PROVENANCE CHURCH DISTINCTIVES

The Supremacy of God Over All Things

  • High View of God:  We believe that God is holy & glorious & that every human being exists to honor, to trust, to love & to obey Him.

  • God-honoring Worship:  We cultivate a transcendent worship that upholds the majesty & glory of God & leads believers to fear God & experience great joy.

The Sufficiency of Scripture

  • Divine Revelation:   We affirm the full inspiration, complete inerrancy & total infallibility of Scripture.

  • Biblical Authority:   We uphold that the Scriptures alone are ultimately authoritative for the life of the church & for every believer.

  • Full Counsel of God:   We acknowledge that the Scriptures are sufficient for all matters of life and godliness, including equipping the saints for spiritual growth, guidance, counseling & ministry.

  • Expository Preaching:   We insist that a primary means by which God brings about spiritual transformation in the lives of His people is the verse-by-verse exposition of God’s Word.

The Sovereignty of God in Salvation

  • Low View of Man:   We hold that man is utterly fallen in sin through Adam’s original rebellion, resulting in the total depravity of the entire human race & the total inability of any man to save himself.

  • Sovereign Grace:   We believe that salvation is rooted in God’s gracious choice of undeserving sinners in eternity past, guaranteeing their conversion within time and their glorification for all time.

  • Divine Regeneration:   We maintain that the new birth is a sovereign, supernatural work of the Holy Spirit that cannot be coerced or manipulated by man.

  • Lordship Salvation:   We proclaim repentance & faith—calling for a decisive break from sin & full surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, inevitably leading to a transformed life.

  • Human Responsibility:   We assert that every person is individually accountable to God for believing upon Jesus Christ.

  • Global Proclamation:   We declare that the gospel should be preached in all the world to every living creature.

The Significance of the Local Church

  • Priority:   We believe that the church is a living organism made up of true believers for whom Jesus Christ died & that He is the Head of the church.

  • Participation:   We encourage believers to identify with, function in and submit to the leadership of a local church because the church constitutes God’s primary vehicle for accomplishing His will in this age.

  • Biblical Leadership:   We function according to New Testament principles which mandate that the local church be led by a plurality of godly men called elders who shepherd the flock & provide oversight.

  • Church Discipline:   We contend for the purity of the church & will fulfill the Bible’s command to lovingly restore sinning believers to holiness & the church who are humble & repentant, but to put any professing believer out of the church who hardens their heart &  refuses to repent of sin.

  • Prayerful Dependence:   We seek to place our confidence in God alone by looking to Him in prayer to bless the life & ministry of our church by looking to Him in prayer to bless the life & ministry of our church.

Spirit & Truth Worship

True, God-glorifying worship not the result of utilizing the best techniques, music, or atmosphere, but by the approach to God which Jesus calls worshiping “in spirit & truth.” This involves a life & heart that have been regenerated by God through faith in Jesus Christ, resulting in worship that is a genuine external expression of what God has done internally. God’s Word regularly denounces worship that is merely formal or external. Worship is an expression of the complete redeemed self, so will involve the emotional & the rational & will be consistent with the Scriptures.  We pursue excellence in corporate worship in an effort to give our very-best sacrifice of praise to Jesus.

Biblical Counseling

Our counseling approach is based upon truths of the Bible. Since God has fully provided His answers to life & all of life’s difficulties in the Bible, it is superior to any other source of counsel. It is our goal, therefore, to skillfully & practically bring God’s answers to bear upon the challenges you are facing.

Equipping Leaders

God has called His church to raise up & equip godly leaders to meet today’s needs & to prepare the church for future faithfulness. We are committed to that endeavor with our church family.