Hillsdale
What We Believe
We are a Presence Based Community of Believers...
We believe we were created to know, experience, and become a habitation for His presence. Presence is the actual tangible experience of Him in our lives. Jesus said the same way that you can’t see the wind but you can feel it’s effect is the same way we experience His presence. We can’t literally see Him but we can certainly see and feel His effect on us when He is present. Experiencing Sozo defines our purpose and our mission. We believe the highest purpose for the gathering of our community is simply to focus our attention, our hearts, and our worship fully on Him. When we do and He is present Sozo starts to happen; those present with pain and sickness experience healing, those who are depressed or oppressed in mind experience peace and joy.
Because our experience with Him is relational then our time with Him is a dialogue which means we talk to Him (in prayer and song), and He speaks back to us. He finds ways to interact and relate with us as we speak and relate to Him. We love the use of music as a way to experience His presence, but we also encourage the participation of the entire community of believer in becoming the hands and mouth of Jesus to minister His heart and goodness to one another in these times of worship.
So what about the Word?
We believe without question the bible is God’s word to us, we believe it literally, and it is the standard by which everything we say and do is measured against. In John 4:24 Jesus says that worship in Spirit is no good if it is not also in truth. So in our everyday lives we make the priority of the Word as our source of truth. Because of this learning, knowing, and understanding the Word is important. Our times together will include time in the Word where we can learn and grow together from the truths we learn.
What We Believe; We are a non-denominational, evangelical work. We believe in the current practice of all five ministry expressions; Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, and Teacher. We believe in the supernatural manifestations of the Holy Spirit as listed in 1 Corinthians 12:1-11. We believe that God is still speaking to His people today in various ways and through various means, not in a way that supersedes the revealed truth of scripture but in ways that affirm believers in their walk with Him. Primarily as recorded in 1 Corinthians 14 which says that God is still speaking to His children for their exhortation, edification, and for comfort. We believe very strongly in the prayer of Jesus in Matthew 6 where he prayed; Your kingdom come and your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Which means that the body of Christ is to literally bring heaven to earth. Because of this we resist the idea of groups of believers who gather strictly under doctrinal and denominational banners, instead our desire is to see the body of Christ function as the body of Christ and for us to foster a unity of the Spirit out of love for one another as well as functioning in a way that honors the differences among us.