About Living Hope

Our mission and values

Living Hope Baptist Church exists to exalt God by edifying and equipping believers for the task of evangelizing the world through the power of Jesus Christ.

• We seek to become a church defined by its commitment to the gospel evident through faithful biblical exposition of God's Word, genuine care and fellowship, and wholehearted worship;
• We seek to become a prayerful church whose members are growing in the knowledge of God, daily living out the implications of the gospel out of a passion for the glory of God;
• We seek to become a church characterized by multicultural and generational unity and love;
• We seek to become a church that has a lasting impact on the Lakeshore area through intentional evangelism;
• We hope to become a church that plants other churches as the Lord adds to our midst those He calls to Himself.

What we believe

We are in substantial agreement with the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith , but our central beliefs are as follows:

We believe that:

• While God has revealed himself through his creation, he has given us the 66 books of the Bible, his inspired and inerrant Word, in order that we may know his nature and character, that we may know ourselves in relation to him, and that we may know his saving purposes for the world. (Psalm 19:1-11; 2 Timothy 3:14-17)
• There is only one living and true God who exists in three equal divine Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Father eternally planned all things and is working to fulfill that plan to the glory of his name; the Son existed eternally with the Father and became man, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, so that he may live a sinless life of perfect righteousness, die to atone for the sins of his people, rise bodily and ascend to heaven where he serves as high priest and advocate for his people; the Holy Spirit applies to believers the benefits achieved by Jesus Christ, dwelling in them to purify them and preserve them till the end. (Matthew 3:16-17; Ephesians 1:3-14; 3:14-19; Philippians 2:5-11; Hebrews 2:14-18; 4:14-16)
• God created mankind, male and female, in his image to rule the earth and enjoy fellowship with him but because Adam sinned, all humanity is alienated from God, condemned to spiritual and physical death and helpless to establish reconciliation. (Genesis 1:26-31; 3:1-19; Romans 5:12-21; Ephesians 2:1-3, 11-12)
• Salvation is a free gift of God's grace originating in the Father's will, accomplished by the atoning work of Jesus, the Son of God who became man, received through faith in him enabled by the Holy Spirit. All believers are in the process of being transformed by the continuing work of the Holy Spirit so while they will never become sinless in this life, their characters will be changed and they will persevere in faith to the end. (John 3:3-8; Ephesians 1:3-14; Romans 8:28-30)
• That the local church is to be a community of believers united before God for worship, building each other up, caring, evangelism and social action. (Acts 2:42-47)
• That Jesus Christ is coming again to judge both the living and the dead. The righteous will inherit eternal blessedness in the presence of God and the unrighteous will receive eternal conscious punishment. The future will bring the complete fulfillment of God's glorious purposes. (John 5:24-30; 2 Thessalonians 5:9-10; 2 Peter 3:8-13)