What We Believe

The following are the core beliefs of Highland Church of Christ based on the foundational truths taught in the bible. All of our teaching and ministry is rooted in and flows out of these biblical doctrines.

We Believe the Bible to be the only inspired, infallible, and authoritative Word of God. We understand the Old Testament to be the recorded history of God's people, pointing to the coming of his Son, Jesus. We understand the New Testament, to be the only authoritative will of God (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

We Believe there is only one God who is the creator of the heavens and the earth. There is one eternally existing God who has three distinct persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit (Deuteronomy 4:39; Matthew 28:19). God is the creator of all that exists, both visible and invisible, and is therefore worthy of all glory and praise.  God is perfect in love, power, holiness, goodness, knowledge, wisdom,  justice, and mercy. God is unchangeable and therefore is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

God has revealed himself to us through his son, Jesus Christ, who is the visible image of the invisible God (Hebrews 1:1-4), the holy God-breathed Scriptures (2 Timothy 3:16-17), and through all of creation itself (Psalm 19:1; Romans 1:19-20; Acts 17:24-31).

Humans, both male and female, were created in God's image for His glory. The first humans, Adam and Eve, were created without sin and appointed as caretakers of the rest of God's creations (Genesis 1:26-27, 31; 2:1-24).

When Adam and Eve chose not to obey God, they ceased to be what they were made to be and became "distorted" images of God. This caused them to fall out of fellowship with God, and fractured all of creation ever since that time (Romans 5:12-15).

Jesus Christ came to reconcile us with God. He lived a life without sin and willingly died on the cross to pay the penalty for our transgressions. God raised him from the dead and now, by grace, offers as a free gift eternal life to all who follow Christ, by faith, as their Lord and Savior. That is why salvation can be found in Christ alone, through God's grace and Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, we are redeemed through our faith in Jesus (Ephesians 2:8-9).

We believe baptism to be the beginning of the new life (John 3:1-8). The word baptism comes from the Greek word baptizo and means, “to dip, to immerse, or to plunge.” We practice immersion because it was practiced by the New Testament church. And, only immersion conforms to the description of baptism found in Romans 6:1-4, where it is connected to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.

We believe Jesus is the head of His church (Ephesians 1:22-23) with authority over her life and doctrine (John 14:6).
The church is meant to be the visible body of Christ, sent into the world to glorify God and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 3:10).

Jesus Christ was crucified, buried, and rose from the dead on the third day, and appeared to his disciples and unbelievers (1 Corinthians 15:1-9). His resurrection is the promise of our resurrection from the dead at his return (1 Corinthians 15:20). Jesus is returning one day to judge the living and the dead and to usher in the fullness of God's kingdom on earth (Acts 17:31).