The following beliefs are at the heart of who we are at Pacific Church. We have included references from the Bible if you would like to study the Biblical basis for these beliefs.

We believe in the historic Christian faith, reflected in these statements:

1. About God - How do we even begin to describe God, since He is beyond description? While we can not begin to describe God, this is what we believe to be true about Him:

We believe God is the eternal, independent, and self-existing Being; the Being whose purpose and actions spring from himself, without foreign motive or influence; he is who is absolute in dominion; the most pure, the most simple, the most spiritual of all essences; infinitely perfect; and eternally self-sufficient, need nothing that he has made; illimitable in his immensity, inconceivable in his mode of existence, and indescribable in his essence; known fully by himself, because an infinite mind can only be fully comprehended by itself. In a word, a Being who, from his infinite wisdom, cannot err or be deceived, and from his infinite goodness, can do nothing but what is eternally just and right and kind. (Adam Clarke)

God exists as the Trinity, in three persons, yet one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God passionately desires relationship with us, and towards this end, continually invites us into relationship with himself.

Genesis 1:1,John 14:6-9,15-17,John 16:7-15, Matthew 28:19,2 Corinthians 13:14,1 John 4:9-10

2. About Jesus Christ— We believe that God expressed himself in human form through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary. He lived a sinless life, was crucified for the sins of us all, was buried, rose again from the dead, and ascended to heaven.

Colossians 1:13-23, Colossians 2:8-14,1 Corinthians 15:3-8, Matthew 22:36-40, John 14:1-3, Hebrews 1:1-3, Acts10:42-43,1 Thessalonians4:16-17

3. About the Holy Spirit — We believe that the Holy Spirit is sent from God to live inside all who believe in Jesus Christ. He teaches, comforts, and empowers us, giving each follower a diversity of gifts, fostering unity, interdependence, productivity, Christ-like character, and love among Christians.

Romans 5:5, Romans 8,1 Corinthians 12-14, Galatians 5:16-25, Ephesians 3:16, Ephesians 4:3-4, Ephesians 5:18,John 14:26, John 16:7-14

4. About the Bible — We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the verbally inspired word of God, the final authority for faith and life, inerrant in the original writings, infallible, and God-breathed.

Matthew 5:17-19,2 Timothy 2:15,2 Timothy 3:14-17, Hebrews 4:12,2 Peter 1:16-21,2 Peter 3:14-18, Psalm 19:7-11, Psalm 119:9-16, Joshua 1:7-8, Acts 17:11

5. About Salvation — All people are created with dignity and value in the image of God, to live in a vital relationship with God. However, through our sin (choosing ourselves and our own way over God and His way), we break our intended relationship with God, and we experience the destructive consequences of that broken relationship spiritually and socially, in this life and beyond. However, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to rescue us from those consequences and to restore our broken relationships with God and others, through Christ's death on the cross, a perfect act of redemption for each of us. Salvation comes to people on the basis of God's grace through their faith in Jesus alone. They receive the free gift of forgiveness and are spiritually reborn through repenting of their sin and believing in Jesus Christ. Good works and a holy life, although totally unable to save anyone, are the natural product of repentant, believing people.

John 3:16; Acts 17:24-31; Romans 3:21-26; Romans 5:1; Romans 6:23; Ephesians 2:8