What We Believe

The vision of The Church In Hickory is to fulfill the prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The prayer He prayed on the night of His betrayal. “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.” (John 17:20-23) If the church is ONE, then the world may believe, and the world may know.  

Christ’s prayer that evening was not for uniformity, conformity, or even similarity between all local congregations.  It was a prayer of echad, oneness, and unity amidst diversity.  Just as God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were echad, so His church must be. This is a prayer that all followers of Christ can be in complete affirmation.  The Church In Hickory desires to give that prayer a positive response.  The response cannot be just one verbal affirmation but a concrete, visible display of the unity of the Body of Christ in Hickory, North Carolina.  Everyone in Hickory may not agree to be a part of the kingdom, join the church, or even agree on the way to serve the Lord. Still, they must know that The Church In Hickory is unified in seeking and serving, in the mission of Christ to reach each person in Hickory.   

 Indeed, there are many differences in Hickory’s local churches, but these differences are essential to reaching the varieties of people that make up our community.  Differences are not divisions or heresy. They are methods by which different believers express their faith in Christ.  Disagreement is typical among those who are committed to their beliefs.  The beauty of diversity in the Body of Christ makes room for all believers.  The only unacceptable division in the Body is the unwillingness of congregations of believers and individuals to fellowship with one another to reach the community for Christ.  

It may seem risky to name our boundaries because some who believe in Jesus will think we are too narrow, and others will think we are too broad.  We have tried to identify the heart of the faith affirmed in the early Christian centuries, which has been remarkably consistent.  One expression of that faith is the Apostles’ Creed, although some Christians struggle with a few phrases in the creed.  Others disagree with the idea of any creed outside the Bible.

But we must draw boundaries somewhere. Otherwise, our expression of “unity of the Body of Christ” is meaningless.  We have tried to express our faith in terms that the vast majority of Christians across the centuries and around the world could affirm.

1. We believe God exists in three co-equal, co-eternal Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

2. We believe God created everything that exists and continues to interact with created things and all people in providence, through prayer, and for the purpose of our salvation.

3. We believe Jesus Christ is fully God and fully human and died for our sins, was buried, rose again for our salvation, ascended to his Father, and will come again.

4. We believe the Holy Spirit binds believers in the universal, invisible church, and he desires believers to actively join local churches to worship together, grow in faith and community, and bear witness of Christ to the world by word and deed.

5. We believe the Holy Spirit uniquely inspires the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as our guide for what we believe and how we live.

6. We believe that the fellowship of believers and local churches should never be formally broken and that all divisions can be overcome through the unifying power of the Holy Spirit.

We believe more than these six statements; they are a starting place and a point of unity for each believer in Jesus Christ.  These statements allow The Church In Hickory to fulfill not only the prayer of Christ but also Paul’s entreaty, “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one Body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:1-6)