A Different Kind of Christianity
We are Christian—we worship and follow Jesus Christ—but we believe in a different kind of Christianity and you’ll see that as you read what’s below.
This page is a brief overview of what we believe. Obviously we could say a lot more about any of these topics but really we want this page to just be an invitation to a conversation. If what you read here resonates with you, intrigues you, or challenges you, join us for worship on Sunday or give us a call to come have a cup of coffee with one of our pastors.
Jesus Christ Is God
People often struggle to make sense of how Jesus Christ could be Divine and human and how God can be 3 and 1; so they call it a mystery. The key is that Jesus went through a process while He was in the world. When He was born He had a Divine soul and a human mind and body and over the course of His life He made the human parts of Himself Divine so that, when He rose from the tomb, all His Humanity was Divine.
Now He is both Divine and Human—all powerful and approachable—and Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in One Divine Person. The Father is His soul, the Son is His body, and the Holy Spirit is His activity.
For more on this here’s a Biblical explanation of Jesus’ Divinity.
Salvation Is a Process
What do we need to be saved from? We’re born self-absorbed, and as children this self-focus is innocent, but as we get older it increasingly leads to pain. As an example, when things don’t go our way, we suddenly feel a strong pull to view others as enemies, to get revenge, to manipulate others. This is hell in our lives, and the Lord promises that we can be changed, and that is salvation.
In the Bible salvation is called being born again (John 3:3), and being born again (just like gestation) is a process. It doesn’t happen overnight or by just believing something. Jesus said, “No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” (Matthew 19:17). We don’t earn salvation by keeping the commandments, but through the daily effort to keep them we allow Him to change our hearts.
Read more about the gradual process of being born again, who is saved, and faith and works.
God’s Word Has Layers of Meaning
The Bible has a deeper meaning within it—a spirit within the letter—a parable that has amazing things to teach us about Jesus Christ and our growth.
Read what Jesus taught about the inner meaning of the Bible or read about the inner meaning of the story of Adam and Eve.
Other Beliefs
Follow these links to read what we believe about life after death and marriage.
Where Do These Ideas Come From?
New Church beliefs are based on the Bible and the teachings of a man named Emanuel Swedenborg. Jesus said, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now…. These things I have spoken to you in figurative language; but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language but I will tell you plainly about the Father” (John 16:12, 25). We believe that God fulfilled this promise through the teachings of Swedenborg.
Watch this 8 minute video “Who Was Swedenborg?”. Listen to a sermon by the Rev. Derrick Lumsden, our former head pastor, that makes a case for Swedenborg as a revelator. You can also read a lot more about Swedenborg on the website for the Swedenborg Foundation (swedenborg.com), on newchurch.org or on Wikipedia.