These Foundational Beliefs summarize the essential doctrines we believe and teach at Harvest Church. They are not intended to contain every biblical doctrine but to provide a clear statement of the foundational truths that guide our faith, ministry, and life together.

The Bible, as the inspired, trustworthy, and authoritative Word of God, is our final authority for faith, doctrine, morality, and daily living. Whenever questions arise concerning what we believe or how we should live, we look first to God’s Word.

Under the authority of Scripture, the Lead Pastor and Governing Board are responsible for faithfully teaching, guarding, and applying biblical doctrine within the life and ministry of Harvest Church.

All employees, pastors, elders, and ministry leaders of Harvest Church are expected to affirm and faithfully support these Foundational Beliefs.

The Bible

We believe the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments are the inspired Word of God. They were given by God without error in their original writings and are completely trustworthy. The Bible reveals God’s character, His will, and His plan of salvation through Jesus Christ. It is our final authority for what we believe and how we live.

Key Scriptures: 2 Timothy 3:15–17; 2 Peter 1:20–21; Hebrews 4:12

God and the Trinity

We believe there is one true and living God who is infinitely perfect, all-powerful, all-knowing, eternal, and worthy of all worship. Scripture clearly teaches that there is only one God, yet this one God eternally exists in three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The word Trinity does not appear in the Bible, but it is a word Christians use to describe what the Bible teaches about God: there is one God; the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are each fully God; and the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct persons. They are not three gods or three different forms of God. They are one God, equal in divine nature, power, and glory, eternally existing in perfect unity.

We see this clearly at Jesus’ baptism, where the Son is baptized, the Holy Spirit descends upon Him, and the Father speaks from heaven. Jesus also commanded His followers to baptize “in the name”—singular—“of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Although the Trinity is beyond our complete understanding, it is the biblical truth God has revealed about Himself.

Key Scriptures: Deuteronomy 6:4; Matthew 3:16–17; Matthew 28:19; John 1:1–3, 14; John 10:30; Acts 5:3–4; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Colossians 2:9

Jesus Christ

We believe Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. He lived a perfectly sinless life and willingly died on the cross as the perfect sacrifice for our sins.

Jesus rose bodily from the dead, demonstrating His victory over sin and death. He ascended into heaven and is now seated at the right hand of the Father, where He intercedes for His people as our great High Priest. One day He will personally and visibly return in power and glory.

Key Scriptures: John 1:1, 14; Luke 1:35–38; Philippians 2:6–11; Romans 5:8; Acts 2:23–24; Hebrews 4:14–16

The Holy Spirit

We believe the Holy Spirit is fully God, equal with the Father and the Son. He convicts the world of sin, draws people to Christ, gives new spiritual life, and lives within every believer.

The Holy Spirit guides, teaches, comforts, transforms, and empowers followers of Jesus. God desires every believer to walk by the Spirit and be continually filled with the Spirit, receiving power for holy living, spiritual growth, faithful witness, and effective service.

We believe the Holy Spirit gives spiritual gifts to believers according to His will for the purpose of serving others and building up the Church. We believe the gifts of the Holy Spirit remain available to the Church today and should be exercised in accordance with Scripture, in love, humility, wisdom, and proper order.

Key Scriptures: John 14:16–17, 26; John 16:7–13; Acts 1:8; Romans 8:9–14; 1 Corinthians 12:4–11; Galatians 5:16–25

Humanity and Sin

We believe every person is created by God in His image and therefore possesses inherent dignity, value, and worth. Humanity was created to know God, love Him, glorify Him, and live in relationship with Him.

Through Adam’s disobedience, sin entered the world, bringing both physical and spiritual death. Every person is a sinner by nature and by choice, separated from God and unable to save themselves through good works, religious effort, or personal morality.

