WHAT WE BELIEVE...
About God – God is the Creator and Ruler of the universe. He has eternally existed in three persons: the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit. These three are co-equal and are one God.
About the Father – He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise. He reigns with providential care over the universe and the flow of human history goes according to His purposes and plan.
About Jesus – Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He is co-equal with the Father. Jesus has eternally existed and became man at His incarnation. He lived a sinless human life and offered himself as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of all people by dying on a cross. He bodily arose from the dead after three days to demonstrate His power over sin and death. He ascended to Heaven’s glory and will return again someday to earth to reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
About the Holy Spirit – He is the third person of the Trinity. He guides men into all truth, exalts Christ, convicts of sin, righteousness and judgment, cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, bestows spiritual gifts by which believers serve God and seals the believer unto the day of final redemption. His presence in the lives of believers is the assurance of God to bring us into the fullness of the stature of Christ.
About Scriptures – The Bible is God’s Word to us. It was written by human authors, under the supernatural guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is the supreme source of truth for Christian beliefs and living. Because it is inspired by God, it has salvation for its end and is truth without any mixture of error.
About Human Beings – People are made in the image of God and are the supreme object of God’s creation. All of us are marred by an attitude of disobedience toward God called sin. Sin separates people from God and causes many problems in life.
About Salvation – Salvation is God’s free gift to us. We can never make up for our sin by self-improvement or good works. Only by surrendering to Jesus Christ as God’s offer of forgiveness can anyone be saved from sin’s penalty. When we surrender our self-ruled life to Jesus in faith we are saved. Eternal life begins the moment one received Jesus Christ into his life by faith. Ephesians 2:8-9
About Eternal Security – Because God gives us eternal life through Jesus Christ, the true believer is secure in that salvation for eternity. If you have been genuinely saved, you cannot "lose " your salvation. Salvation is maintained by the grace and power of God, not by the self-effort of the Christian. It is the grace and keeping power of God that gives us this security.
About Eternity – People were created to exist forever. We will either exist eternally separated from God by sin or eternally with God through forgiveness and salvation. To be eternally separate from God is Hell. To be eternally in union with Him is eternal life. Heaven and Hell are real places of eternal existence.
MISSION STATEMENT
The Bible declares the mission of the church in the gospel of Matthew:
Matthew 28:19-21, 19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age." (ESV)
Jesus Himself declares that we are to make disciples; transform hearts and lives. To fail at making transformed disciples is to fail as a church.
The process of making transformed disciples is a process of connection. Our desire is to move each person at Cooper FBC through a process involving four steps. To stop short of any of the four steps is to fail at making a transformed disciple.
The process leads peoples to:
1. Connect With God—Worship—Mark 12:30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. John 4:23, But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. (ESV)
2. Connect With The Word—The Gospel Project Bible Study—Matthew 28:19-20, 19 "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age." (ESV)
3. Connect With Others—Life Groups & Family Matters Ministry—Acts 2:42, 46, 47 42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their hokes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. (ESV)
4. Connect With the World—Missions & Evangelism—Acts 1:8, 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." (ESV)
These four steps make up the discipleship process of Cooper FBC. As people move through these four steps their lives will be transformed as their lives become more gospel centered.