Our Values

B. We value CHRIST LIKENESS. We desire that through the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus' love, mercy, grace, truth, purity, power, and integrity would shine through all that we are and do. (Ephesians 5:2) 

C. We value BEING SPIRIT-LED. We honor Jesus as our Head and the Holy Spirit as our Counselor. We seek to be responsive to the Holy Spirit in life and ministry. (Galatians 5:5; Romans 8:14) 

D. We value PRAYER. We believe that prayer is essential, because it is our primary means of communion with God, and because it is God's primary means of accomplishing His purposes in the world. {1 Thess. 5:16-18; Philippians 4:6) 

E. We value DISCIPLESHIP. We aim first to grow as disciples of Christ ourselves and then to make disciples of others. (Matthew 28:18-20) 

F. We value THE KINGDOM OF GOD. We aim to move in the signs of the present fulfillment of the kingdom, invoking the Spirit's powerful presence, ministering through the Spirit's gifts, and seeing God heal and work wonders. (Mark 1:14,15) 

G. We value the MERCY OF GOD. We believe that mercy is fundamental to all that God does in salvation. We, therefore, aim to extend mercy to one another and to all to whom we minister. (Colossians 3:1213) 

H. We value INTEGRITY. It is important for us to speak the truth, deal honestly, and live uprightly. (Ephesians 4:15) 

I. We value SERVANT LEADERSHIP. We believe that Christ has put significant leadership authority in the hands of the pastor and associates. We aim to exercise that authority with humility, selflessness, grace, care for the sheep, and a sincere desire to build up the Body of Christ. (Mark 10:37,44-45) 

J. We value THE lNDIVIDUAL, Single or married, and we want to enable and support mature relationships and family growth. (Romans 12:9,10) 

K. We value UNITY. We are convinced that all who belong to Christ are one in His Body, the Church. We aim to maintain unity by honoring all who call on Jesus' name and by seeking reconciliation with all parts of the Church. (John 17:21-23} 

L. We value COLLEGIATE RELATIONSHIPS. We aim to work together to build the Church through maintaining mutual respect, open communication, determined cooperation, and believing and speaking the best about each other. A pile of bricks does not make a building.  We want more than just to gather together on Sundays.  We desire to be built together into loving, caring relationships.  (I Corinthians 13:4-7) 

M. We value REALITY. We aim to walk in the Spirit and see real supernatural works of God. We aim also to function on the natural plane based on God's leading in conjunction with excellent, relational thinking. (James 1:5) 

N. We value SIMPLICITY. We wish to do nothing for "religious effect" but rather to operate in natural low-key, non-hype patterns. We desire to do the ministry of Christ with joy. (Philippians 4:4) 

O. We value RACIAL DIVERSITY.  We desire this fellowship to be a microcosm of the redeemed from every tribe and nation.  We desire to model racial harmony to the unredeemed world. (Re. 5:9) 

P. We value MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY.  We affirm that the institution of marriage should be held in honor by all. Rather than viewing it as just a partnership between two people, we see it as a sacred commitment in which a man and a woman publicly form a covenant of love between them and God.   This relationship is characterized by love, loyalty, understanding, self-sacrifice, and security. 

We believe that the husband is to lead the wife with self giving love, and that the wife is to support, and cooperate with the headship of her husband.  Though the Bible does not endorse woman subjugation by man, it does make a distinction between the male and female roles in the home. True leadership in the home will instead release the wife to become all she is meant to be. Because of this we oppose divorce, and seek to move both redemptively in the lives of those who have been touched by it, and preventively as needed in the lives of those who have not yet experienced it.

With the goal of producing strong families, it is the policy of Bethany Christian Fellowship, that those who desire any minister of the fellowship to reside over their marriage ceremony to complete pre-marital counseling sessions. This requirement is mandatory upon all couples considering marriage, without exception. 

The family is the basic unit of society, and is the place where children are born, brought to maturity, and prepared to enter society.  Many of our society's current problems, crises, and breakdowns are directly traceable to delinquent parents and the decay of family life.  Therefore we seek to place the highest priority on the development of healthy family life.  Parenting is a holy responsibility, not to be delegated to the church or the state.  The Church's responsibility is to train parents to train their children. (Deut. 6:7, Deut. 11:19). 