Our only hope is the grace of God made available through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Key Scriptures: Genesis 1:26–27; Romans 3:23; Romans 5:12; Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:1–5

Salvation

We believe salvation is God’s gracious gift, made possible through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus died in our place, bearing the judgment our sins deserved, and rose from the dead so that we could be forgiven, reconciled to God, and given eternal life.

Salvation is received by grace through faith as a person repents of sin and trusts in Jesus Christ alone as Lord and Savior. Salvation cannot be earned through good works, religious activity, baptism, church attendance, or personal effort. Good works do not produce salvation; they are the fruit of a life that has been saved and transformed by God’s grace.

Key Scriptures: John 3:16; Romans 5:8; Romans 10:9–13; Ephesians 2:8–10; Titus 3:4–7

Responding to the Gospel

Repent

Repentance is a change of heart and mind that turns a person from sin and toward God. It begins by agreeing with God about our sin and recognizing our need for His mercy and forgiveness.

Repentance is more than feeling sorry or attempting to improve our behavior. Genuine repentance produces a changed direction as we turn from sin and begin following Jesus in faith and obedience becomes a changed life.

Key Scriptures: Mark 1:15; Acts 2:38; Acts 3:19; 2 Corinthians 7:10

Believe

Saving faith is trusting in who Jesus is and what He has accomplished through His death and resurrection. It means relying on Jesus alone—not our goodness, performance, or religious efforts—to make us right with God.

Genuine faith is more than simply knowing facts about Jesus. It is personally trusting Him as Lord and Savior. Saving faith results in a transformed life as the Holy Spirit begins His work within us.

Key Scriptures: John 3:16–18; John 20:31; Romans 5:1; Ephesians 2:8–9

Receive

Every person is invited to respond to the gospel by receiving Jesus Christ through faith. Those who trust in Him are forgiven of their sins, reconciled to God, adopted into His family, and given the gift of eternal life.

Prayer is often the way a person expresses repentance and faith, but prayer itself does not save us. Jesus saves us, and salvation is received through faith in Him.

Key Scriptures: John 1:12–13; Romans 10:9–13; Galatians 4:4–7

Assurance

Those who have repented of their sin and trusted in Jesus Christ alone for salvation can have confidence that they belong to Him and possess eternal life. Our assurance does not rest in our perfect performance but in the finished work of Jesus and the faithful promises of God.

The Holy Spirit also works within believers, producing spiritual growth and confirming that we are God’s children.

Key Scriptures: John 10:27–29; Romans 8:15–16; Romans 10:9–13; 1 John 5:11–13

Sanctification

We believe sanctification is God’s work of setting believers apart for Himself and making them more like Jesus.

At salvation, every believer is forgiven, declared righteous in Christ, and set apart as belonging to God. Throughout the Christian life, the Holy Spirit progressively transforms us as we submit to God, renew our minds through His Word, turn away from sin, and walk in obedience.

Christians will not reach sinless perfection in this life, but genuine followers of Jesus should increasingly demonstrate spiritual growth, repentance, obedience, and the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Key Scriptures: Romans 6:1–14; Romans 12:1–2; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Galatians 5:22–25; 1 Thessalonians 5:23–24

The Church

We believe the universal Church is the body of Christ, made up of all people who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Jesus Christ alone is the Head of His Church.

The local church is a community of believers who gather together for worship, prayer, fellowship, biblical teaching, discipleship, encouragement, service, generosity, baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and the proclamation of the gospel.

Jesus has commissioned His Church to make disciples of all nations by going, proclaiming the gospel, baptizing believers, and teaching them to obey everything He commanded.

God never intended Christians to follow Jesus alone. Every believer is called to participate in the life of a local church, use their gifts to serve others, protect the unity of the body, and help carry out the mission of Jesus.

Key Scriptures: Matthew 28:18–20; Acts 2:41–47; Ephesians 1:22–23; Ephesians 4:11–16; Hebrews 10:24–25

The Resurrection and Eternal Life

We believe every person was created to exist forever. There will be a bodily resurrection of both the saved and the lost.

