Founding convictions
We want our beliefs to be plain enough for an ordinary Christian to understand and biblical enough to withstand honest examination. This is our direction; a founding council will still need to review and formally adopt a complete confession.
The Old and New Testaments are inspired by God, true and trustworthy, and the final authority for what we believe and how we live. Teachers, traditions, and commentaries can help us, but none of them can overrule Scripture. Read every passage in context and in light of the whole Bible.
There is one God, eternally existing as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: equal in deity, united in being, distinct in person, perfect in holiness, love, justice, wisdom, and power.
Jesus Christ is fully God and fully man. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, lived without sin, died for our sins, rose bodily, ascended to the Father, intercedes for His people, and will return personally and visibly.
Every person bears God’s image and possesses immeasurable worth. Through sin, humanity is alienated from God and unable to save itself. All need forgiveness, reconciliation, and new life in Christ.
God sincerely desires all people to be saved and calls everyone to repent and believe. Jesus died for the sins of the whole world. Salvation is received by grace through faith in Christ, never earned by good works. Those who believe are forgiven, born again, adopted, and reconciled to God.
New birth begins a genuinely new life. We will never reach a point where we are completely sinless, but Christians do not have to accept sinning every day as inevitable. As we pursue the Lord, the Holy Spirit helps us sin less, grow in righteousness, overcome bondage, and walk in real obedience. When we fail, we confess it, receive forgiveness, and keep pressing forward.
The Holy Spirit indwells every believer at salvation. Scripture also speaks of His empowering fullness for service and witness, which believers should seek. Prophecy, healing, tongues, and the other gifts remain for the church today. No prophecy adds to Scripture or carries Scripture’s authority; every claim must be weighed, tested, and practiced in love and order.
The universal Church is the body of Christ, composed of all true believers. Every Christian should be joined to a local congregation for worship, discipleship, fellowship, service, the Lord’s Supper, baptism, pastoral care, and mutual accountability.
Jesus gave baptism and the Lord’s Supper to His church. Believers are baptized in water as a public confession of faith. At the Lord’s Table, the church remembers and proclaims Christ’s saving death until He comes.
Pastors and elders must be biblically qualified men who lead as servants under Christ. Women are equally valuable members of Christ’s body and may pray, prophesy, serve, disciple, and exercise their gifts within biblical order. Equal worth does not require identical roles. Every leader must meet clear standards and remain accountable.
The risen Christ commands His church to make disciples of all nations. Evangelism, compassion, justice, mercy, church planting, and the teaching of obedience belong together in the mission of God’s people.
Jesus Christ will return, the dead will be raised, and all people will face judgment. The redeemed will dwell forever with God in the new creation; those who finally reject Him face eternal separation and punishment. This hope calls the church to holiness, courage, and faithful witness.
We believe the whole Bible, salvation through Jesus alone, real growth in righteousness, the present work and gifts of the Holy Spirit, male pastoral leadership, and the responsibility of every Christian to know the Word and live it.
Clarifying questions
No. We honor brothers and sisters in Reformed traditions, but Hilkiah Revival does not teach deterministic election or irresistible grace. We believe God genuinely desires all people to be saved and enables a real response of repentance and faith.
No. We are not claiming complete sinlessness. We are saying Scripture repeatedly calls believers righteous, tells us to keep Christ’s commands, and promises a way of escape from temptation. By the Holy Spirit, we should sin less and less as we mature. Daily defeat is not biblical humility.
No. Scripture never says that prophecy, healing, miracles, or tongues stopped when the apostles died or when the Bible was completed. We are commanded to desire spiritual gifts, not despise prophecy, and not forbid tongues. At the same time, every gift must remain under Scripture and operate decently and in order.
No. Scripture roots male pastoral and elder leadership in creation and gives qualifications for those offices accordingly. That does not silence women or make them less important. The New Testament shows women praying, prophesying, serving, discipling, and doing meaningful ministry without holding governing authority over the church.
No. Tongues are biblical and should not be forbidden, but no single gift is given to every believer. The clearest evidence of the Spirit’s work is a Christ-exalting life marked by His fruit, power, love, and truth.
They are a substantive starting point, not yet a ratified denominational confession. Formal adoption should come through a prayerful founding process involving biblically qualified pastors and leaders—not one person acting alone.
