OUR BELIEFS

GOD

We believe in one God, eternally existing in three equally divine Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, who know, love, and glorify one another. This God is infinitely perfect. He is the Creator of all things, visible and invisible, and is therefore worthy to receive all glory. He perfectly and exhaustively knows the end from the beginning, sustains and sovereignty rules over all things, and providentially brings about his eternal good purposes to redeem a people for himself and restore his fallen creation, to the praise of his glorious grace.

GOD'S WORD

SIN

We believe that Adam, made in the image of God, distorted that image and forfeited his original blessedness—for himself and all his descendants—by falling into sin through Satan’s temptation. As a result, all human beings are alienated from God, corrupt in every aspect of their being, and condemned to death apart from God’s gracious intervention. The supreme need of all human beings is to be reconciled to God; the only hope of all human beings is the undeserved love of God in Christ, who alone can rescue us and restore us to himself.

THE GOSPEL

We believe God has supremely revealed himself in the person of his Son, the incarnate Word.Moreover, this God is a speaking God who, by his Spirit, has graciously disclosed himself in human words. We believe that God has inspired the words preserved in the Scriptures, the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testaments, which are both record and means of his saving work in the world. These writings alone constitute the verbally inspired Word of God, which is utterly authoritative and without error in the original writings, complete in its revelation of his will for salvation, sufficient for all that God requires us to believe and do, and final in its authority over every domain of knowledge to which it speaks.

GOD'S IMAGE

We believe God created human beings, male and female, in his own image. Men and women enjoy equal access to God by faith in Jesus and are both called to significant private and public engagement in family, church, and civic life. Adam and Eve were made to complement each other in a one-flesh marriage union that establishes the only normative pattern of sexual relations for men and women. In marriage, God gives husband and wife distinct roles which reflect the loving relationship between Christ and the church, the husband exercising headship in a way that displays the caring, sacrificial love of Jesus, and the wife joyfully submitting to her husband in a way that models the respect of the church for Jesus.

JESUS CHRIST

We believe that, moved by love and in obedience to his Father, the eternal Son became human: the Word became flesh, fully God and fully human being, one Person in two natures. The man Jesus was conceived through the miraculous agency of the Holy Spirit, and was born of the virgin Mary. He perfectly obeyed his heavenly Father, lived a sinless life, performed miracles, was crucified under Pontius Pilate, arose bodily from the dead on the third day, and ascended into heaven. He is seated at the right hand of God the Father, exercising in heaven and on earth all of God’s sovereignty, and is our High Priest and righteous Advocate.

HOLY SPIRIT

We believe the Holy Spirit convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment, and by his powerful and mysterious work regenerates spiritually dead sinners, awakening them to repentance from sin and faith in Jesus. All believers are in dwelt by the Holy Spirit at conversion, yet also called to be filled with the Spirit throughout their Christian lives. The Holy Spirit desires to fill each believer continually with increased power for Christian life and witness, and imparts gifts for the building up of the church and works of ministry in the world. 
We believe the gospel is the good news that God saves sinners through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Christ’s death is a substitutionary and propitiatory sacrifice to God for our sins. It reveals God’s eternal love, magnifies God’s lavish grace, satisfies God’s righteous justice, and appeases his holy wrath. Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and people. There is no other name by which humanity must be saved.

THE CHURCH

We believe God by his Word and Spirit creates, guides, and preserves the Church.The Church universal is made up of all those who have become followers of Jesus by believing the gospel. A local church, overseen by biblically qualified elders, is a spiritual family of believers in Christ who are joined together in love for the worship of God, prayer, edification through the Word of God, fellowship, observance of the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, restorative church discipline, and the shared mission of making disciples ofJesus. While the distinct role of elder is given only to qualified men in the local church, both men and women are encouraged to serve and lead. The Church exists to glorify God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This includes a commitment to see the gospel preached, disciples made, and churches planted in all the world.

RESTORATION OF ALL THINGS

We believe in the personal, glorious, and bodily return of our Lord Jesus Christ with his holy angels, when he will exercise his role as final Judge, and his kingdom will be consummated. We believe in the bodily resurrection of both the just and the unjust—the unjust to judgment and eternal conscious punishment in hell, and the just to eternal blessedness in the presence of God in the new heaven and the new earth. On that day the church will be presented faultless before God by the obedience, suffering, and triumph of Jesus, all sin purged and its wretched effects forever banished. God will be all in all and his people will be enthralled by Him, all to the praise of his glorious grace.

