governance

It is the expectation of the Elder Board of Heritage Fellowship Church that all employees affirm, be in agreement with, and agree to abide by the Heritage Fellowship Church Covenant.

Preamble

As members of the church, united to our Lord Jesus Christ: to carry out His calling, we establish this COVENANT.

Article I . Name

The name of the assembly shall be Heritage Fellowship Church otherwise known as HFC.

Article II. Affiliation

The church, HFC, shall remain free and independent, and shall not come under the authority of any ecclesiastical body or society, and shall not have any other association that would hinder it from remaining free and independent to be governed by the people of this assembly.

Article III. Purpose

The purpose of this church is, and shall be, the teaching of the word of God to the mutual edification, instruction and discipline of its members and other believers; the winning of the unsaved to Christ; helping young Christians develop their spiritual lives, instructing children in the Word of God, and furthering the cause of Christ on the mission field at home and abroad.

Article IV. Statement of Faith (Doctrinal Statement)

Section 1 – The Bible

The Bible is the complete, written word of God, sixty-six books in the Old and New Testaments, verbally inspired in all parts, and thereby wholly without error in the original manuscripts. It is to be interpreted and understood in terms of a literal,
historical-grammatical approach (2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21).

Section 2 – The Trinity

The one, true God, Creator of all things is infinitely perfect, and eternally exists in three persons: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three persons of the Godhead have precisely the same nature, attributes, and perfections, and are worthy of precisely the same homage, confidence, and obedience (Matthew 28:18-19; Mark 12:29; John 1:1, 14; Acts 5:3-4; 2 Corinthians 13:14; Hebrews 1:1-3; Revelation 1:4-6).

Section 3 – God the Father

The Father is the first person of the Godhead and is Sovereign of the universe. He, out of love, decreed in eternity past, the sending of the Son to be Savior of all who believe in Him. As Spiritual Father of all born-again believers, He leads and directs their lives (Romans 9:20-21; John 3:16; Galatians 4:4; Galatians 3:26; Proverbs 3:5-6).

We believe in God the Father, an infinite, personal spirit, perfect in holiness, wisdom, power, and love. We believe that He infallibly foreknows all that shall come to pass, that he concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men, that He hears and answers prayer, and that He saves from sin and spiritual death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ (Luke 10:21-22; Matthew 23:9; John 3:16, 6:27; Romans 1:7; 1 Timothy 1:1-2, 2:5-6; 1 Peter 1:3; Revelation 1:6).

Section 4 – Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God. He has always been, and will ever continue to be absolute deity. In His incarnation He took upon Himself true humanity, and thus became the unique God- man: He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary. His purpose in the incarnation was that He might reveal God and redeem sinful man. He lived a sinless life, died for our sins, arose bodily from the dead, and ascended into heaven. He is presently preparing a place for us as our high priest, and is coming again (Micah 5:2; John 1:1-4, 14-18, 29; Matthew 1:16, 18-23; Hebrews 1:8, 4:15; 1 Peter 3:18; 1 Corinthians 15:3-19; Acts 1:9-11; John 14:1-6, 8- 12; Isaiah 7:14; Luke 1:34-35; Philippians 2:5-8; 1 Timothy 2:5-6; Matthew 20:19: Ephesians 1:19-21; Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 12:2).

Section 5 – The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the Godhead. He convicts the world regarding sin, righteousness, and judgment. At every believer‘s point of conversion, the Holy Spirit causes spiritual rebirth, indwells, seals, bestows gifts, and baptizes the believer into the body of Christ. He continues to sanctify, guide, teach, and fill the believer who walks in obedience to the Word (Acts 5:3-4; John 16:7-13. 3:5; Romans 8:9; Ephesians 4:30; 1 Corinthians 12:1-13, 6:11, 19; Romans 8:14; John 14:16-17; Ephesians 5:18-21).

Section 6 – Mankind

Man is created in the image of God. Our first parents, the historical Adam and Eve, fell into sin, resulting in physical and spiritual death, and all mankind is now sinful by nature and practice, unable to achieve salvation from sins (Genesis 1:26-28, 2:7, 3:1-24; Romans 3:25, 5:1-2, 6:23; Revelation 20:14; Ephesians 2:3).

