Our Conviction Concerning the Gospel and Human Sexuality
Our knowledge of self and knowledge of God are interconnected. We know God as Creator and Redeemer. We know ourselves as created in his image, born into sin with varied sinful tendencies, and saved by grace through faith in Jesus. We see ourselves as works-in-progress being progressively transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit.
We welcome everyone—wherever they are at in their journey, whatever their viewpoint on gender and sexuality—to “come and see”—to grow in their understanding of God’s love for them demonstrated in Jesus.
Our self-understanding, including our understanding of our sexuality and gender, is marred by sin. This is to be expected given the way that sin affects our inclinations, knowledge, and actions. Thankfully God does not leave us to our own inclinations. We look to his Word to see him and to see ourselves more clearly. His Word is the path to life. Living in accordance with his Word is the pathway to human flourishing.
All of our teachers and elders at Believers Fellowship—including youth and small group leaders—believe that our doctrinal statement faithfully summarizes biblical truth. Included in this doctrinal statement is the affirmation that “God made human beings, male and female, in his image and likeness.”
We reflect God in our sexuality as men and women. Sex is a wonderful gift of God to be enjoyed within the life-long commitment of marriage between a husband and wife. This is evident in the Creation account (Gen 2:18-25) and affirmed by Jesus (Matt 19:4-6). Marriage is a wonderful and mysterious reflection of the love of Christ for the Church (Eph 5:22-32). For those not married, singleness is a beautiful, holy, and desirable calling (1 Cor 7:8, 17).
Lust, pornography, indulging in sexual activity outside of marriage, and infidelity within marriage are all examples of sin against God that is harmful to those who engage in such things (1 Cor 6:12-20, 1 Thess 4:3, Matt 5:27-28, etc.).
We want to be a church that points people to Jesus in loving, compassionate, grace-filled, and truthful ways—sacrificing neither grace for truth nor truth for grace. Those with questions regarding sexuality and biblical teaching are encouraged to search the Scriptures, pray to the God who hears and answers, and dialogue with elders, teachers, counselors, and Christian friends.
All sincere Christians struggle with sin. Regardless of our past or current struggles, we look to Jesus and eagerly await that day when our struggles will cease, our faith will be sight, and our joy will be complete.