believe that repentance is dependent upon the convicting action of the Holy Spirit in the lives of sinners and believers and their response. The conviction of the Holy Spirit, which often accompanies the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, will result in the revelation of the sinfulness of self, which should lead to godly sorrow and an earnest desire to turn from sin. (II Corinthians 7:10; Psalm 51; Acts 11:18; II Timothy 2:25; Matthew 9:12-13).

Christian Living

We do not believe that water baptism is required for salvation but it is a necessary, obedient response to the command of Jesus. Baptism is to be performed only upon repentant believers in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit (Mat. 28:18-20) as public proclamation of personal faith and the work of Christ.

We further believe that the emphasis for a continuous walk in grace by faith should be evidenced by righteousness and purity of heart, believing in the keeping power of God, walking after the Spirit and not after the flesh, living a lifestyle that reflects the character and ministry of Jesus Christ, and not being conformed to the world for the glory of God. We believe grace is the unmerited favor of God as well as the power to do the will of God (Jude 24; Romans 8:25; Galatians 5:16-25; Romans 4:1-5; 12:1-2; I Corinthians 15:10).

The Church

We believe that the Church is administration of God’s continuing work on earth. The Church is the body of Christ, under His headship, whom he has called out of darkness and a life of sin to proclaim His glorious light to the rest of the world. The church gathers for mutual encouragement and seeks to fulfill the commission of God to make disciples in all nations (Matthew 16:17-19, 28:18-20, 24:14; Ephesians 1:22-23, 3:9-10; Hebrews 10:23; 1 Peter 2:9-10).

The Family

We believe that God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created in God's image (Gen 1:27). Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord (Gen 2:20-25, Matt 19:4-6, Ps 139:13-15).