Commonway Core Beliefs

The ancient church father St. Augustine offers a helpful statement on any church’s shared beliefs, “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.  Commonway is an interdenominational church, meaning we are not affiliated with any particular denomination but are encompassed by individuals from a variety of church traditions and walks of life.  Our unity in Jesus is our commonality. Our elder board affirms the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds.  At Commonway, these are our essentials:

We believe that those who receive Christ also receive the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit: He marks them as the possession of God, manifests the fruit of righteousness in their character, and endows them with spiritual gifts for ministry.  Jesus gave those first followers the Holy Spirit and every person since who trusts in his life, death, and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins and the creation of a new life within is given the same Spirit. He puts in those who believe in him the life of God. The Holy Spirit empowers us with gifts, convicts, guides, heals, counsels, and leads us into all God inspired truth through a life of worship in community.  The Holy Spirit also forms those who believe in Jesus into the Church, a family of faith that embodies the life, thought, and action of Jesus in the world. It is the same Holy Spirit that propels us into a life of mission that reflects God’s character and desires for all of creation.

Truth doesn’t have an expiration date. Although the cultural contexts and customs in the Bible have long since changed, the truth God speaks through it does not. It is as applicable as ever and keeps us accountable in our lives today. At Commonway Church, we believe the Bible (composed of Protestant Old and New Testaments) to be both true and authoritative. We believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God, the written record of His supernatural revelation of Himself to man, absolute in its authority, complete in its revelation, final in its content and without any error in its teaching and is “living and active” ever speaking to our present circumstances.

The Gospel, the core message of the Bible, is the good news that God himself, the Creator, has come to rescue us from sin, and renew all things, in and through the work of Jesus Christ on our behalf, to establish his Kingdom, through his people, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

We believe that the forgiveness of sins and the gift of eternal life are promised to those who trust Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  There is nothing that any person could do on the strength of his or her own character to live the perfect life that would be required to maintain intimacy with God.  There is also no way that a person can live in such a way to remove the effects and result of their sins which make us separated by nature from God and his Kingdom.  So God changes our nature. He gives us a gift that no one could possibly earn or possibly deserve–this is God’s grace. We are freely given the grace of forgiveness and the grace of power to live like Jesus. God’s Holy Spirit awakens to faith and affirms all those who are God’s true children in faith.  One of Commonway’s core values is shared grace. Our commonality exists primarily in depending on God’s transforming grace and then learning to share it with others. That is our common-way.

On a practical level, all of these essentials inform how we grow into people who love God more fully by being challenged by the Truth of Jesus; having courage to cultivate our inner life; committing to show up to life together; growing in dependence on the Holy Spirit; and learning to boldly serve our actual neighbors.