Our Mission: Church of the Open Door exists to glorify God by making disciples through the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, for the edification of the church.
Our Vision: To fulfill the Great Commission by making disciples of Christ.
Our Bylaws: Read our bylaws to understand how they reflect our vision and mission.
What is the Gospel?
The gospel is commonly summarized through four theological categories: God, Man, Christ, Response.
God: There is one true and living God, eternally existing as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He is holy, righteous, good, all-powerful, all-knowing, and sovereign over all creation. God created us for His glory, and we were made to know, love, worship, and joyfully obey Him. (Gen. 1:1; Deut. 6:4; Isa. 6:3; 43:10; 45:5-7; Matt. 28:19; Jn. 17:3; Acts 17:24-28; 1 Cor. 8:4-6; Eph. 1:11-12; Rev. 4:11)
Man: God created every human being in His image, giving us dignity and worth and calling us to know, love, worship, and obey Him. Yet we have all rejected God’s rule, turned away from Him, and exchanged the worship of our Creator for the worship of created things. The Bible calls this sin. Because of our sin, we are guilty before God, enslaved to sin, and deserving of His just judgment and wrath. (Gen. 1:26-27; 2:16-17; Rom. 1:18-25; 3:10-18, 23; 5:12; 6:16-20; Eph. 2:1-3; Col. 1:21; Titus 3:3)
Christ: God, in His great mercy and love, sent His Son, Jesus Christ, who lived on earth as God in human flesh. Jesus lived the perfect life we have failed to live and died on the cross in the place of sinners, bearing God’s wrath for the sins of all who repent and trust in Him. In His death, Christ satisfied the demands of God’s justice and secured forgiveness for His people. God then raised Him from the dead, and Jesus ascended into Heaven, where He reigns as Lord. (Isa. 53:4-6, 10-12; Matt. 1:23; John 1:1-3, 14; 10:30; Acts 2:24, 32-36; Rom. 3:23-26; 1 Cor. 15:3-4; 2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 4:4-5; Phil. 2:6-11; Heb. 1:3; 4:15; 10:10-14; 1 Pet. 2:22-24; 3:18)
Response: Jesus Christ, risen from the dead and reigning as Lord, calls all people everywhere to repent of their sins and believe in Him. We must turn from our sin and receive and rest upon Christ alone for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Whoever comes to Him in faith, He will never cast out. (Isa. 55:6-7; Mark 1:14-15; Luke 24:46-47; John 3:16-18; 6:35-37; Acts 2:36-39; 3:19; 17:30-31; 20:21; Rom. 10:9-13; Eph. 2:8-9)
We Believe Statements
We believe in one God, Creator of heaven and earth; Spirit, Light, Love, and Truth; eternal, almighty, infallible, and unchangeable, infinitely wise, just, and holy, and that God eternally exists and manifests Himself to us in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
We believe in Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, the eternal Word manifested in flesh. We believe that He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary, and that He is truly God and truly Man. We believe in His substitutionary and redeeming death; Christ receiving in Himself the penalty of man’s sin. We believe in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension, and in His personal, imminent, premillennial return for His redeemed saints. We believe in His judgement of the rebellious and establishment of His millennial reign, followed by His eternal Kingdom.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, that He is God; and we believe that His work is to regenerate, indwell, and set the believer apart; to keep and empower the believer day by day. We believe that He is the teacher of God’s Word and the Guide for the daily life.
We believe that the whole Bible, consisting of the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, is verbally inspired of God and inerrant in the original writings, and is the supreme and final authority in faith and life.
We believe that man, having been created pure and in the image of God, is by his own sin separated from God. We believe that in consequence, all have sinned, are guilty and lost, and absolutely incapable of saving themselves by their own works, being dead in their trespasses and sins.
We believe that we are saved solely by grace, through faith in the blood sacrifice, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the Son of God.
We believe in the eternal security and everlasting blessedness of the saved, and the eternal judgment and punishment of all who reject Jesus: “This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the Lake of Fire” (Rev. 20:14-15).
We believe that Satan is a fallen angel, the author of the fall, and will be eternally punished.
We believe in the bodily resurrection of all humanity, the saved to eternal life, and the lost to judgment and everlasting punishment.
We believe that Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper to commemorate His death and celebrate His life until He returns. We believe that Water Baptism is a symbol of the believer’s union with Christ in His death, resurrection, and life.
We believe that the Church of Jesus Christ is composed solely of those who have been regenerated, redeemed, washed in His Blood, sealed by the Holy Spirit, and saved to the glory and good pleasure of God, and that it is the responsibility and privilege of all who are saved to spread the Gospel to the “uttermost part of the earth,” seek to live a holy life, and to separate themselves from and forsake all that might dishonor God or cast discredit on His cause.