Those who have trusted in Jesus Christ will experience everlasting life, joy, and fellowship with God. Those who remain separated from Christ will experience eternal judgment and conscious separation from God.

Heaven and Hell are real, eternal realities. Eternal life is received through faith in Jesus Christ, while eternal separation from God is the consequence of unforgiven sin.

Key Scriptures: Daniel 12:2; John 3:16–18; John 5:24–29; 1 Corinthians 15:20–23; Revelation 20:11–15; Revelation 21:1–5

The Return of Christ

We believe Jesus Christ will personally, visibly, and victoriously return. He will fully establish His kingdom, judge sin, defeat evil, raise the dead, and make all things new.

The return of Jesus is the blessed hope of every believer. Because Christ is coming again, we are called to live with faithfulness, holiness, urgency, hope, and readiness as we continue His mission.

Key Scriptures: Matthew 24:30–31; Acts 1:9–11; 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18; Titus 2:11–14; Revelation 22:12–13

Water Baptism

We believe water baptism is an act of obedience commanded by Jesus for those who have repented of their sins and placed their faith in Him.

Baptism does not save a person. Rather, it is a public expression of a person’s faith in the saving work of Jesus Christ. Through baptism, a believer identifies with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus and publicly declares that they have died to their old life and have been raised to walk in newness of life.

In the New Testament, baptism is consistently connected with personal repentance and faith in Jesus. For this reason, Harvest Church practices believer’s baptism rather than infant baptism.

We normally practice baptism by immersion because we believe it best represents the New Testament pattern and most clearly symbolizes the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. However, we recognize that faithful Christians may hold different convictions regarding the mode of baptism. We welcome into fellowship believers whose previous baptism was a sincere and meaningful expression of their faith in Christ, even if it was performed in another manner.

Key Scriptures: Matthew 28:19–20; Acts 2:38–41; Acts 8:36–39; Acts 10:47–48; Romans 6:3–4; Colossians 2:12

Child Dedication

Because we understand baptism to follow personal repentance and faith, Harvest Church does not practice infant baptism. Instead, we provide parents with the opportunity to dedicate their children to the Lord.

Child dedication does not save a child, guarantee future salvation, or replace the child’s personal decision to follow Jesus. It is a public commitment by parents to raise their child according to God’s Word, model a faithful relationship with Jesus, pray for their child, and guide them toward personally trusting and following Christ.

It is also a commitment by the church family to support, encourage, and pray for the child and their family.

Key Scriptures: 1 Samuel 1:26–28; Deuteronomy 6:4–9; Psalm 127:3; Mark 10:13–16; Luke 2:21–40

Communion

We believe Communion, also called the Lord’s Supper, was established by Jesus as an ordinance for His Church.

Through the bread and the cup, believers remember Jesus’ body given for us and His blood shed for the forgiveness of sins. Communion points us to the new covenant established through Christ’s sacrifice and proclaims His death until He returns.

The bread and cup are symbols of Christ’s body and blood. They do not save us, but they remind us of the salvation Jesus has already accomplished through His death and resurrection.

Communion is also a time for believers to examine their hearts, confess sin, remember God’s grace, celebrate their unity in Christ, and renew their gratitude for the gospel.

Harvest Church practices open Communion. All who have personally trusted in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are welcome to participate. We encourage each person to approach Communion with faith, humility, reverence, gratitude, and honest self-examination.

Key Scriptures: Matthew 26:26–29; Luke 22:14–20; 1 Corinthians 10:16–17; 1 Corinthians 11:23–29

Loving God and Loving Others

We believe Jesus summarized God’s commands by calling us to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Our obedience does not earn God’s love or salvation. Rather, because we have been loved and saved by grace, we desire to honor God and love others. Every area of the Christian life should flow from love for God and love for people.

