Harvest Fellowship can be described as orthodox, evangelical, and reformed. Our statement of faith is adapted from the FEC Articles of Faith.
The Bible
We believe The Bible, consisting of 66 books, is the inerrant, infallible, and totally sufficient Word of God which is the full divine revelation of God to us. All scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. The Bible was written by men under the direct and divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Nothing can be added or taken from it. We are commanded to read, study, and obey it, while also sharing its message to all people.
(II Timothy 3:16; II Peter 1:20-21; II Timothy 1:13; Psalm 12:6 & 119:105, 160; Proverbs 30:5, II Peter 1:20-21)God
God is spirit, eternal, infinite, holy, truth, goodness, justice, love, and unchanging; complete in Himself and possessing total power and authority over all things. He is not bound by time, space, or anything that he has created. Nothing escapes His knowledge or wisdom, and all things are in subjection to Him. Everything that exists was created by God. All that comes to pass does so as God’s predestined plan from eternity past.
(Genesis 1:1, 26-27; 3:22; Psalm 90:2; Matthew 28:19; I Peter 1:2; II Corinthians 13:14)The Trinity
We believe in three distinct persons of the Godhead which are fully divine. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, carrying out differing functions as distinct persons but are of equal substance, power, and glory; as the one and only true eternal God.
(Matthew 28:19; II Corinthians 13:14)
God The Father
God the Father loved the world (the elect) to send the Son, Jesus Christ, as the Savior of the world. Anyone who knows the Father also knows the Son. Through a personal relationship with Christ, we come to know God as our Father.
(John 3:16-21; Galatians 3:26; II Corinthians 1:3; Ephesians 4:6-7)God The Son (Jesus Christ)
Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. Jesus lived a sinless human life and offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of God’s people by dying on a cross as a propitiation for the elect; exhausting the wrath of God. He arose from the dead after three days to defeat sin and death. He ascended to the right hand of the Father putting all enemies under His feet and He will return to judge the living and the dead.
(Matthew 1:22-23; Isaiah 9:6; John 1:1-5 & 14:10-30; Hebrews 4:14-15; I Corinthians 15:3-4; Romans 1:3-4; Acts 1:9-11; I Timothy 6:14-15; Titus 2:13)God The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is equal with the Father and the Son. He is present in the world to convict His people. He also lives in every Christian from the moment of salvation and provides the Christian the ability to be sanctified in Christ, understanding of spiritual truth. As well giving guidance in doing what is just.
(II Corinthians 3:17; John 14:16-17 & 16:7-13; Acts 1:8; I Corinthians 2:12 & 3:16; Ephesians 1:13; Galatians 5:25; Ephesians 5:18)
Man
Men and women are made in the image of God but rebelled against their Creator. As a result of rebellion, man is lost in sin (committing acts against God’s law and His character) and incapable of pleasing God. All humans are dead in their sin and reject God in unrighteousness, unwilling and unable to seek God or follow His law, thus deserving God’s eternal wrath of punishment in Hell.
(Genesis 1:27; Psalm 8:3-6; Isaiah 53:6; Romans 1:18-25; Romans 3:23; Isaiah 59:1-2)Salvation
Salvation is the work of the Triune God. The Father in His infinite wisdom, love, and grace predestined a people in eternity past to come to faith in Jesus, the Son of God, who was a sinless sacrifice. All sin of every true believer was imputed to Christ and fully punished in Him on the cross. The complete righteousness of Christ was then imputed to every true believer, leaving the believer free from any condemnation or punishment for sin. Faith in Christ alone and repentance from sin is then applied and made manifest in the heart of believers by the Holy Spirit upon hearing the gospel. The sinner is made, by the power of the Holy Spirit, a new creation with a new nature that seeks after God and loves God’s law. Good works are then the fruit of saving faith in conjunction with continual repentance that must follow, but it is not by good works that a person is justified before God.
(Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8-9; John 1:12 & 14:6; Titus 3:5; Galatians 3:26; Romans 5:1)The Church
We believe the true Church is the obedient bride of Christ. It is made up of the elect of God who study the bible and apply it to their individual lives, sharing the gospel with others, and performing good works through the power of the Holy Spirit. All believers are commanded by God to be part of a local church, serving, and growing in faith. The Church is to remain pure to Christ and practice church discipline.
(Matthew 28:19-20; I Corinthians 12-14; I Corinthians 11:27-29; Ephesians 4:11-16)Eternity
Man was created to exist forever. He will either exist eternally separated from God’s grace by sin in hell, or in union with God through forgiveness and salvation in heaven. Heaven and Hell are real places of eternal existence.
(John 3:16; I John 2:25 & 5:11-13; Romans 6:23; Revelation 20:15)Believers Baptism and The Lord’s Supper
The Word of God places on the church two perpetual ordinances of the Lord Jesus Christ. The first, believer’s baptism, is the outward covenantal sign of what God has already done in the individual’s life. It is identification with Jesus and is affected in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The second, the Lord’s Supper, is a commemoration of the death of the Lord and is done in remembrance of Him until He comes again. Both institutions are restricted to those who are believers.
(1 Corinthians 11:17-34; Matthew 3:6; Matthew 26:26-27; Acts 8:26-40; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26)Human Sexuality, Marriage and Divorce
We believe that God has commanded that no sexual activity take place outside of a Scriptural marriage.
(Genesis. 2:24; Genesis 19:5-13;Genesis 26:8-9; Leviticus 18:1-30; Romans 1:26-29; I Corinthians 5:1; 6:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8; Hebrews 13:4)We believe that the only Scriptural marriage is the consensual joining of one biological adult man and one biological adult woman until death.
(Genesis 2:24; Romans 7:2; I Corinthians 7:10; Ephesians 5:22-23)Gender
We believe that human gender is set at conception and believe that God created two genders at the time of creation which is Man and Woman.
(Genesis 1:27; Genesis 2:20-25)
Eschatology (The Judgment)
Christ will return and judge all people, the living and the dead. The believers in Christ to eternal reward and communion with God, and the reprobate to eternal punishment for their sins in Hell. Satan, evil, and death will be eternally defeated. God will create a new heaven and a new earth and Christ’s kingdom will reign forever.
(Matthew 25:31-46; I Corinthians 15:35-58; II Corinthians 5:10)Worldview
We believe the sinful world has nothing of spiritual value to offer the believer in Christ. To love Christ is to be at enmity with the world. We uphold and proclaim God’s law and the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God. We affirm salvation is by faith through grace in Christ alone.
(Ephesians 2:8-9;)