Q. We value FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY.  We value financial discipline and faithfulness in both personal and ministry finances. 

Our Priorities

B. THE LOCAL CHURCH. We love the church universal, and seek to express that love through our commitment to the local church.  It is the local church that has been given the authority to bind and loose.  It is the local church that has been promised the governmental presence of Christ in our midst.  We will seek to operate this church according to the relational commands of Matt. 18:15-20.  Gossip will not be tolerated and will be tracked down to its source. 

C. FELLOWSHIP. We are the family of God, one Body in Jesus Christ, joined together as brothers and sisters forever. We seek to develop real, intimate, enabling friendships together, built on covenant love, mutual responsibility and faithfulness.  We will seek to live in corporate covenant with each other. 

D. THE WORD. We want to hear the Word of God taught in the power of Revelation, yet practical and inspiring. We aim to hear and obey God's word to us to be "doers of the Word" who are being transformed into the likeness of Christ. 

E. OBJECTIVE TRUTH OVER SUBJECTIVE MANIFESTATION.  We desire to be open to the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, but not at the price of subordinating the Word of God.  The Spirit and the Word of God always agree.  We will measure all manifestation by the clear word of God.  We will teach here that 'leadings of the Lord' that violate the over all teaching of scripture are not the true 'leading of the Lord!'.  Preaching Christ is highly esteemed as one of the highest forms of Christian ministry and will not be treated as something we do until God moves. 

F. ORGANIC ORGANIZATION.  Spiritual life and not a program based church is our goal.  However, we realize that all life needs structure and organization.  Skin without bones does not make a person.  Life requires structure.  Our goal is not programs for programs sake, but to offer the life within us the structure and form it needs to express itself. 

G. THE MOVE OF THE SPIRIT. We desire revival in the church in all its aspects.  Our goal will be to seek Jesus and not 'it'.  We will also understand that the move of the Spirit as precious and vital as it is, is not an end in itself,  but a means to an end. It is to serve others, not for our own personal blessing. We will seek to honor the balance between the fact that the Spirit must move freely and the truth that all true moves of God must be shepherded.  We will also seek to instill within the congregation the truth that it is not our 'insensitivities' to the spirits movings in a meeting that grieve him so much as it is the way we live relationally with others.  God can teach us His ways where we need to learn them.  There are no scriptures that say that we grieve him by not doing the right thing in a meeting.  Yet there are some that teach that He is grieved by our unforgiveness, anger, gossip, etc. with one another. (Eph.4:27-32) 

H. WORSHIP. We desire to worship God with our whole being. We want Jesus at the center as our Lord. We hunger for the fullness of the Spirit...His glory resting upon us. We desire Spirit-enabled worship in a style that is dynamic, and life changing. 

I. PROPHECY. We believe that this gift is very vital to the building up of the church and is the result of being filled with the Holy Spirit. (Lk 1:41-45; 1:61; Acts 4:31; 19:6) This gift unlike the office of a prophet should be restricted to edification, comfort, and exhortation. It is the desire of God that His people be a prophetic people. (Numbers 11:29)

J. GIFTS WITH CHARACTER.  We desire to emphasize the need to pursue the gifts of the Spirit with the Fruit of the Spirit (character) as the only real means of ministering life to the church.  The pursuit of the gifts and the training of gifts in and of themselves will produce more harm than good in the church and in the light of eternity will prove ineffective in bringing the church to the fulfillment of God's eternal purpose in His Son. It is gifts with character that is the more excellent way.  (1 Cor. 12:31; 1 Cor. 13; 1 Cor.14:12; 2 Pet.1:5-8) 

K. MINISTRY. We believe that all Christians are called to serve Christ in the power of His Spirit, ways that build up the local church. We are called to do the ministry of Christ in the world today, for example, to... 

• preach the Gospel of the Kingdom
• persuade men to repent and believe in Jesus
• heal the sick
• care for the poor and those in need
• counsel those in need of God's wisdom
• teach believers to follow Christ
• give our resources to the work of Christ
• train Christians to serve the Lord

M. SENDING. We aim to send trained personnel out on short-term ministry trips as well as to plant churches around the world.