Jesus also commanded His followers to love one another as He has loved us. This Christlike love is one of the clearest ways the world recognizes that we belong to Him.

Key Scriptures: Matthew 22:37–40; John 13:34–35; 1 John 4:7–12

God’s Moral Law

We believe God’s moral commands reveal His holy character, expose our sin, show us our need for a Savior, and guide believers in lives that honor Him.

Christians are not saved by keeping the Law. We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. However, God’s commands continue to teach us how to love Him, love others, and live lives shaped by holiness, truth, justice, mercy, faithfulness, and obedience.

The Ten Commandments teach us to worship God alone, honor His name, value rest and worship, honor our parents, protect human life, remain sexually faithful, respect the property of others, speak truthfully, and guard our hearts against covetousness.

Key Scriptures: Exodus 20:1–17; Matthew 5:17–20; Romans 3:20–24; Romans 13:8–10

Living According to Scripture

We recognize that following Jesus and conforming our lives to Scripture will sometimes conflict with the beliefs, values, and practices of the culture around us.

Christians are called not to conform to the pattern of this world but to be transformed by the renewing of their minds. We desire to remain faithful to biblical truth while treating every person with love, grace, humility, dignity, and compassion.

We do not believe truth and love are enemies. Jesus embodied both grace and truth, and His followers should do the same. We will seek to communicate biblical convictions clearly without hostility, pride, cruelty, or unnecessary division.

Key Scriptures: John 1:14; Romans 12:1–2; Ephesians 4:15; Colossians 4:5–6; 1 Peter 3:15–16

Physical Healing

We believe God is powerful and able to heal physically, emotionally, and spiritually. The ministry of Jesus demonstrated God’s compassion for those who suffer, and Scripture instructs the Church to pray for the sick.

We believe prayer for healing and anointing with oil are biblical privileges and responsibilities of the Church. We pray with faith and confidence in God’s power while humbly submitting to His wisdom, timing, and sovereign will.

We recognize that God may heal miraculously, gradually, through medical care, or ultimately through the resurrection. A person’s continued illness does not necessarily indicate a lack of faith, and we reject any teaching that places shame or condemnation on those who are not healed.

Key Scriptures: Matthew 8:14–17; 2 Corinthians 12:7–10; James 5:13–16

The Sanctity of Human Life

We believe every human life is sacred because every person is created in the image of God. Human worth does not depend upon age, ability, health, independence, productivity, social status, ethnicity, or any other human measurement.

We believe human life should be valued, protected, and treated with dignity from conception until natural death. Followers of Jesus are called not only to affirm the value of life but also to care for the vulnerable, defend those who are mistreated, serve those in need, support families, and demonstrate the compassion of Christ.

Key Scriptures: Genesis 1:26–27; Psalm 139:13–16; Proverbs 31:8–9; Matthew 22:37–39; Galatians 6:10

Marriage

We believe God created marriage as a lifelong covenant between one man and one woman as created by God.

Marriage was established by God and is intended to be marked by mutual love, faithfulness, humility, sacrifice, honor, and respect. God’s design is that a husband and wife remain faithful to one another and reflect the covenant love of Christ for His Church.

Because marriage is a sacred covenant, we believe husbands and wives should seek God’s grace and the support of the church as they work through difficulties, practice forgiveness, pursue reconciliation, and grow together in Christ.

Key Scriptures: Genesis 2:18–25; Matthew 19:4–6; Ephesians 5:21–33; Hebrews 13:4

Human Sexuality

We believe sexual intimacy is a good gift created by God and is intended to be expressed only within the covenant of marriage between one man and one woman as created by God.

God calls all people—married or single—to honor Him with their bodies and pursue purity, holiness, and faithfulness. Sexual activity outside of biblical marriage falls outside God’s design. This includes adultery, sexual relationships between unmarried people, homosexual sexual activity, pornography, and other forms of sexual immorality identified in Scripture.