Section 7 – Salvation

The Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures as a substitutionary sacrifice acceptable to God, and all who receive Him “by grace through faith” are justified on the basis of His life, death, burial and resurrection (Matthew 20:18; 1Corinthians 15:3-4; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 John 2:2; Ephesians 2:8-9; 1 Peter 1:18-19; Romans 3:23-26; Romans 5:8-10).

All true believers, once saved, are forever secure in their salvation; the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit as a seal and pledge is one’s guarantee of his inheritance. All believers will be finally presented faultless in His presence (Ephesians 1:3-14; 4:30; 1 Peter 1:3-5; Jude 24).

Section 8 – Sanctification

Sanctification, which is a setting apart unto God, is positional, progressive, and ultimate. Positionally, sanctification is already complete since the believers are “in Christ;” however, since they retain the indwelling sin principle (commonly called the “sin nature”), there is need for progressive sanctification in their daily experience whereby Christians grow in grace by the power of the Holy Spirit. Ultimately in the presence of the Lord with the absence of the sin nature, position and practice will be consistent.

Moreover, many doctrinal controversies (such as the so-called “Lordship Salvation” issue) can be resolved more readily if viewed through the grid of the entire doctrine of sanctification as stated above (Romans 6-8; John 17:17; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Galatians 5:16; | Thessalonians 5:23; Hebrews 10:10, 14; 1 Peter 1:13-16).

Section 9 – The Church

All true believers are members of the body of Christ, the Church, which Christ is building. This body is manifest on earth in local churches where believers assemble for teaching, worship, fellowship, prayer, discipleship, and ministry, and the observance of the ordinances (non- meritorious, non-salvific) of water baptism and the Lord’s Supper. “We believe that Christian baptism is the immersion of the believer in the water, in the name of the triune God. We believe that the Lord’s Supper was instituted by Christ for commemoration of His death. We believe that these two ordinances should be observed and administered until the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Ephesians 1:22-23, 3:4-6, 5:32; Matthew 16:18; Acts 2:41-47; Matthew 28:19-20; 1 Corinthians 11:7-22; 1 Timothy 5:10; 1 Corinthians 11:23-24).

Section 10 – About Eternity

We believe man was created to exist forever. He will either exist eternally separated from God by sin, or in union with God through forgiveness and salvation. To be eternally separated from God is Hell. To be eternally in union with Him is eternal life. Heaven and Hell are places of eternal existence (Jn. 3:16; 1 Jn. 2:25; 5:11-13; Rom. 6:23; Rev. 20:15).

Section 11 – Christ’s Return and Our Future Life

We believe in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, which is His personal, visible return to Earth and the establishment of His millennial kingdom, i n the resurrection of the body, the final judgment and eternal blessing of the righteous and endless separation of the wicked (Matthew 16:27; Acts 1:11; Revelation 19:11-16, 20:11-15). We believe in the Pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Church where all believers will meet the Lord in the air and be taken out of this world prior to the Tribulation that will come upon the earth (Isaiah 26:20; Matthew 24:29-31; Luke 21:36; Romans 1:18, 5:9; 1 Thessalonians 1:10, 4:13-16, 5:9; 2 Peter 2:7-9; Revelation 3:10, 5:7-10, 7:13-14).

Note: We recognize that there are differing views on the timing of Christ’s return. Holding a differing view does not preclude one from membership, as this is not an essential doctrine.

We believe that if a believer in Christ passes away before His return, they immediately pass into the presence of Christ and there remain in conscious bliss until the resurrection of their body, at which time the spirit and body are reunited, and they are thus with Christ in glory forever. Unbelievers remain after death in conscious misery in Hades until the final judgment at the Great White Throne. At this time their spirit and body are reunited, and after judgment they are cast into the lake of fire for eternity (Luke 16:19-26; 23:43; 2 Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23; 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; Revelation 20: 11-15).