GRACE CHILDREN'S ORPHANAGE

MISSION STATEMENT

We believe in God, the Father Almighty, the Maker of Heaven and Earth. He is eminently holy, unchanging, all knowing, all seeing and all present. We believe in the Sovereignty of God. By that we mean that God is active in His creation, accomplishing His will and advancing His own purposes according to His predetermined will and good pleasure. He is all-powerful and all knowing; therefore His will supersedes the will and desire of every man. (Genesis 17:1, Psalm 115:3, Daniel 4:34-35, Isaiah 46:9-10, Revelation 1:8)

There is one God: infinite, eternal, almighty, and perfect in holiness, truth, and love. In the unity of the godhead there are three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; co-existent, co-equal, co-eternal. The Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Holy Spirit, yet each is truly Deity. One God and Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the foundation of Christian faith and life. The Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, to be the inspired Word of God, without error in the original writings, the complete revelations of His will for the salvation of men and the Divine and final authority of Christian faith and life.

Jesus Christ,
the only begotten Son of God, was the eternal Word made flesh, supernaturally conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary. He was perfect in nature, teaching, and obedience. He is fully God and fully man. He was always with God and is God. Through Him all things came into being and were created. He was before all things and in Him all things hold together by the power of His word. He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation, and in Him dwells the fullness of the godhead bodily. He is the only Savior for the sins of the world, having shed his blood and died a vicarious death on Calvary's cross. By His death in our place, He revealed divine love and upheld divine justice, removing our guilt and reconciling us to God. Having redeemed us from sin, the third day He rose bodily from the grave, victorious over death and the powers of darkness, and for a period of forty days appeared to over five hundred witnesses, performing many convincing proofs of His resurrection. He ascended into heaven where, at God's right hand, He intercedes for His people and rules as Lord over all. He is the Head of His body, the Church, and should be adored, loved, served, and obeyed by all.

Salvation
Salvation, the free gift of God, is provided by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone, for the glory of God alone. Anyone turning from sin in repentance and looking to Christ and His substitutionary death receives the gift of eternal life and is declared righteous by God as a free gift. The righteousness of Christ is imputed to him. He is justified and fully accepted by God, eternally secure in the hand of Christ and by Christ. Through Christ's atonement for sin an individual is reconciled to God as Father and becomes His child. The believer is forgiven the debt of his sin and, via the miracle of regeneration, liberated from the law of sin and death into the freedom of God's Spirit. Those who die in Christ are absent from the body and consciously present with the Lord.

All who respond by faith to the gospel promises are declared righteous before God by means of the righteousness of Christ credited to them. They are reconciled to God through the forgiveness of sin by Christ?s substitutionary death on their behalf. Thus reconciled, believers have passed from judgment, wrath, and death to life and have received a spirit of adoption as beloved children who know God as Father (Romans 3:21-26; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24; Romans 6:23; Romans 5:9-11).Growth in conformity to the image and likeness of God by obedience is a vital and necessary part of the life of the believer. Thus believers, having been re-created to do good works, will grow increasingly in the grace of God, turning from their sin and following Jesus Christ as Lord (2 Corinthians 3:17,18; Ephesians 4:11-13; Ephesians 2:10; Romans 6:1,2, 11-14; 2 Peter 3:18; 1 Peter 3:15a).

All those whom God has chosen and redeemed will most certainly be preserved by God and will persevere in their saving faith until that time when God chooses to take them to be with Him forever (John 10:28,29; Philippians 1:6; John 14:1-3).

THE CHURCH
All members of the Church universal are to be a vital and committed part of a local church. The ascended Christ has given gift ministries to the church for the equipping of Christ's body that it might mature and grow. Through the gift ministries, all members of the Church are to be nurtured and equipped for the work of ministry. Women play a vital role in the life of the church but in keeping with God's created design, they are not permitted "to teach or to have authority over a man" (1 Tim. 2:11). Elder/Pastoral Leadership in the church is male. In the context of the local church, God's people receive pastoral care and leadership and the opportunity to employ their God-given gifts in His service in relation to one another and to the world. God?s purpose in establishing His church is to glorify Himself by making known His manifold wisdom, which He demonstrated in Jesus Christ. This is accomplished when
believers:
1. Gather together in the power and unity of the Holy Spirit for worship by the proclamation of the Word, praise, prayer, and participation in the ordinances of the church (Hebrews 10:25; Acts 2:42-47);

2. Mutually exercise the gifts of the Holy Spirit for the edification, equipping, and growth of the members for works of service (Ephesians 3:10,11; 4:11-13; 1 Corinthians 12:4-7; 1 Peter 4:10);

3. Proclaim the good news of God?s saving grace in Jesus Christ to a lost and dying
world (Matthew 28:19,20);

4. Are salt and light in all of our various callings (Matthew 5:13-16).

Water Baptism
Water baptism is only intended for the individual who has received the saving benefits of Christ's atoning work and become His disciple. Therefore, in obedience to Christ's command and as a testimony to God, the Church, oneself and the world, a believer should be immersed in water in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Water baptism is a visual demonstration of a person's union with Christ in the likeness of His death and resurrection. It signifies that his former way of life has been put to death and vividly depicts a person's release from the mastery of sin.

The Lord's Supper As with water baptism, the Lord's Supper is to be observed only by those who have become genuine followers of Christ. This ordinance symbolizes the breaking of Christ's body and the shedding of His blood on our behalf, and is to be observed repeatedly throughout the Christian life as a sign of continued participation in the atoning benefits of Christ's death. As we partake of the Lord's Supper with an attitude of faith and self-examination, we remember and proclaim the death of Christ, receive spiritual nourishment for our souls, and signify our unity with other members of Christ's body.

We believe that God has appointed a day when Jesus Christ will visibly return in glory to judge the world in righteousness. His justice will, be displayed in the resurrection to eternal punishment of all unbelievers, who will be cast into Hell to
experience separation from God forever. His mercy will be displayed by the gathering of all. believers in resurrected and glorified bodies to everlasting life and fullness of joy in the presence of the Lord (Matthew 24:36; John 5:28,29; Matthew
25:31; Revelation 21:3; Mark 13:26,27; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10; Revelation 21:8).