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God's Wonderful Love and Grace
God sent His Son
We believe the message of the Bible that God wants to be in relationship with each of us. Unfortunately, because all of us have sinned and do not measure up to God's glory, none of us deserve to be in fellowship with God. Out of His love for the world God sent his Son in order that those who would respond to Jesus will be saved and will become a people for God's own possession. God's sending of Jesus is a wonderful act of grace and mercy. Without God's gift, we would be without hope and without God in this world.
Jesus' Purpose
From scripture we also learn that while Jesus was here, he performed the work God had given him to do. Jesus taught the Father's message and released those who were bound in various ways by evil. His ultimate purpose was to give his life as a ransom for the world. With his death on our behalf, Jesus' blood makes possible our relationship with God. His blood became the basis of a promise from God to those who would receive Jesus. To those who will rely upon Jesus' blood, God promises that he will no longer remember their sins and that he will take them to be his people. Scripture refers to this promise as the new covenant. Jesus' blood has created a new people whom God takes to be His own.
The good news we learn from scripture does not end with what Jesus' death accomplished for us. On the third day after he was buried, Jesus rose from the grave to become the firstfruits of those who will rise from the dead. With his resurrection, our hope based upon Jesus was confirmed to be true!
The Community Christ Made
God adds to his people those who respond to the wonderful message of Jesus. Scripture calls this community "the body of Christ" or "the church." Those who belong to Christ are members of Christ's church.
So, Who Are We?
We are a diverse group of people who have come to believe in Jesus. We have responded to the gospel in order that God through his grace might save us.
If you would visit us, you would see that we are Bible-based and family orientated. Because God's word teaches us that we are to live worthy of the calling we have received, we strive to serve God throughout each day of the week. We regularly gather together to praise God for what He has done for us and to learn how He would have us live.
We believe that if people will simply use biblical terminology in biblical ways to explain biblical doctrine and if people will allow scripture to shape what they teach and believe, their personal life as well as their worship to God, they will be members of that one church which Jesus established.
We use the name "church of Christ," not in a denominational sense but as a means of claiming that we belong to Christ. The term "church of Christ" as it is used in the Bible is always a descriptive reference to God's people [Romans 16:16], not the title of a specific Christian fellowship. There are other names which are also Biblical descriptions of God's people such as "the body of Christ" [1 Corinthians 12:27], "the household of faith" [Galatians 6:10], or "the church of God" [1 Corinthians 1:2]. All these phrases are descriptive of God's people. Because it is our desire to glorify God, we use the name "church of Christ".
Scripture Claims to Be Sufficient
Paul wrote that, "all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works" [2 Timothy 3:16-17]. The word "perfect" means to be complete. Paul is claiming that through the Word of God the person of God can be perfectly equipped for his or her tasks. Similarly Peter wrote, "According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who has called us to glory and goodness" [2 Peter 1:3]. Since Christians have already been given everything which we need for doing God's will, and since we have been warned against other messages and "gospels" [Galatians 1:6-9], we value the original message. Our final authority is scripture.
Our Worship & What You Would See If You Visited Us
Jesus said that God is seeking the kind of worshipper who will worship Him in spirit and in truth [John 4:23]. He went on to teach that "God is Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and in truth" [John 4:24]. For this reason, we place a high value on what scripture actually teaches that God wants from us in worship as opposed to what any individual might consider to be a good idea. Because of Jesus, we know that we can have confidence in approaching God [Hebrews 10:19-22]. Yet our gratitude and praise to God for all that he has done for us is permeated with an attitude of reverence, not frivolity, before such an awesome God [Hebrews 12:28-29].
Scripture reveals how God would have us worship Him. Therefore, just as the early Christians gathered together upon the Lord's day (Sunday) to partake of the Lord's Supper (the bread and fruit of the vine) in order to remember Jesus' death on that day [Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthinas 11:24-26], so do we.
On this day, as well as at other times when we might gather together, we listen to God's word being preached and taught [2 Timothy 2:15]. We pray, sing praises to God and encourage each other to live in God's ways. In order to minister, they were also commanded to give as God had prospered them upon the first day of the week [1 Corinthians 16:1-2; 2 Corinthians 9:5-11]. Likewise, we take up a freewill offering from our members on the first day of the week. We are not after your money!
Whenever you are in San Jose, we invite you to join us for one of our worship services.
Unity
The Bible teaches that Christ has made unity possible and that Christians are to be united. "Now I urge you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment". [1 Corinthians 1:10]. It is our desire that all people everywhere be united into the one body of our Lord. Jesus prayed for this unity in John 17:20-21.
As scripture reveals, such unity is not the result of following the resulting diversity of what humanity might think is best, but rather submitting our will to God's as we listen to scripture. There are a number of articles on our web site which point toward the biblical path to unity. One of them is, "The Unity Principle."
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