AS CULTURE SHIFTS it becomes necessary to explain why beliefs historically held by the church are important and timeless. We hold many beliefs that are conservative doctrinally and are likely to be misunderstood. This is best done relationally, so that the love of Jesus is evident in the explaining of Biblical truth. Meeting one-on-one is not always possible so below is our attempt at bringing clarity.
ANSWERING YOUR QUESTIONS
Q: What are Christland's core beliefs, and do they align with historic Christian doctrine?
A: Our doctrinal beliefs are anchored in the historic creeds of Christianity, including the Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene Creed. In addition, our Affirmation of Bible Beliefs, which can be found here, demonstrates that our church is evangelical, Bible-based, and Gospel-centered. Our doctrinal beliefs on many additional topics come from well-known Evangelical Theologian Wayne Grudem. We give a free copy of his Systematic Theology to all our members for additional help with doctrinal beliefs.
Q: How do Christland's staff and leaders function? What is our leadership culture?
A: While none of our leaders are perfect, and they constantly seek to be formed into the image of Jesus, we reject any notion that our leaders intend to make disciples of themselves rather than Jesus. We often say that we don't want to create celebrity pastors but rather men who are servant leaders. As part of good leadership, godly leaders disciple people, meaning they lovingly and relationally help them hear and obey Jesus' will for their lives. In today's culture, asking people to submit to the Bible's authority may be wrongly construed as demanding and controlling; however, we believe church leaders have an obligation to encourage people to submit to the Bible's authority and standard of Christian living.
Q: How is our church leadership structured?
A: Our church is led by a Board of Elders. No single leader possesses sole decision-making authority; instead, decisions are made prayerfully by the Elders as a whole pursuant to our Bylaws. They are men who fit the qualifications spelled out in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9. In addition, we believe that men or women can be deacon leaders so long as they fit the qualifications laid out in the Bible.
Q: Does having unity mean everyone must think the same?
A: We believe the Bible teaches that there must be unity in the church; however, that does not mean there must be uniformity. Our church welcomes a diversity of thought and opinion, attempting to show reasonableness to all (Philippians 4:5), as we humbly seek God’s will for the church. Like all churches, in addition to our beliefs, we have values (as seen on our website here) and openly speak of what we believe Jesus has asked us to accomplish as a local church.
Q: Do we believe that our church’s way of doing church is the only way? In other words, do we believe we have an exclusive claim on truth?
A: There is no context in which we believe that our way of doing church is the only way of demonstrating faith in Jesus. Further, we do not believe a person must be saved and/or baptized at our church for their salvation to be legitimate. Instead, we embrace the beauty of the Bride of Christ, the Church, including the variety of callings and distinctions that make up the tapestry of the New Testament Church. Our passion is to build the Kingdom of God, not just our local church. Further, we are thankful for the many Bible-believing churches engaged in building the Kingdom of God in our city.
Q: How do we handle it when someone wants to leave the church?
A: Like any other church, we have people who come and go. On Sundays, we often speak about the many wonderful gospel-centered churches in our area and encourage everyone to find the place that seems like the best fit for them. At times, it can be difficult to say goodbye to close friends when they decide it's time to try another church. However, we always give our blessing to anyone who chooses this. As our brothers and sisters in Christ, we are eager to maintain friendship with those who desire it.
Q: How do we ensure that our leaders maintain biblical standards?
A: Our Elders, staff, and leaders commit to and hold each other accountable to a Biblical standard of conduct. We use Questions of Character and Integrity as a starting point to live transparent lives as disciples of Jesus. (Click here to view this document) Certainly, none of our leaders are perfect, but they all are growing disciples of Jesus, holding to the high standard of Scripture for leaders.
Q: Are there times when church leaders would not reveal information to the membership?
A: Our Statement of Faith, Bylaws, and membership process/material are all publicly available. As with all organizations (Christian & otherwise), leaders have a duty of confidentiality under the law in certain circumstances (i.e., employment issues, discipline issues, etc.). However, as much as possible, we seek to be transparent in all the decisions we make.
Q: How does Christland protect children?
A: The safety of children under our care is the greatest ministry priority for our church. We’ve adopted policies and procedures to ensure our children learn in a safe atmosphere. Those policies can be found here. In addition, everyone who works with minors goes through a background check and is considered a mandated reporter for suspected abuse and neglect. We also benefit from the expertise of Dr. Christie McIntyre, who has thirty-three years of experience in education and serves as our Child Safety Coordinator. For specific questions, you can contact her at [email protected].
Q: What is Christland’s position on the sanctity of the family unit?
A: Reconciliation in marriage and unity for families are priorities for us. We have paid for external marriage counseling for many people for multiple years in an attempt to preserve the covenant of marriage, using every Biblical method we are aware of. Marriage between a Christian man and woman is one of the most powerful witnesses in this world to the message and power of the cross.
Q: What is Christland’s relationship with TAMU students?
A: Our church is a registered student organization with TAMU and similar to the other sixty-eight (68) registered Christian groups, we desire to reach students with the message of salvation through faith in Jesus. We enjoy a good relationship with the faculty and staff of A&M and Blinn and have many members here who work for those incredible institutions.
Q: What is our church’s position on medical and mental health treatment?
A: We encourage people to be good stewards of both their mental and physical health. In fact, we encourage and fund staff and their spouses to receive local counseling. There are many skilled local providers, and we are indebted to their wisdom and help to our church family. We do believe that counseling should be sought from Christian therapists as much as possible and be chosen with care.
Our belief regarding medical treatment is “Pray for healing (as the Bible shows) and also seek medical professionals for help.” These two ideas are not mutually exclusive.
Q: What is the church’s view of women?
A: Like thousands of evangelical churches, our church holds a “complementarian” view of New Testament leadership, meaning we believe the role of Pastor and Elder in the church is Biblically reserved for humble, qualified men who would be Christ-like servant leaders in our church family. Jesus modeled for us the high value of women, yet still appointed men to lead His church. We believe that the Pastors (Elders/Overseers) are to be chosen from among the men, while the role of Leaders (Deacons) may be carried out by both men and women. These distinctions have nothing to do with the abilities of women, and we highly value their gifts and leadership. Rather, it has to do with faithfulness to God's direction in the Bible (study Genesis 1:26-27; Genesis 2 & 3; 1 Corinthians 11:2-16; 1 Timothy 2 & 3; Romans 16:1-2).
The Old Testament book of Genesis shows that God created men and women as equals, both made in His image. The New Testament book of Ephesians teaches us that husbands are equal to their wives yet have the sobering responsibility to lead by serving. It describes mutual submission and the clear command for men to lead in their marriages and families with Christ-like, sacrificial, servant love. They must give their lives in protecting, providing, and caring for their wives and children as Jesus gives His life for the Church (Note: this does not exclude men from daily responsibilities of home life such as cooking dinner, washing dishes, and changing diapers). More details can be found in theologian Wayne Grudem’s many writings on this topic.