Statement of Beliefs
For Christians seeking truths that make sense.
The Name
It is a "free" ministry because those who fellowship with FCM are striving
to maintain a fellowship with Jesus Christ, aware of the truth that to the
degree we know him, that is the degree
we are free, because the truth concerning
Jesus Christ is that which makes us free. John 8:32
It is Christian because God is the focus of FCM's attention, but no man can
truly know God as God would reveal
Himself but through Christ. Romans 1:1-3
It is a ministry because it stands solely to aid individuals
in their walk
in the light of God's Word, in whatever fashion may be available. II Timothy
4:5
The Standard
Free Christian Ministry maintains that the collection of writings referred
to as
"the Bible" does reveal God's will for all man. And while it is impossible
to "know the whole truth," and
"to be entirely correct," the scriptures contain
all required to know for spiritual correctness, and contain
all basic truths
regarding God and His will for us.
And it is our job to strive to grasp these truths better as time goes on,
and we believe that the truth
regarding any given subject given to us centuries
ago in the scriptures is still available for us to understand
as God intended,
even should we fail to do so.
The Prime Purpose
To introduce Jesus
Christ as a personal Lord and mediator to God to willing
men, women and children, confident that it is Jesus Christ
who can provide
the way a man, woman or child may develop a relationship with God as Father.
I Thessalonians 1:3-10,
Matthew 22:37
The Secondary Purpose
To help Christians understand for themselves their
proper place in the body
of Christ, which is first to serve God through Jesus Christ, and second to
love his neighbor,
which is how to stand in this body.
The Fellowship
A purpose of FCM is not to provide
believers with a forum for fellowship.
However, Christians are to fellowship, and it is a purpose of FCM to provide
useful insight into how Christians are to act toward one another.
We do not recognize denominational boundaries. It is more important for a believer to be among the people Christ needs him with during any given time than to worry about labels or nuances of doctrine.
Nuances of doctrine are the individual's responsibility and he or she is
responsible to Jesus for what they proclaim
in his name, not to a council
of elders.
The Church
It is the profession of FCM that Jesus
Christ built his Church upon himself.
This Church is made of the entire body of Chosen, not according to the creed
of
any denomination, but of a graceful salvation evidenced by the confession
of Jesus as lord and a belief that God has
raised him from the dead.
It is therefore the profession of Free Christian Ministry that the meeting
of this Church
is where ever three or more are gathered in his name. Matthew
16:13-19, Acts 2:47, Ephesians 1:20-23, Acts 2:47, Acts 9:31,
Romans 16:1,
Colossians 4:15, Colossians 1:18, Matthew 4:23, Matthew 10:17, II Chronicles
5:14, II Chronicles 7:12,
I Corinthians 3:16-17
God
God is the Creator of Heaven and Earth, eternal, and true. He is
the Divine
helper of all who humbly acknowledge Him, and Father first to Jesus Christ,
then to all who believe on him;
God is the Patriarch of the Christian
Family.
Jesus Christ
It is the profession of FCM that
Jesus Christ is the first born son of God,
is the head of the Christian Church, heir to the throne of David, King of
Israel, and raised from the dead as Lord over all God's creation.
We believe that according to the texts, Jesus, while in God's foreknowledge
as were we all, had a specific "genesis,"
or beginning which is described
in the Gospel of Matthew. He spanned the gap between sinful man and Holy
God, and in him
is, among other things, our forgiveness, our redemption,
our salvation, our justification, our hope.
The Christian
He or she who has, in this day and age, accepted Jesus as Lord, and believed
God has raised
him from the dead. The Christian is the child of God, heir
of heaven, spokesman for the gospel, and should behave
and believe accordingly.
To this end an accurate knowledge of Scripture is vital.
The Body
The collective reference to all called to salvation by grace in this era
between the ascension of Christ and that period
of time he gathers the body
together in the clouds as revealed in I Thess. 4:13ff.
Salvation
FCM maintains there is a spiritual salvation and a spiritual forgiveness
which brings to the Christian a place in
the heavenlies, and a more earthy
salvation which comes about from a clinging to a godly life. The first is
a gift of
grace, as manifested by the gift of holy spirit, the seal of salvation. The second is what the individual can attain now, by living
in that grace.
There is also the wholeness to the
body of Christ as a Church, worked by
the collective believers through faith and reverence, as a unit. We believe
that
this is the salvation worked out "through fear and trembling," Phil.
2:12
The Ministry
Ministry is service. It is whatever God calls one out to do, and for each
person entails many functions which change in details as conditions change.
Genuine ministries are of God, and are not
initiated by government regulations
or by religious organizations, although it is the prerogative of leaders
of religious
bodies to recognize whose ministries are already obvious.
FCM does not recognize any inherent authority in the
ordination of ministers
by religious organizations, nor does it recognize any limitations or special
acknowledgement
placed on the minister by governmental bodies. On the other
hand, those already ordained of God into service may find
cooperation with
either government or denomination as an appropriate way to further the gospel,
or those ordained by
such may also be ordained of God, and FCM refuses to
condemn such as do follow that path for "fellowshipping with the wrong ministry" alone.
The Hope
Scripture clearly tells us we are the Body of Christ, the called according to the Mystery, Jew and Gentiles fellow heirs and joint heirs of Christ. We are clearly told that our hope is that we will be saved from the wrath to come, revealed in Revelation as the "bowl judgements."
We will be caught up, the dead raised incorruptible, those of us alive, at the Lord's coming. At this point, the Mystery, the calling of the Mystery, shall be finished. The epistles say this takes place at the last trump, Revelation says the Mystery is fulfilled or "finished" at the seventh, or last, trump of Revelation.
For this hope, the knowledge we will be redeemed and be with our Lord, we labor in love without ceasing, confident God is not unworthy that He should forget our labor of love.