What We Believe

The following are the core beliefs of South Hill Christian Church based on the foundational truths taught in the bible. All of our teaching and ministry is rooted in and flows out of these biblical doctrines.

We believe the Bible, the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, is God’s pure and perfect Word (Psalm 19:7-8). We believe it is inspired by Him (2 Timothy 3:16), completely true and without error (John 17:17), the product of human authors who were moved by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:20-21) and is profitable and adequate for Christian life and service (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

We believe God exists and there is only one true God (Deuteronomy 6:4; 1 Timothy 2:5).  We believe the one true God is the creator of the universe (Genesis 1:1) and is eternally existent as Three Persons.  These Three Persons are revealed in the Bible as God, the Father and God, the Son and God, the Holy Spirit (Genesis 1:26; Matthew 28:19).  Historically, this is referred to as the doctrine of the Trinity.

We believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God (1 John 5:20) and as such is fully God (John 1:1) and fully man (John 1:14).  We believe He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary (Matthew 1:23; Luke 1:26-35).  We believe in His sinless life (2 Corinthians 5:21) and in His death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:3-4) by which He made atonement for our sins (1 John 2:1-2) and secured our forgiveness (Ephesians 1:7).  We believe He is Israel’s promised Messiah (Luke 2:25-32) and the Savior of the world (John 4:42).  We believe after His resurrection from the dead He was seen alive by eyewitnesses (1 Corinthians 15:5-8), ascended into heaven (Acts 1:9-11) and will return someday to earth in His Second Coming as King of Kings and Lord of Lords (Revelation 19:11-16).

We believe God created man in His own image and likeness (Genesis 1:27).  Adam and Eve, though, became corrupt through disobeying God when tempted by Satan, the devil, in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1-24; Revelation 20:2).  We believe this original sin of disobedience led to all of humanity, and the creation itself, becoming corrupt and in need of redemption (Romans 5:12; 8:19-21).

We believe all people have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23).  We believe sin results in death and separation from God (Genesis 2:17; Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:12). We believe God provides salvation through Christ’s sacrifice for sins on the Cross (John 19:30; Hebrews 10:12).  We believe it is by God’s grace through faith in Christ we are saved and not through our own works (Ephesians 2:8-9).  We believe salvation in Christ makes a person God’s child (John 1:12) and a recipient of eternal life (1 John 5:11-13).

We believe angels are spiritual beings created by God to do His will and to minister as He directs (Hebrews 1:13-14).  We believe the devil and the demons are fallen angels who rebelled against God and are active in this world as adversaries to humanity (Isaiah 14:12-15; Ezekiel 28:11-17; Ephesians 6:12).  We believe God’s people are called to be alert to the devil’s activity (1 Peter 5:8) and to resist him by being firm in their faith (1 Peter 5:9) and putting on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:13-17).  We believe the final abode of the devil and the demons will be the lake of fire (Matthew 25:41; Revelation 20:10).

We believe Jesus said He would build His church (Matthew 16:18).  We believe His church is comprised of all people who have been born again (John 3:1-8) and placed their faith in Him (Galatians 3:26-28).  We believe the church is to observe two ordinances.  They are water baptism (Matthew 28:18-20) and the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:23-26).  We believe the church has a mandate to fulfill the Great Commission by making disciples of all the nations (Matthew 28:18-20).  We believe the Holy Spirit equips and empowers believers to carry out their work in the church and the world through giving them spiritual gifts.  Believers in Christ are to abide in Him (John 15:1-5), live Spirit-filled lives (Ephesians 5:18) and bear spiritual fruit for God (Galatians 5:22-23; Romans 7:4).

We believe in the Second Coming of Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords for His bride the Church (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, Revelation 19:11-16).  We believe in a final judgment (Revelation 20:11-12) after which the eternal state of the saved will be with God in glory (Revelation 21:1-7) while the eternal state of unsaved will be the lake of fire away from the presence of the Lord and His glory (Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 21:8; 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9).