At Northampton, we stand on the firm foundation of the truths of the Scriptures. That is seen in all we teach and how we live.
We believe the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments as verbally inspired of God and inerrant in the original writings and that they are of supreme and final authority (Psalm 19:7-11; 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21).
We believe in One God eternally existing in three persons; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; three in one, co-equal, which is the Trinity (Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 45:5-6, 46:9-10; John 17:3; 1 Corinthians 8:4-6; 1 Timothy 2:5; Genesis 1:26; Psalm 45:6-7, 110:1; Matthew 3:13-17, 28:17-20; 1 Corinthians 12:4-6).
We believe in the Holy Spirit, third person of the Trinity, who convicts the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; He is the life of the believer, and He empowers the preaching and teaching of the Gospel (Matthew 4:1; 28:19, John 14:26, Romans 8:11; 16; 26-27, Ephesians 4:30, 1 John 5:6).
We believe that Jesus Christ was begotten of God, conceived of the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary (Matthew 1:20; Luke 2:52; John 1:1-4, John 1:14; Colossians 1:15-20; Hebrews 1:1-3).
We believe that man was created in the image of God, that he sinned, and thereby incurred not only physical death, but spiritual death, which is separation from God; and that all human beings are born with a sinful nature and those who reach moral responsibility become sinners in thought, word and deed (Genesis 6:5; Psalm 51:5; Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 3:23, 5:8, 5:12-21, 7:18; Ephesians 2:1-3).
We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice, and that all who believe in Him are justified on the ground of His shed blood (John 1:29, 10:1-18; Romans 5:8; 1 Corinthians 15:1-4; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 1:4; 1 Peter 3:18).
We believe in the resurrection of the crucified body of our Lord, His ascension into Heaven and His present life there as High Priest and Advocate for us (Matthew 28:1-20; Mark 16:1-8; Luke 24:1-53; John 1:20-21:25, 14:3; 1 Corinthians 15:12-34; Acts 1:11; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; Hebrews 9:28; 1 John 3:2; Revelation 1:7).
We believe in that blessed hope, the personal, premillenial, and imminent return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (Revelation 20:1-6).
We believe in the bodily resurrection of the just and the unjust, the everlasting, conscious suffering of the lost, and the eternal blessedness of the saved, which demand heaven and hell (Matthew 25:31-46; John 5:28-29; Acts 24:15).
We believe that all who receive by faith the Lord Jesus Christ are born again of the Holy Spirit, and by God’s grace they become children of God and heirs of eternal life (John 3:18, 14:6; Acts 4:12; Romans 3:21-26; 1 Timothy 2:5-6).
We believe in the existence of a personal devil, the old deceiver, a liar from the beginning, who is still working in the world to destroy the souls of men and that he and all his angels and all who receive not Christ as their Savior will eternally perish in the lake of fire (Matthew 4:1 1 Peter 5:8, Revelation 20:10).
We believe in the church, the body of Christ, whose mission it is to preach the Gospel to all the world. All of its endeavors being supported by God’s financial plan of the “Tithe and Offering” (1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4:4; 11-13).
We believe that the ordinances of the Church, given by our Lord, are Baptism (by immersion) and the Lord’s Supper (Communion) (Romans 6:1-11, Acts 2:41; 8:12; 10:47–48).
We believe that all the foregoing are Bible doctrines; therefore we stand firm upon this Declaration of Our Faith.
Love God. Love People. Make Disciples.
Northampton is a church where all people can come to Believe in Jesus as their Savior, Belong to Him as a disciple and Become more like Him through Spiritual Transformation.
We value prayer. Prayer is the battleground in our lives and is the foundation upon which we build eternal results inside and outside the church.
We value reflecting genuine, Christ-like love to those inside and outside the church. This is expressed in: genuine fellowship, loving one another and being transparent. Our transparency is expressed by being honest about who we are, who God created us to be, willing to share struggles and victories along the way. Next steps within our organization are clearly understood and communicated.
We value raising up leaders, replacing ourselves, equipping leaders and teachers for the work of ministry (Ephesians 4:12).
We value teaching and preaching for spiritual transformation at all ages and life-stages; solidly based on Scriptural Truths empowered by the Holy Spirit and Biblical Authority. Transformative teaching has the aim of helping people Believe, Belong and Become in the process of making disciples
We value partnerships inside and outside the church to further the Gospel locally and around the world.
We expect people to serve and provide clear paths for people to serve. We value serving the Body, serving one another, serving the community and our spheres of influence for the purpose of helping introduce people to Jesus.
We value openness to God’s leading in all that we do. We will not allow anything we currently do to stand in the way of what God might be doing or desire to do in and through us.
We value living as missionaries and ambassadors for Christ in our spheres of influence. We don’t wait to gather together as the “church” to serve. We ARE the church in the places God already has us. We will intentionally connect people with Christ and help them to take steps toward Christ and those who are Christ followers, to take steps toward maturity and Christlikeness.
Spiritual Transformation is the result of the Holy Spirit of God and the Word of God intersecting a person’s life. We create environments where this intersection can occur for people of various ages and spiritual life-stages.
We want to help people BELIEVE in Jesus > BELONG to Jesus > BECOME like Jesus in healthy environments. Ultimately, we want to lead people to a personal, growing relationship with Jesus and help them to grow in that relationship and be spiritually transformed.
Having been led, as we believe by the Spirit of God, to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior, we do now in the presence of God and this assembly most solemnly and joyfully enter into a covenant relationship with one another as one body in Christ.
We purpose therefore, by the aid of the Holy Spirit, to walk together in Christian love; to strive for the advancement of this church; to promote its spiritual prosperity and spirituality; to sustain its ordinances, discipline, and doctrines; to contribute cheerfully and regularly to the support of the ministry, the expense of the church, the relief of the poor, and the spread of the gospel.
We also purpose to maintain family and private devotions, to religiously educate our children; to seek the salvation of our relatives and acquaintances; to remember each other in prayer; to aid each other in sickness and distress; to cultivate Christian sympathy in feeling and courtesy in speech. "For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."
We also purpose that when we move from this place we will as soon as possible unite with some other Bible-believing church where we can carry out the spirit of this covenant and the principles of God's Word.
