What We Believe

Traditionally, a Christian “denomination” is an organized religious institution or group, such as the United Methodist Church, Southern Baptist Church, Presbyterian Church, or Lutheran Church. Churches within these denominations often have:

•  a set of core beliefs and customs established and shared by the broader organization
•  shared worship practices, teachings, and leadership structures
•  organizational structures to help them stay connected to the broader denomination
•  standardized belief system established by their respective denomination
•  a hierarchy, direction and/or leadership that come from the denomination
• sometimes shared legal, financial and/or legal structures

Element is Non-Denominational because it is not structurally directed by a larger organized Christian denomination or authority. Instead Element’s authority structure consists of three localized groups that offer checks and balances for accountability, direction and stewardship (under the ultimate authority of Jesus Christ).

Element Church is: guided by pastors, protected by trustees and strengthened by overseers.

1. Guided by Pastors
The Pastoral staff team is led by the Lead Pastor. This team oversees the day-to-day ministry and operations of the church. These staff pastors serve the congregation and are responsible for the development of the spiritual life of the church. The Pastoral Leadership Team members serve as Staff Elders.

2. Protected by our board of Trustees
The Trustees are members of the congregation who oversee the finances and direct the provision of the facilities needed by the church. As the board of our 501c3 they provide counsel to the Pastoral Leadership Team regarding the major financial commitments of the church. The Trustees serve as Non-staff Elders.

3. Strengthened by Overseers
The Overseers are pastors of respected congregations and ministries who love Element Church and are willing to provide spiritual protection to the church. They may be called in to help in accountability matters relating to the Lead Pastor and/or Pastoral Staff if requested by the Pastors or Trustees. The Overseers serve as Apostolic Elders.

One of the great difficulties in defining a biblical understanding of sexuality in our modern context is the unseen, inner pain a person often carries behind the question. In recent history, the church has mishandled the topic of sexuality from a variety of angles. The church’s witness has centered on what forms of sexual expression the Bible is against instead of the dignifying and beautiful version of sexual expression the Bible advocates for. Jesus majored in the latter; the church has often emphasized the former. More personally, while the church has historically held to an understanding of sexuality distinct from the surrounding culture, the application of that belief in recent history has become alienating to those whose sexual expression does not align with the church’s. The tragedy of that shift has been that many have been made to feel alienated by the Christian church because of sexual practice and/or sexual orientation.

Because of the complexity presented by recent history, we will succinctly define both our belief and how we express our belief, which carry equal importance.

Belief
We believe in the historically Christian view of marriage and sexual expression; namely, that marriage is a lifelong covenant union between two sexually different persons (male and female) and that all sexual relationships and expressions outside of marriage are sin.

How we Express Our Belief
The expression of this belief is often the more important question to people in search of a spiritual home:

• Will I (or one of my loved ones) be welcomed at Element Church?
• Is there a time where that welcome is worn out?

Regardless of sexual practice and/or orientation, Element Church welcomes all to worship with us.

One of the truly fascinating aspects of the life of Jesus is that the very people whose lives least aligned with his ethical teachings were most drawn to him. In the Bible, Jesus and a religious group called the Pharisees, often held similar beliefs. Both were uncompromising in their teachings and in calling people to align with those beliefs. However, people who felt alienated by the Pharisees also felt very welcomed by Jesus. Why? Because of how each expressed their beliefs: the Pharisees did so in pride, as their primary concern was being right, while Jesus did so in love, as His primary concern was compassion for the person and explanation behind the belief.

The church is called the Body of Christ. We are a communal expression of Jesus’ heart, so both our beliefs and our expression of those beliefs should mirror Jesus.

When it comes to sexuality, we carry three important convictions that inform our expression:

• Our first responsibility is to be a living display of covenant love and sexuality. The church was not founded to critique the surrounding culture but to form a distinct counterculture where “life to the full” is on display as an invitation to all. However, in many ways (covenant love and sexuality being one obvious example) the church has mirrored the culture more than forming a counterculture. Therefore, our work is not to change anyone else’s mind or critique the world outside of our family, but to live with the sort of fidelity, service, and love within our own singleness and marriage covenants that we become a living witness to the fullest sort of life that Jesus offers to his followers.
• Second, we must lead with a heart of love and compassion for people. The doors and the arms of our church family are open to anyone, regardless of belief. No one will ever be excluded from worshiping with us on Sundays for any misalignment of belief.
• Third, we must differentiate between agreement and acceptance. Again, one of the truly fascinating aspects of the life of Jesus is that the very people whose lives least aligned with his ethical teachings were most drawn to him. His dinner company and close friends were often made up of people out-of-alignment with his teaching (e.g. Jesus teaches that to even look at a woman lustfully is to commit adultery, then is consistently surrounded by prostitutes who profited on lust; Jesus teaches an ethic of radical generosity, then welcomes a tax collector, whose life was defined by greed, into his inner circle of 12 disciples; etc.). In modern cultural rhetoric, agreement and acceptance are often used synonymously: “If you don’t agree with my ethical choices (belief), you don’t accept me (expression).” However, in Jesus, we observe the opposite phenomenon: Those who felt most accepted in his presence were those most obviously living in disagreement with his teaching. Therefore, as a church we are committed to becoming a community linked to Jesus in acceptance of all people but not all ideas. We are unapologetically aligned with every word of Jesus’ teaching. Equally, we are uncompromisingly insistent on becoming the sort of community where those out-of-alignment with Jesus’ beliefs (including sexuality) feel welcome and accepted in our fellowship.