WHO WE ARE
We are a people with a passion for Jesus and His purposes on the Earth.
WHAT WE DO
Empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are disciples who encounter God, disciple others, and live on mission.
HOW WE DO IT
The Five Circles of Church
At Antioch, we want our relationship with Jesus to affect and infect every area of our lives, which is why we seek to embrace each of these circles continually. We want to have a deep devotional life in Jesus, seek to be and to make disciples, stay connected in community, serve and participate in our corporate gatherings and live on mission where God has planted each of us.
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We want every person in our community to have a deep and thriving personal relationship with Jesus. For us, this means building in rhythms of setting aside time for Word, Worship, and Prayer on a daily basis, and living lifestyles of learning to abide in Jesus and hear His voice because, like John 15 says, “apart from [Him] we can do nothing.” We want to equip people who walk with us to have a deep friendship with Jesus.
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This was Jesus’ main strategy to change the world, and we believe it should be ours too. In fact, Jesus says this in the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20! We define discipleship as one person helping another become a lifelong, obedient follower of Jesus, who teaches others to do the same. For us, this looks like a goal of every person in our community to have a couple of people to walk with and hold each other accountable for things like their personal walk with God, spiritual disciplines, holiness, and living on mission. We also have a goal that every person in our community makes at least one other disciple, passing on the life of the kingdom and walking in obedience to the Great Commission.
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This is the primary way we see believers gathering in the New Testament, and the result was an incredibly potent church that Acts 11 says “turned the world upside down.” We look to Acts 2:42-47 as a template for how to build thriving house churches and see house churches as the main place people in our community get connected to discipleship, live out New Testament church, and find a space to use their gifting to build the church. Plus, if you learn how to do house church well here, you can reproduce it anywhere God calls you worldwide.
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We see believers gathering in the synagogue or in public places to worship and receive teaching, and we believe the gathered church is an environment where the five-fold ministry outlined in Ephesians 4 can be utilized and believers can be equipped to live out the great commission. We also are committed to corporate prayer as a community, and we hold on to the promise that we become an Ephesians 2:22 “dwelling place of the Lord” as we surrender to Him, love one another, and minister to Jesus together.
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We believe when the other four circles are strong, we become empowered to live faithfully and wholeheartedly as bold witnesses of the Gospel of the kingdom everywhere we go. We want to share the Gospel and demonstrate the kingdom everywhere from the workplace to the unreached nations of the earth. Jesus is coming back for a new heavens and a new earth and, according to Colossians and Ephesians, is in the business of “reconciling all things to Himself” and “uniting all things in Heaven and on Earth.” We want to be on the front lines of this mission, of seeing the lost saved, brokenness restored, and Jesus receive His reward here, there, and everywhere.
BELIEFS
Antioch is fully submitted to Jesus as the head of the Church. We hold the Scripture as our highest authority in faith and practice and we stand in agreement with believers around the world and throughout history in the following beliefs which anchor all that we do.
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We believe the Bible is the inspired, authoritative, living, eternally reliable Word of God equally in all parts and without error in its original manuscripts, and our primary and authoritative source of revelation from God, superior to conscience and reason, though not contrary to reason. Therefore, the Bible is our final authority for faith and practice and is necessary for our daily lives as it continually points us toward the person of Jesus. [2 Timothy 3:16-17; 1 Peter 1:23-25; Hebrews 4:12]
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We believe in one God who has revealed Himself in three persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. [Romans 1:20]
The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all co-eternal, all stand equally superior to time, free from the temporal distinctions of past and future.
