What We Believe

Any conversation about the church’s shared beliefs must begin with the proclamation of the ancient church father St. Augustine, “In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In everything, love.”

The idea bound up in these few words is that there exist essential teachings within Scripture that the church must be united on if the people are to experience the life of God in the family of God.

Additionally, the church has divided over the years time and time again over smaller disputes, for which there should be liberty within the church family to come as far as each member is able, honoring the continual process of belief that we each experience over a lifetime of walking with Jesus. The essentials are the anchors that hold us. The non-essentials are vital, extremely important, but the most loving, dignifying way to hold these teachings in the Christian Church is by liberty.

Finally, in everything, we are a family bound together by love. Right belief, expressed pridefully, is not love. Wrong belief, permitted freely, is also not love. Right belief, championed by love, is what Jesus embodied. We, the Body of Christ, should be a living expression of the same.

Nicene Creed
Apostles' Creed

  • The Bible

    We believe the Bible is the story of God and His people. It is not merely a textbook for information, but a guide for transformation. We believe the Scriptures are the inspired word of God, useful to preserve knowledge and instruct us in the truth (Malachi 2:7). However, we recognize that knowledge alone is not enough; the Pharisees diligently studied the Scriptures but refused to come to Jesus to have life (John 5:39-40). We read the Bible to encounter Jesus, to have our minds renewed, and to understand the reality of the Kingdom of God (Romans 12:2).

  • The Trinity

    We believe in one God who exists eternally as a community of loving persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is light, and in Him, there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). He is the perfect Father who runs to meet us in our brokenness (Luke 15:20). Jesus prayed that we would be one just as He and the Father are one (John 17:21-22). The Trinity is our model for community and the foundation of all reality.

  • Jesus the Christ

    We believe Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah, the Rabbi, and the King. We tend to spend a lot of time talking about what Christ's death accomplished, and rightfully so, but we also focus on what His life accomplished. He came not just to die for us, but to show us how to live. He is the exact representation of the Father (Hebrews 1:3). Through His incarnation, death, and resurrection, He defeated sin and death. He invites us not just to believe in Him, but to apprentice under Him—to learn to live our lives as He would live them if He were us (Matthew 11:28-30).

  • Holy Spirit

    We believe that Holy Spirit is God's empowering presence dwelling within us. The Christian life is not only difficult; it is impossible without the power of Holy Spirit. We are the temple of God, and the Spirit lives in us (1 Corinthians 3:16). We believe that the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead gives life to our mortal bodies (Romans 8:11). The Spirit is not just for "spiritual" experiences but is the engine of our transformation, helping us do what we could never do on our own and become who we couldn’t through mere effort. We believe the gifts of the Spirit are for today and are essential for the building up of the body (1 Corinthians 12:7) and we desire to see the fruit of the Spirit expressed in the life of the church (Galatians 5:22-25).

  • Humanity and the Fall

    We believe every human being is created in the imago dei—the image and likeness of God—created to rule and reign in partnership with Him (Genesis 1:26). However, like the Prodigal Son, we have all wandered off, squandered our inheritance, and tried to find life apart from the Father (Luke 15:13). This is the Fall: everything has been knocked "out of tune." We are broken, and without Jesus, we are "wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked" (Revelation 3:17). On our own, we have no hope to restore our relationship with God. No amount of good deeds or “holy” living can put us back into tune and restore our relationship with God.

  • The Gospel

    The gospel that Jesus preached was the availability of the Kingdom of God to any who would come. It isn't just about what happens to you when you die, but how you are called to live right now. Salvation is the restoration of the relationship between the Father and His children and living in the Kingdom. We enter into this saving relationship by grace through faith, not by works. We trust God who justifies the wicked, and our faith is credited as righteousness (Romans 4:5). While grace is opposed to earning, but it is not opposed to effort. We have a part to play in working out our salvation (Philippians 2:12).

    Salvation continues its work in us as we are formed into the image of His Son (Romans 8:29) through His Spirit.

    Being a Christian isn't just about what we do or believe; it is a change in who we are (our ontology). We become a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come (2 Corinthians 5:17).

  • Baptism

    Every person who chooses to follow Jesus, to become Christian, has been called to be baptized in water. It is a public declaration and identification with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. Baptism is the physical manifestation of the inward reality that it is no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me (Galations 2:20) and that I am now a new creation in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:2).

