Our Identity
The Awakening Church is a non-denominational church. We welcome all Christians from various denominations, nationalities, traditions, ages, backgrounds, beliefs, and experiences to come and visit. We are a non or inter-denominational church, meaning we want all denominations to feel welcome to visit us and if led by God, to join our family. We are a Christian church, meaning we are a local church comprised of followers of Jesus Christ. We would rather stay away from using labels because they have a tendency to divide the body of Jesus Christ. However, we do realize that labels are helpful and sometimes even necessary to help clarify and identify what a particular local church is passionate about and what they value and believe.
We are a conservative “Evangelical” church in that we are conservative (for more information click on “Our Doctrine”) in our theology and our interpretation of the inspired, inerrant (totally free from error), and infallible word of God (the Bible), and we are passionate in fulfilling the great commission by making disciples of all nations. We are also a “Spirit-filled” or “Spirit-empowered” church in that we believe in the necessity of the continual filling of the Holy Spirit for effective power for witness, service, and ministry to God and one another. We believe in the practice of all the spiritual gifts and believe that God still performs miracles today (such as healing the sick and casting out demons). If you are a “Pentecostal”, “Charismatic”, or “Evangelical” believer, you will feel right at home. We seek to combine the best of all three and unite together around the essentials, and agree to disagree in unity and love around the non-essentials that have been open to debate throughout church history and often have divided the three camps (for what we believe to be the essentials in biblical doctrine, read our statement of faith by clicking on “Our Doctrine”). We long to see the balance of the Word and the Spirit and to see both the Word proclaimed and the works of Jesus (His miracles and fruit) take place. We are “empowered Evangelicals.” Like the Pentecostals, we desire a Pentecost-like experience today where we are filled and baptized fresh and anew with the Holy Spirit. Like the Charismatics, we eagerly desire spiritual gifts (see 1 Corinthians 14:1) and to put them into practice and to move in signs and wonders. And like the Evangelicals, we unapologetically hold to sound biblical doctrine and emphasize the centrality of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the kingdom and fulfilling the great commission of world missions.
Please do not let the term “Spirit-filled,” “Pentecostal,” or “Charismatic” scare you because we are not into the hype, fanaticism, show, or “Charis-mania” excess, but believe in proper order in the service and strive to be biblical and God-honoring in all that we do, while being sensitive to not quench or grieve the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Supportive
We want to do everything with LOVE at the Awakening:
Seeking God
The aim of our church services is to first and foremost worship God and to give glory to Him. Second, we seek to encounter God’s manifest presence and see His kingdom and will advance on earth so that we will be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. Third, we seek to use our spiritual gifts to love and serve one another as we gather together. We seek to encourage, comfort, and build one another up in the Lord. We are very passionate about community and we believe that we are called to do life together and not in isolation. We long to grow spiritually and live holy lives in obedience to God in all that we do so that we become more mature disciples of Jesus.
A Strong Foundation
We plan our services and everything we do in such a way where Jesus, not man, truly is the head of His local church not just in theory, but also in practice. The services have order but in the end, all of man’s plans are open to change as the Holy Spirit is given full freedom to move as He wills. We do not want to “play church” but rather be the church. We resolve to be the triumphant, abundant, overcoming, and victorious church that Jesus called, equipped, enabled, and gave up His life for!
The 4 G mandate we seek to fulfill by God’s grace at the Awakening:
Our 3 Fold Goal at the Awakening:
4 commitments in order to fulfill our ministry process at the Awakening Church:
GROW (Maturity)
GIVE (Ministry)
3) A commitment to a ministry (this is where God uses us to serve others with the gifts He has given to us)
GO (Missions)