What We Believe

Baptism is an outward symbol of an inward grace. When we believe in and commit ourselves to following Christ, a fundamental change takes place. We receive God’s acceptance, forgiveness, and direction for living. “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Corinthians 5:17) Baptism represents the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and the believer’s participation in that divine process. When we are baptized, we are giving public witness that we believe in Christ and are committed to following him.

For us, Communion is not merely a ritual; it is fellowship and involvement in the life of Christ and his body, the Church. We celebrate Communion every Sunday in our worship service. Through Communion we proclaim the life, death, resurrection and soon-coming return of Jesus Christ. Communion also reminds us that we have forgiveness of sin through Jesus and that we are partners in His work and Gospel. We invite all who profess faith in Jesus Christ to join us in celebrating Communion.

We believe that prayer is powerful, that God hears our prayers and that our lives are changed when we pray. We are committed to being people of prayer, who lead in prayer and pray for others. For us, our prayers incorporate praise and worship, seeking God’s will and purpose, requests for provision and intervention, confession of sin, and proclamations of God’s eternal greatness and love.

Worship is defined as the giving of honor, attention, devotion and resource to someone or something which takes the role of functional primacy over or within us. Biblically, worship is to be reserved for our creator and any failure or misdirection of the worship due Him is called idolatry. Martin Luther suggested (and many have agreed) that all sin is ultimately reducible to idolatry — the exaltation of someone or something to a place of greater practical honor or esteem than God. We agree with Martin Luther, that all sin is a result of breaking the first two commandments. Many of our crises, from pastoral counseling to church government to besetting sin to public moral collapse, are simply expressions of idolatry — of having set the wrong deity in the place of honor, devotion, and sacrifice, of having given our bodies as an act of worship to someone or something which does not rightly belong in the place of God.

We believe that worship is about attitude and heart, rather than melodies and lyrics. In light of that, we teach a lifestyle of worship that recognizes God’s presence regardless of whether or not it is accompanied with music. Our focus is on God and His relationship to us as Creator, Savior, Father and Almighty King.

We believe that God owns it all – we are just caretakers of the blessings He has given to us. We practice tithing and financial giving in order to meet the needs of our church family, support our ministries and ministers, and to demonstrate that God is our top priority in life. At NewSong, we teach that giving generously is founded in good stewardship. We think that individuals and families will be able to do more for themselves and for God when they learn to manage the resources that they have efficiently. We believe “living below our means” frees us to do more with what is left over.

Intentional Living is our practical way of applying Jesus’ teachings to our daily routines. It is the commitment to consciously and purposefully find moments within our day in which to share and minister the love of Jesus Christ with others. It is a desire to discover the beauty of Christ throughout each day. It is experiencing the grace of God at work within you, transforming you into a reflection of Jesus. It is to live for the sake of the Cross, for the the Kingdom, and to give up everything to know Jesus and the power of His resurrection. It is a continuation of our commitment to Christ, another way to practice discipleship.