What we believe as a church is commonly known as church doctrine. Our doctrine is the foundation by which we serve God. ECC’s doctrinal statement has been organized into categories to assist you in understanding what we believe and teach through our various ministries.

The Scriptures

Every word in the original writings is inspired by God and is without error. It is accurate in all matters to which it speaks: spiritual, historical, and scientific. The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the foundation of  the faith and the practice of Edgewater Community Church (II Tim. 3:16; II Pet. 1:21).

God

God exists eternally in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The three have distinct personalities and yet are of the same substance: one God (Gen. 1:1; John 10:30; John 4:24; Deut. 6:4; Matt. 28:19; II Cor. 13:14).

Man

Man is created in the image and likeness of God. In Adam, all mankind fell into sin, with the result that all men are sinners. Men are justly condemned to eternal judgment and can do nothing to merit salvation (Rom. 2:2,3,5; Eph.  2:8,9; Gen. 1:27, 9:6; Rom. 3:23; 5:12; Eph. 2:1).

Jesus Christ

The eternal Son of God became incarnate in the Lord Jesus Christ, being born of the virgin Mary, and is true God and true man. He died physically on the cross and was bodily resurrected three days later, and thereafter bodily ascended to heaven (John 1:1, 14, 18; 5:18; Heb. 1:1-9; 5:8; I John 5:20; I Tim. 2:5; I Cor. 15:1-5).

Salvation

The only means to salvation is belief in Christ’s substitutionary death and resurrection (Acts 4:12; 13:38, 39; I Cor. 15:1-4; Rom. 4:4,5; 5:1; 10:9,10; John 3:16; Eph. 2:8, 9; Acts 16:31; Eph. 1:4, 5).

The Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity. He regenerates, indwells, baptizes, and seals all believers in Christ at the point of faith in Christ, and empowers those yielded to God (Matt. 28:19; John 3:3-7; Titus 3:5; I Cor. 6:19; Rom. 8:9; I Cor. 2:12; 12:13;  Eph. 4:30; Col. 3:14).

Sanctification

Every believer is promised positional, progressive, and ultimate sanctification (Heb. 10:10, 14; John 17:15-17; Eph. 5:26-27; I Thess. 4:3, 4; I John 3:2; I Cor. 6:11).

Assurance

All who are born of the Spirit through faith in Christ can have assurance of salvation and are eternally secure in Christ (Rom. 5:1; I John 5:13; John  10:27-29; 17:12; II Tim. 1:12; Eph. 4:30; John 6:37).

Church

The church is composed of all believers. It is the body and bride of Christ, formed by the baptism of the Holy Spirit and existing in two aspects, universal and local. The universal church is an elect company of believers, baptized by the Holy Spirit into one body. Its mission is to witness to its Head, Jesus Christ, preaching the gospel among all nations. It will be caught up to meet the Lord, after which He will return to set up His Kingdom. The local church is a group of believers voluntarily joined together in love, to worship God with praise and thanksgiving, and to glorify Jesus Christ through an aggressive effort to disciple others by the preaching of the gospel and the exercise of spiritual gifts.

Edgewater Community Church is Fundamental, Evangelical, Non-Charismatic, and denominationally unrelated. (Eph. 1:22, 23; 5:24-30; I Cor. 12:4-13, 27)

Gifts

Spiritual gifts are God-given abilities for service, i.e., “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:1-16; I Cor. 12:7, 11; I Pet. 4:10; Rom. 12:1-6).

Christian Life

Christians are called to a holy life of service and testimony in the power of the Holy Spirit, service which includes the propagation of the gospel message to the whole world.  There is promised reward in heaven for their faithfulness in such service (I Pet. 1:15, 16; Acts 1:8; I Cor. 3:12-17; John 14:1-3).

Ordinances

The Bible sets forth two ordinances: the Lord’s Supper and water baptism. The Lord’s Supper is to be celebrated regularly in remembrance of Christ’s death on the cross, and in expectation of His return. Water baptism is an outward testimony of a person’s belief in Christ. Immersion is the ideal means set forth in Scripture (Matt. 28:19, 20; Mark 16:15, 16; Acts 8:12, 36-38; 9:18; 10:47; I Cor. 11:23-26).

Angels

Angels were originally created holy, but now, because of Satan’s rebellion, there is also an unholy angelic kingdom (Col. 1:16; Job 38:6, 7; Ps. 148:2-5; Jude 6; Matt. 25:41; Eph. 6:11, 12; I Tim. 5:21; Rev. 12:9).

Dispensations

God has revealed different dispensations or stewardships with corresponding rules of life, of which the present dispensation is the stewardship of grace (Eph. 3:2-6, 9-11; Col. 1:25-27; Rom. 6:14; Heb. 7:18, 19).

Second Coming

The blessed hope of the church is the imminent return of Christ. The events of the return of Christ take place in the following order: the rapture of the church, the tribulation, the second advent, the establishment of the reign of Christ on earth for one thousand years and finally the eternal state of punishment for the unsaved and the eternal state of blessing for the saved (Titus 2:13; I Thess. 1:10; 4:13-18; 5:4-10; John 14:1-3; Matt. 24:21, 29, 30;  25:31-46; Rev. 3:10, 20:1-6; 11-15).