Berea House of Prayer Statements of Faith

We believe that the Bible (both Old Testament and New Testament) is God's Word. It is infallible and can be trusted to tell us what God desires of us.

We believe in the Trinity. There is one God made up of three distinct persons: the Father, the Son, & the Spirit.

We believe that Jesus is the Son of God, fully God and fully human. 

We believe that Jesus lived a perfect life, died for the sins of the world, and was physically resurrected on the third day to sit at the right hand of the Father.

We believe that Jesus was born of a fully human, non-divine virgin through miraculous conception of the Holy Spirit.

We believe that the Holy Spirit should be active in the lives of all believers.

We believe that every believer is called to be filled with the Spirit and that this happens after salvation as a second work following salvation as the believer submits themself to God fully and empties themself of their own desires. The first time proof of this event is that the believer will speak in tongues as the Spirit guides the believer's words. Speaking in tongues is not essential for salvation, but it is Biblically encouraged for all believers. The purpose of the Holy Spirit is not to get an "emotional high", but to be an evidence of submission to God. 

We believe in the gifts of the Spirit, including healing, tongues and interpretation, prophecy, and helps, among others described in Scripture.

We believe that the Holy Spirit does things "decently and in order". We reject "emotional pumping" or teaching spiritual gifts to simulate the real work of the Holy Spirit.

We believe that every man has a sin nature from birth and that every man has sinned.

We believe that, because of sin, God's wrath is determined upon all of mankind, but, through faith in the work of Jesus Christ and repentance from sin, we can receive the grace and mercy of God and be just as if we never sinned at all in God's eyes.

We believe that faith without works is dead. We do not believe that a person is eternally secure regardless of their lifestyle. A person who is saved desires to walk like Christ. If a person willfully and consistently walks contrary to the prescribed lifestyle of the Bible, then their lack of lifestyle proves that they no longer have submitted to Jesus Christ as Lord of their lives and they no longer believe that Jesus is God. 

We believe in water baptism by immersion as a physical sign of the commitment to dying to the flesh and being raised to walk in the Spirit. Water baptism is not essential for salvation, but it is an important part of the new believer's testimony of faith.

We believe in regular participation in the Lord's Supper as a way to humbly contemplate Jesus' sacrifice for our sins on the cross.

We believe that Jesus will one day physically come back to rapture the Church who remains on the earth and those who have died with faith in Him. No man knows when this will happen and no man knows how this will happen outside of what is clear in Scripture.

We believe that human life begins at conception and therefore to intentionally kill a baby in the womb is murder. Elective abortion is therefore a sin.

We believe that God created two genders: male and female. Marriage is defined by God as to be between one man and one woman for a lifetime. God set this standard and therefore it is not within the scope of men, through any institution to change this design.