What We’re About
Our Mission Statement: We Love Jesus. We Love our Neighbors. We Make Disciples that Make Disciples. We Plant Churches that Plant Churches.
There are several ways to speak about what we are all about at Church of the Holy Spirit. First, there is our Mission: “We invite our neighbors to experience God’s love and power.” Then, there is our Vision: “We are an Acts 2 Church.” Then, there are our Values: These describe the way we live together, and what is important to us. There is our Distinctive: “We are an Anglican ‘Three Streams, One River’ church.” Finally, there are our Beliefs: How we, as Charismatic Evangelicals, interpret the Great Tradition theologically. Scroll down to learn more.
Our Mission
We invite nations and generations to experience God’s love and power.
Our mission is what we do. The active verb here is invite. Life with God progresses through a series of gracious invitations. God the Father invites us through the beauty of Creation and natural revelation. He has also revealed Himself through the Bible, the historic Church, and supremely through His Son, Jesus Christ. As members of his Body, we invite others to share our experience with God.
Whom do we invite? “We invite nations” - we increasingly reflect our region, and serve the nations God has brought to the National Capital area. We are intentionally intergenerational in our ministry model. Jesus made it clear in the parable of the Good Samaritan that everyone is our neighbor, including those who are ethnically and religiously different than we are. Really, we invite everyone to join us as we love God and each other.
We continuously invite people to take the next step with God, His church, and His mission. We aim to be multicultural: inviting people from every race and religious background, to fellowship and minister together. We invite people into experiences and encounters with the love and power of God. Teaching sound doctrine is both good and necessary, but it is not enough. Experiences with God and His people change our perspective. By loving people right where they are, they become open to the supernatural power of God. When people receive ministry at their point of need, they often experience God’s power and love. Often, it is then that they become open to teaching about who God is. Teaching also communicates God’s love and power, for God’s Word is alive and active.
Our Vision
An Acts 2 Church
We see God creating an Acts 2 Church: a vital Christian community, where we live the life of the first church in Jerusalem. E.g., we “devote ourselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles…” (v. 42, 43)
A vision is a picture of a desired future. We see:
Worship that honors God and welcomes His Presence among us.
A community that seeks, loves, and wins people who are far from God.
A community where absolutely anyone can find healing, deliverance, deep friendships, and purpose for life through Christ.
A community where people grow deeper in Christ through: Biblical teaching; small groups; healing prayer; mentoring and accountability relationships; and spiritual retreats.
A community that multiplies itself at every level – multiplying disciples, small groups, ministries, and congregations.
A community where each person can discover their God-given gifts and passion for ministry, and find a satisfying and effective place of service. and
A community where people pray and seek holiness until God comes in transforming revival and changes our county.
Our Values
Who we are can be explained by what is important to us. Strategies may change, but values don’t.
We love God, each other, and all of our neighbors – and we act on it.
The Bible is our infallible authority in faith and life.
We emphasize personal conversion to Jesus as Lord, and holiness of life.
We welcome and embrace the manifest presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
We equip each other for mission, and support each other in prayer.
We value authenticity, flexibility, humor and respect in our life together.
Our Beliefs
We affirm the Nicene Creed and Apostles Creed as excellent and universal statements of the Christian faith. Our Rector’s statement below is a commentary on the Creeds from a charismatic evangelical perspective. For a classic Anglican statement of faith, see the 39 Articles of Religion, from the Church of England in 1662. The Lausanne Covenant of 1974 affirms what we believe about the Holy Scriptures and evangelism. The Jerusalem Declaration was adopted by the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans in 2008, and states what our worldwide movement teaches today. The Anglican Church in North America has a doctrinal statement in our Denominational Constitution.
In agreement with all the above, this is what our Rector teaches:
There is only one true God who is the eternal King – Creator and Redeemer of all that is. He is perfectly holy, just, loving, beautiful and truthful. He has revealed Himself to be eternally self-existent – one being in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
The Bible is the inspired, the only infallible and authoritative Word of God. It is true. The Bible is our standard in faith and life.
Humankind is created in the image of God to know and enjoy Him, yet our ancestors willfully rejected the Lordship and glory of God for which we were intended. As a result, sickness and death entered the world, and now all creation experiences the consequences of sin.