We recognize that every person has sinned and fallen short of God’s standard. Sexual sin is not beyond the reach of God’s grace, forgiveness, and transforming power. The gospel offers forgiveness and new life to everyone who repents and trusts in Jesus.

We are committed to holding biblical convictions while treating every person with dignity, compassion, patience, grace, and love. All people are welcome to attend, hear the gospel, ask honest questions, and discover what it means to follow Jesus.

Key Scriptures: Matthew 5:27–30; Matthew 19:4–6; Romans 1:24–27; 1 Corinthians 6:9–11, 18–20; 1 Corinthians 7:1–9; 1 Thessalonians 4:3–8

God’s Design for Male and Female

We believe God wonderfully and intentionally created humanity in His image as male and female. These two distinct and complementary sexes are part of God’s good design in creation.

We believe a person’s biological sex is part of God’s intentional creation and should be received with gratitude and lived out in a way that honors Him. Our identity is not something we ultimately create for ourselves; our deepest identity is received from God and, for believers, is found in Jesus Christ.

We recognize that some people experience deep confusion, distress, or conflict concerning their bodies and identity. We desire to respond with biblical truth, genuine compassion, patience, humility, and loving care.

Every person is created in the image of God and must be treated with dignity, respect, and kindness. Disagreement with a person’s beliefs or choices never gives Christians permission to mock, mistreat, reject, or act hatefully toward them.

Key Scriptures: Genesis 1:26–28; Genesis 2:18–25; Psalm 139:13–16; Matthew 19:4–6; 1 Corinthians 6:19–20

Biblical Conviction, Christian Freedom, and Unity

We believe Scripture is our final authority for faith and life. Where the Bible clearly commands or forbids something, followers of Jesus are called to obey. Where Scripture does not give a direct command, believers should be careful not to elevate personal preferences, traditions, or convictions into rules that every Christian must follow.

Christian freedom is not permission to sin or act selfishly. In matters where faithful Christians may reach different conclusions, believers should be guided by biblical principles, the Holy Spirit, wisdom, conscience, love for others, and a desire to glorify God.

We believe Christians should approach disagreements with humility and grace, avoiding judgmental attitudes and respecting differences of conscience. Our unity is found in Jesus, the gospel, and the clear truths of Scripture—not in agreeing on every secondary issue. Therefore, we should pursue unity, consider the spiritual good of others, and be willing to limit our personal freedom when love calls us to do so.

Key Scriptures: Romans 14:1–23; 1 Corinthians 6:12; 8:9–13; 10:23–33; Galatians 5:13

Christian Conduct

We believe followers of Jesus are called to live lives that reflect the character of Christ. This includes growing in love, humility, integrity, generosity, forgiveness, purity, compassion, self-control, truthfulness, and faithfulness.

Christians should seek reconciliation when relationships are broken, forgive as Christ has forgiven us, care for those in need, speak truthfully, reject prejudice and partiality, and use their time, abilities, and resources for God’s glory.

We will not live these things perfectly. The Christian life is one of ongoing grace, repentance, growth, and dependence upon the Holy Spirit. When we fall short, we are called to confess our sin, receive God’s forgiveness, make things right where possible, and continue following Jesus.

Key Scriptures: Micah 6:8; Matthew 5:13–16; Ephesians 4:20–32; Colossians 3:12–17; James 1:22–27

We understand that faithful Christians may disagree on certain secondary matters while remaining united in the essential truths of the gospel. We desire to hold our convictions with humility, recognize the authority of Scripture, protect the unity of the Church, and keep Jesus at the center of everything we believe and do.

Our desire is not simply to possess correct beliefs but to become people whose lives are increasingly shaped by the truth, grace, holiness, compassion, and love of Jesus Christ.

We are rooted in Christ, growing together, and reaching the harvest.

Key Scriptures: John 13:34–35; John 17:20–23; Ephesians 4:1–6; Colossians 2:6–7