OUR BELIEFS

Mission

Beech Street Christian Church seeks to expand the borders of God’s Kingdom in Ashland, Kentucky, and its surrounding communities.

Vision

Beech Street Christian Church exists to develop a community where individuals are invited to develop a relationship with God by studying God’s word, sharing God’s love, worshiping in God’s presence, and witnessing God’s power.

Beliefs

At our core, our beliefs are quite simple. It’s something that we value here. As such, we follow the basic Christian biblical doctrines:

We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and earth, Omniscient, Omnipresent, and Omnipotent.
We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father, begotten, not made, being of one Spirit with the Holy Spirit, and the Father, by whom all things were made. Who, for the salvation of all mankind, left Heaven, and was born to a virgin named Mary, was made flesh; later falsely accused, tried, convicted, and was crucified to fulfill scripture (Psalm 22, Isaiah 53:3-12, Zechariah 11:12-13, Zechariah 12:10, Psalm 34:20, Psalm 69-21). He suffered, died, and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into Heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father; and as promised in scripture, He will come again, with glory, to judge the world in its entirety; and whose kingdom will have no end.
We believe that the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity, is eternal God, coequal, consubstantial, and coeternal with the Father and the Son (Matthew 28:19; Acts 5:3-4; 1 Corinthians 12:4-6; 2 Corinthians 13:14), possessing all the divine perfections, including eternality (Hebrews 9:14), omnipresent (Psalm 139:7-10), omniscience (Isaiah 40:13-14), omnipotent (Romans 15:13), and truth (John 16:13). Lord and Giver of Life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshiped and glorified; who spoke by the prophets.
We believe in a non-denominational church, having no other church to answer to, but abiding by the scriptures alone answering to Almighty God as the head of the church. We acknowledge one baptism (Ephesians 4:5) for the remission of sins and at which time we receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38).

In addition to this statement of faith, we believe in a simple, scriptural process for becoming a Christian:

First, one must hear about God, Jesus, the Spirit, the church, salvation, etc., and reason the necessity for each in his or her life. (Romans 10:17)
Second, one must believe in these core truths of the Christian faith and commit to living under them. (John 1:12; John 5:24)
Third, one must ask forgiveness for the sins he or she has done wrong in his or her life and accept Jesus as the Lord and Savior of their life. (1 John 1:9, Acts 3:19)
Fourth, one must be baptized, a public expression of discipleship where we proclaim to the world proudly that we wish to be a Christian and receive the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38; Mark 16:16; Acts 22:16; 1 Peter 3:20-21; John 3:5; Romans 6:3-4)
Finally, one must spend his or her life emulating Jesus in all we do. It’s not easy, yet we can live in such a way that honors Jesus and draws others to him. (2 Corinthians 5:17; Romans 12:2; Ephesians 4:22-24; 1 John 2:3-6)
Simply stated, we believe that Christians are saved by grace, through faith, in baptism, for good works.

Values

God’s Word Is the Authority for Our Life – We believe that God’s word points us to the best life possible, but only when we surrender our lives to its truths. This is our primary value; all of the remainder of our values originate here.
Intimate Relationship – We believe that is still possible, through faith and trust in Jesus, that every, single person can be reconnected back to God. All of us have pasts and we all have fallen short of the glory of God, but because of Jesus's sacrifice for us, forgiveness and grace are still available.
Incredible Atmosphere – We believe that by creating an atmospheres where we are all giving of who God has made us to be, while removing religious obstacles, that we can be a place where people, no matter where they are in their faith, can come and meet Jesus. Through Him they can work through their personal burdens.
Spiritual Growth – We believe that growing in our faith only comes by being intentional. We have to intentionally work towards becoming people who embody the character and teachings of Jesus.
Authentic Community – We believe that God’s desire for the Church is to be a “No Stone Throwing” environment. We are committed to ensuring that we are a Church where anyone can come, admit their struggles, and not be looked down upon. We strive to be a place where we share our struggles, struggle together, and pull together as we follow Jesus.
Hands and Feet – We believe that God has given us all specific passions, talents, abilities, and resources. When everyone is collectively pouring those gifts into the Church, then that is when we are the best and most effective Church we can be.
Come and See – We believe that we are called to share the gospel. The best place to do that is within the relationships that we already have. If we have friends, family, co-workers, classmates, and others who don’t know Jesus, then the most loving thing that we can do for them is to invite them to come and see what Jesus has done for us. In seeing what He has done for us, they can begin to understand the great things He can do in their life, too.

Baptism

In Matthew chapter 28, Jesus told His disciples to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Jesus also said, in John 14: “If you love me, keep my commands.” Therefore, we believe that Jesus has called all believers to be baptized for the forgiveness of sins and for the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is an act of obedience. Baptism proclaims to the world that, “I follow Jesus”, just as a wedding band proclaims marriage.

We practice baptism by immersion, which, we believe, was exactly how John the Baptist was baptizing people, including Jesus. We also see baptism by immersion when Philip baptized the eunuch in Acts chapter 8. In all of these cases, the scripture says they, “came up or went up out of the water”. In addition to that, the word "baptize" literally translates to “immerse or dip under the water”.

Who should be baptized? Anyone who believes in Jesus and what He did for our salvation should be baptized. Baptism should follow a person's belief in Jesus and repentance of their sins.

Should children be baptized? We believe in baptizing children only when they are old enough to understand exactly what they are doing. The biblical concept of this is called the “age of accountability”. Simply meaning, a child is covered by grace until they reach an age to be held accountable for their choices. There is not a way to place a specific age on baptism because children mature at different ages.

Communion

Before Jesus died on a cross and rose again He instituted for us a meal. A beautiful meal to serve as a reminder to us how much He loves us. He told us that whenever we meet together, we should share this meal of bread and wine (juice). As we take the bread, we are to remember His body that was broken for us; as we drink the juice, we are to remember the blood that He shed for us. This is a meal for professed believers that we partake in during our Sunday morning service.