FATHER [Deuteronomy 33:27; Psalm 90:2; Psalm 102:27; 1 Timothy 1:17]
SON [John 1:1-2; John 8:58; Hebrews 1:8; 1 John 1:2; Revelation 1:8]
HOLY SPIRIT [Hebrews 9:14]
We believe in God the Father, Creator of all things visible and invisible. [Colossians 1:15-16]
We believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son, who came into the world to reveal the Father and was the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person. Jesus Christ was the Creator of everything, for by Him all things were made. We further believe that in Christ dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form and that He was very-God and very-Man. [John 1:1-2, 14; 1 Timothy 3:16; Acts 7:37-38]
We believe in Jesus Christ’s pre-existence, incarnation, virgin birth, sinless life, miracles, substitutionary and atoning death, bodily resurrection, bodily ascension into heaven, exaltation, present rule at the right hand of God, coming, personal return in power and great glory and in His everlasting Kingdom and dominion. [Acts 1:11; Acts 3:19-21; Daniel 7:14; Revelation 20:4]
We acknowledge His Lordship—that Jesus Christ is Lord over all things in heaven, on earth and under the earth. [Philippians 2:9-10]
We believe in the Holy Spirit, His present ministry, His indwelling, His empowering, His impartation of gifts for today and His transforming power in the lives of all believers. [1 Corinthians 12:4-11, Galatians 5:22-23; Ephesians 1:13-14] -
We believe man was created by a direct and immediate act of God. [Genesis 1:26-27; Genesis 2:4]
We believe man, by transgression, fell from a state of righteousness and holiness in which he was first created into total spiritual depravity, a state of death in trespasses and sins in which he is held as a slave of sin and an enemy of God. As such, he is unable to attain divine righteousness by his own efforts but must be redeemed and delivered by the power of the gospel. [Romans 5:12-21; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4]
We believe repentance and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ are an integral part of God’s work of justification of the believer. Through faith in the shed blood of Christ, he or she is justified and made a partaker in the death of Christ. [Romans 5:1, 9]
We believe it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. [Ephesians 2:8-9]
We further believe the emphasis for a continuous walk in grace should be on demonstrating righteousness and purity of heart, believing in the keeping power of God, walking after the Spirit and not after the flesh, living a lifestyle that demonstrates the character, standards and convictions of Jesus Christ, and not being conformed to the world. [Jude 24; Romans 8:25; Galatians 5:16-25; Romans 4:1-5; Romans 12:1-2]
We believe repentance is dependent upon the convicting action of the Holy Spirit in the lives of sinners and believers and their response. The conviction of the Holy Spirit, which often accompanies the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, will result in the revelation of the sinfulness of self, which should lead to godly sorrow and repentance. [2 Corinthians 7:10; Psalm 51; Acts 11:18; 2 Timothy 2:25; Romans 1:18-32; Matthew 9:12-13]
We believe that in the final judgment, which will accompany the return of Christ, every person will give an account to God of every aspect of this earthly life. Unbelievers will be separated from God for eternity in hell. Believers will experience the final resurrection and live eternally with Christ in the new heavens and the new earth. [1 Corinthians 3:10-15; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Revelation 20:11-15] -
We believe in the Lord’s Supper and believer’s baptism as acts of our obedience and a testimony of our faith. [Matthew 3:6; Mark 16:16; 1 Corinthians 11:23-29]
We believe water baptism is necessary in obedient response to the command of Jesus. Baptism is to be performed only upon repentant believers in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. [Matthew 28:18-20]
We believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit. [Acts 2:4; Acts 10:46; Acts 19:6]
We hold that the real evidence of the baptism of the Holy Spirit is one’s response to the Word of God (John 16:13), a Christ-like life, showing forth Christ’s character, and experiencing and manifesting the gifts and fruit of the Holy Spirit. [John 15:26; John 16:14; Galatians 5:22-23; 1 Corinthians 12:4-11] -
We believe God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created in God’s image. Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. [Genesis 1:27-28; Genesis 2:20-25, Matthew 19:4-6, Psalm 139:13-15]
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We believe the Church is both universal and local. All believers form the Church, in unity with all believers throughout history; and yet, the church is also local, with believers gathering in committed community and under the authority of Christ. [Ephesians 1:21]
Scripture describes the Church as:
the Body of Christ [Romans 12:5, 1 Corinthians 12:12-31; Ephesians 1:9-10; Ephesians 1:22-23]
the household of God [Romans 8:14-17; Galatians 3:26-4:7; Ephesians 2:11]
the temple of God [1 Corinthians 3:9-17, Ephesians 2:21-22, 1 Peter 2:4-10]
God’s chosen people [Romans 11:17; Galatians 4:28-31; Ephesians 2:19]
This language is intimate and reveals Jesus’s commitment to and care for His people. Furthermore, the church is God’s instrument for revealing His purpose on the Earth and the fullness of Jesus on earth for His glory. [Ephesians 3:10; Ephesians 1:23]
THE ANTIOCH MOVEMENT
Antioch is a global family of churches that are Spirit-led, biblically based, and embracing every nation, tribe, people and language. We are committed to the person of Jesus, His rule and reign in all aspects of our lives and living out His values in community. God has called us to be a multiplying church-planting movement through whom He brings transformation to personal lives, families, neighborhoods, and every sphere of society in our city, nation, and nations for the glory of God.
