What is our Statement of Faith?

What We Believe

The Bible is God’s bold and loving message to the world. We believe it is the instruction manual for all of life and reveals the lives of real people and the heart and character of a real and loving God.

Specifically, we believe:

1) The Bible reflects the story God wanted to tell about his relationship with the world. It is “inspired” by Him. The truths presented in the Bible are the supreme authority over all things in life.

2) God eternally exists in three persons who are equal in divine perfection. They have different roles, but they work in harmony as one. God the Father is a personal Spirit who is perfect in holiness, wisdom, power and love. He hears and answers prayers and welcomes all those who come to Him in the name of His son, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the Father’s son and we believe that his death on the cross, his resurrection, and his return to heaven allow those who believe in him to experience eternal life with him. The third person of the Godhead is the Holy Spirit, whose role is to show the world where it has fallen short of God’s right way of living and to teach those who believe in Jesus how to live our everyday lives.

3) Everyone, by nature, has fallen short of God’s right way of living. We have not followed God’s right way of living and therefore sinned, or committed wrong actions. Sin separates people from God. But the good news is that God reached out to us to end that separation. He invites all people to come home to him! To fix the sin problem, God sent His son, Jesus. His son paved the way for a relationship with God by dying for all people on a cross and rising to life again. To receive this gift of relationship, every person must believe that Jesus died for them, confess their wrong actions and ask Jesus to live in them.

4) There is a universal church, a living spiritual body which Jesus cares for and oversees. In this universal church, everyone has received, by faith, the gift of a relationship with God. They have returned to the Father and will experience the abundant life He has planned for them. The local church, which is a group of believers who have a relationship with God, is a local representation of that larger universal church.

5) Baptism is a physical demonstration of a person identifying with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. When a person, by faith, identifies with what Jesus did, faith is the means by which that person experiences a vibrant relationship with God.

6) Jesus commanded his followers to remember his death by hosting a special meal called communion, also known as the Lord’s Supper. The Upper Room Christian Fellowship hosts communion as a way to commemorate what Jesus did for the entire world.

Statement on Marriage, Gender, and Sexuality

We believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as male or female.  These two distinct, complementary genders together reflect the image and nature of God. (Genesis 1:26-27.)  Rejection of one’s biological sex is a rejection of the image of God within that person.

We believe that the term “marriage” has only one meaning: the uniting of one man and one woman in a single, exclusive union, as delineated in Scripture.  (Genesis 2:18-25.)  We believe that God intends sexual intimacy to occur only between a man and a woman who are married to each other.  (1 Corinthians 6:18; 7:2-5; Hebrews 13:4.)  We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of marriage between a man and a woman.

We believe that any form of sexual immorality (including adultery, fornication, homosexual behavior, bisexual conduct, bestiality, incest, and use of pornography) is sinful and offensive to God.  (Matthew 15:18-20; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Romans 1:18-27.)

We believe that in order to preserve the function and integrity of The Upper Room Christian Fellowship (URCF) as the local Body of Christ, and to provide a biblical role model to URCF members and the community, it is imperative that all persons employed by URCF in any capacity, or who serve as volunteers, agree to and abide by this Statement on Marriage, Gender, and Sexuality. (Matthew 5:16; Philippians 2:14-16; 1Thessalonians 5:22.)

We believe that God offers redemption and restoration to all who confess and forsake their sin, seeking His mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ.  (Acts 3:19-21; Romans 10:9-10; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11; 1 John 1:8-10.)

We believe that every person must be afforded compassion, love, kindness, respect, and dignity. (Mark 12:28-31; Luke 6:31.)  Hateful and harassing behavior or attitudes directed toward any individual are to be repudiated and are not in accord with Scripture nor the doctrines of URCF.

Mission:

To Love, Inspire, Transform, and Educate people that they may experience God in their everyday lives.

Love:

God is Love, as defined by scripture only. We desire for you to experience God’s never-failing love, and that you come to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength” and “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:30-31) The world will know we are Christians by how we love one another.

Inspire:

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up” (1 Thessalonians 5:11) We strive to teach and preach God’s Word which is exciting, alive, inspiring, and transformational, in such a way that is relatable to all who come. We want people to have an experience with Him so that they are changed and compelled to go tell others about all He has done for them.

Transform:

We desire to see people transformed by God’s love and His Word, to live a life free in Christ, no longer conforming to this world but living life more abundantly according to His will for them. (Romans 12:2)

Educate:

We strive to educate people on who God is and what He says according to the Holy Scriptures, that they may become mature in their faith. We want to teach people to fish not just give them a fish. It is our goal “to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up” (Ephesians 4:12).

Our church stands on these 4 principles.

Be Loved. Be Inspired. Be Transformed. Be Educated.