GOD

There is one God,(1) who is infinitely perfect,(2) existing eternally in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.(3)

JESUS CHRIST

HOLY SPIRIT

The Holy Spirit is a divine person,(12) sent to indwell, guide, teach, empower the believer,(13) and convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.(14)
Jesus Christ is the true God and the true man.(4) He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.(5) He died upon the cross, the Just for the unjust,(6) as a substitutionary sacrifice,(7) and all who believe in Him are justified on the ground of His shed blood.(8) He arose from the dead according to the Scriptures.(9) He is now at the right hand of Majesty on high as our great High Priest.(10) He will come again to establish His kingdom, righteousness and peace.(11)

SALVATION

Salvation has been provided through Jesus Christ for all men; and those who repent and believe in Him are born again of the Holy Spirit, receive the gift of eternal life, and become the children of God.(21)

GOD'S WILL

Salvation has been provided through Jesus Christ for all men; and those who repent and believe in Him are born again of the Holy Spirit, receive the gift of eternal life, and become the children of God.(21)

THE CHURCH

The Church consists of all those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, are redeemed through His blood, and are born again of the Holy Spirit. Christ is the Head of the Body, the Church, (27) which has been commissioned by Him to go into all the world as a witness, preaching the gospel to all nations.(28) The local church is a body of believers in Christ who are joined together for the worship of God, for edification through the Word of God, for prayer, fellowship, the proclamation of the gospel, and observance of the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.(29)

THE SECOND COMING

The second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is imminent(32) and will be personal, visible, and premillennial.(33) This is the believer’s blessed hope and is a vital truth which is an incentive to holy living and faithful service.(34)

THE BIBLE

The Old and New Testaments, inerrant as originally given, were verbally inspired by God and are a complete revelation of His will for the salvation of men. They constitute the divine and only rule of Christian faith and practice.(15)

MAN

Man was originally created in the image and likeness of God:(16) he fell through disobedience, incurring thereby both physical and spiritual death. All men are born with a sinful nature,(17) are separated from the life of God, and can be saved only through the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ.(18) The portion of the unrepentant and unbelieving is existence forever in conscious torment;(19) and that of the believer, in everlasting joy and bliss.(20)

REDEMPTIVE WORK

Provision is made in the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ for the healing of the mortal body.(25) Prayer for the sick and anointing with oil are taught in the Scriptures and are privileges for the Church in this present age.(26)

FINAL JUDGEMENT

There shall be a bodily resurrection of the just and of the unjust; for the former, a resurrection unto life;(30) for the latter, a resurrection unto judgment.(31)
[1] Deuteronomy 6:4, [2] Matthew 5:48, [3] Matthew 28:19, [4] Philippians 2:6:11, [5] Luke 1:34:38, [6] 1 Peter 3:18, [7] Hebrews 2:9, [8] Romans 5:9, [9] Acts 2:23:24, [10] Hebrews 8:1, [11] Matthew 26:64, [12] John 14:15:18, [13] John 16:13; Acts 1:8, [14] John 16:7:11, [15] 2 Peter 1:20:21;2 Timothy 3:15:16, [16] Genesis 1:27, [17] Romans 3:23, [18] 1 Corinthians15:20:23, [19] Revelation 21:8, [20] Revelation 21:1:4, [21] Titus 3:4:7,[22] 1 Thessalonians 5:23, [23] Acts 1:8, [24] Romans 6:1:14, [25] Matthew 8:16:17, [26] James 5:13:16, [27] Ephesians 1:22:23, [28] Matthew 28:19:20, [29] Acts 2:41:47, [30] 1 Corinthians 15:20:23, [31] John 5:28:29, [32] Hebrews 10:37, [33] Luke 21:27, [34] Titus 2:11:14

Citylight Family

Citylight Lincoln is part of The Citylight Family of Churches, a network of autonomous churches that share the same DNA and values. The Family consist of other Citylight church plants. Each church is governed independently, but shares a vision to multiply disciples and churches.

C&MA

The Christian & Missionary Alliance is a missionary and church-planting movement that has a rich history of planting churches in the United States and all over the world. Citylight is accountable to the leadership of the C&MA. You can learn more at www.cmalliance.org.

Gospel Coalition

In addition, maintaining a commitment to gospel-centered ministry, we also gladly affirm the Gospel Coalition’s foundation documents which can be read at www.thegospelcoalition.org.