    Baptism in water is deeply connected to baptism in Spirit. There is no such thing as a non-Spirit filled church (Romans 8:9).

  • The Church

    We believe the Church is the Bride and Body of Christ, God's ambassadors to the world (Ephesians 5:30). We are created for community; we cannot become who we are meant to be in isolation. As we lean into union with God, we naturally require support from the community to spur one another on toward love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24). The Church is where we practice the "one anothers" of Scripture—loving one another just as He loved us (John 13:34).

  • Spiritual Formation & Discipleship

    We believe that everyone is being formed by something—either by the world or by Jesus. Discipleship is the intentional process of learning how to do what Jesus did so that we can live how Jesus lived. We must not be conformed to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2). We believe that true discipleship is spiritual formation, becoming like Christ. It is a matter of assimilation, not merely affiliation.

    Affiliation is acting like a club member; it is maintaining a label, holding a set of beliefs, or putting on a "mask" to look the part.

    Assimilation is a biological reality; it is being absorbed into the life of God so that we are completely transformed throughout. We believe God wants to fill the universe with "little replicas of Himself"—creatures whose life is qualitatively like His own (C.S. Lewis). Our goal is not just to be called Christians, but to act like "little Christs" because His nature has become our nature (Acts 11:26).

  • The Restoration of All Things

    We believe that Jesus will return to judge the living and the dead and to restore all things. Creation itself is groaning and waiting in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed (Romans 8:19). Our hope is that creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay (Romans 8:21). Until then, we are called to partner with God to bring the reality of His Kingdom to bear on earth, exercising our authority to rule and reign as He intended (Genesis 1:28). While access to His Kingdom is available now, it is also in some degree “not yet”. When Christ returns the Kingdom of God will be fully restored and realized.

FAQ

  • Marriage and sexual intimacy are wonderful gifts from God to be stewarded for his glory. God’s design for marriage is to be between one man and one woman for life. Biblical marriage requires that both people have biological differences from birth as male and female. Any sexual relationship or activity outside of biblical, covenanted marriage is sinful, and is not blessed by God. While marriage is a gift from God, we also believe that singleness can be a gift from God and can be God’s call on a person’s life.

    Genesis 2:23–24 | Leviticus 18:22 | Matthew 15:19–20 | Matthew 19:5–6 | Romans 1:26–27 | 1 Corinthians 6:18 | 1 Corinthians 7:7–9 | 1 Timothy 1:9–10 | Hebrews 13:4

  • The question of how men and women relate and engage in church leadership offices (particularly pastor and elder) has been a subject of significant debate at various points in church history. There are many considerations within the broader subject of men and women in leadership that are dealt with in the Bible. Here we have included a summary of things we see taught across the arc of Scripture that directly bear on our church’s position and practice.

    • We believe that women and men are created equal in the image of God. 

    • We believe that full equality between women and men does not mean women and men are completely the same. There is goodness and beauty uniquely represented in each gender that profoundly reflects and glorifies God. 

    • We believe God gives leadership in the church on the basis of grace, calling, spiritual gifts, obedience, and character.

    • We believe both women and men can and should lead, preach, pastor, and minister within the church. We believe women and men doing this together will result in a more robust ministry of love and grace than one gender can sustain alone.

    • We believe women and men can and should serve in pastoral leadership in the local church.

    Antioch church believes that men and women are equally gifted and qualified to lead and serve as co-laborers in the church. We do not simply permit, but expressly value, the presence of both men and women in these various facets of church leadership, including the role of elder.

  • We believe in the empowering of the Holy Spirit for continuing the ministry of Jesus today.

    Surrender to the Spirit’s voice, presence, and action is essential to life in the Spirit.

    The Holy Spirit empowers the Church with diverse gifts, signs, and wonders, demonstrating the beauty and supremacy of Christ and the availability of the Kingdom of God to mankind.

    As the Father sent the Son into the world, so the Lord Jesus Christ sends his church to participate in God’s mission by words and works. 

  • Antioch is committed to the teaching and celebration of the Jewish Roots of Christianity. It is impossible to fully understand or appreciate the New Testament writings or the teachings of Jesus without understanding the Jewish context and Old Testament teachings. At Antioch you will learn about the feasts (Leviticus 23) and how Jesus relates to them (Behold, the Passover lamb). You will learn about the Sabbath and why it is still important. God is not done with the Jewish people, they are the root that we have been grafted into and we would be wise to understand our foundation (Romans 9-11).