The Lord Jesus Christ, the one and only Son of God, was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, and is God’s Anointed One, empowered by the Holy Spirit to inaugurate God’s Kingdom on Earth. He was crucified for our sins, died, was buried, is resurrected, and ascended into heaven. Jesus is alive today, in the presence of God the Father, interceding for His people. He is “true God” and “true man.”
We are saved by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone. Anyone can be restored to saving relationship with God through repenting, confessing, believing, and receiving Jesus as his Savior and Lord. The Holy Spirit convicts us of our sins, regenerates us to new life, and sanctifies us to be more like Christ. He facilitates our adoption by the Father as we enter the Kingdom of God as His sons and daughters.
We believe in the manifest power of the Holy Spirit, by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a holy life and minister in supernatural power. The Baptism of the Holy Spirit according to Acts 1:4-8 and 2:4 is poured out on believers that we might have power to be supernatural witnesses of the Lord Jesus. Holy Spirit Baptism may be, and often is, subsequent to conversion. Every believer is given at least one of all the spiritual gifts, including prophecy, healing, and tongues, for the work of ministry.
The Church consists of all who put their faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The Lord Jesus gave His Church the sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion. The Church exists to carry on the ministry of Jesus Christ and further advance His Kingdom by undoing the works of the enemy, preaching and living the good news of God’s love, discipling the nations, baptizing and teaching them to love and obey God.
We long to see the ever-increasing government of God as His Kingdom advances in our lifetimes. We long for the glorious visible return of our Lord Jesus Christ for His overcoming bride, the Church. Heaven and Hell are real places, and believers in Jesus look forward to enjoying his presence in the New Heaven and New Earth in our resurrected bodies with all the saints forever.
Our Distinctive:
Three Streams, One River
We Are a “Three Streams, One River” Church:
Evangelical, Charismatic, and Sacramental.
Church of the Holy Spirit is a “Three Streams, One River” church. Each stream focuses on one person of the Trinity. (For a discussion of Anglican distinctives, click here.) We own, recognize the value of, and practice three great streams of Christianity, which flow together into a mighty river of faith:
1. The Evangelical (or Reformed) stream
This stream emphasizes the supreme authority of the Holy Scriptures in faith and life, and the necessity of both personal conversion and biblical discipleship. We share this stream’s belief in the centrality of the Cross, Christ’s atoning death as a substitution for us, and the truth of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. We also share its emphasis on the urgency of evangelism and mission here and abroad. For more on the reformed stream in classic Anglicanism, see the doctrinal statements in the 39 Articles of Religion. Some of our fathers in this stream include Martin Luther, Willliam Wilberforce, Bishop J.C. Ryle, J.I. Packer, and John Stott. This stream stresses the saving work of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and Lord.
2. The Charismatic (or Pentecostal) stream
This stream emphasizes the present work of The Holy Spirit in miraculous power in the life of the believer and the Church. It upholds the role of every believer as a minister who serves with one or more spiritual gifts, including prophecy, words of knowledge, healing and tongues (see 1 Cor. 14), all for the building up of the church. The Holy Spirit enables us to hear His voice, to walk our talk, and abide in His love. Some of our guides in this stream include John Wesley, Dennis Bennett, John Wimber, Francis MacNutt, Leanne Payne, and Randy Clark. This stream stresses the immanence of The Holy Spirit, our Sanctifier and Empowerer.
3. The Sacramental (or Catholic) stream
This stream emphasizes the role of the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Eucharist, and the traditional orders of ordained ministry, in mediating the grace of God. It recognizes that the Holy Spirit has been at work in the church for 2000 years, including in the seven ecumenical councils, and He has given us a deposit of orthodox faith for our benefit and learning. Some of our fathers in this stream include Augustine of Hippo, Francis of Assisi, Richard Hooker, C.S. Lewis, and J. Budziszewski. This steam stresses the transcendence of God, our Father and Creator.
Our Sunday worship services display all three streams, but we have other meetings and practices at which one or two streams are more highlighted than the others.
For example, our monthly Saturday Healing Service draws mostly on the Charismatic Stream.
Our individual devotions vary, and draw from all three traditions. We are encouraged to draw close to God not only in the streams that are familiar to us, but also in the other streams, so that we may worship God in the fullness of the Trinity.