core beliefs
We exist to unify believers of varying backgrounds with the centrality of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our heart is to see Agape Moms flourish in diverse environments because Jesus' prayer for His church is that we would be one. We don't exist to divide or compete, but instead unite and empower more moms to make more disciples and all for God's glory!
However, we do not compromise in the following core Christian beliefs, which every Agape Moms servant leader must personally hold. This certainly does not relate to Agape Moms participants, we hope those exploring or doubting Jesus will come. We also strive to cultivate the humility and grace to fellowship with believers who hold different convictions than us regarding the minors of the faith, that are not related to the majors of the faith, which are stated below.
Humans are sinful and in need of a complete rescue from God
God created Adam and Eve perfectly, and they had direct fellowship with God in the Garden. When they rebelled against God, humanity was cursed with sin, but even from that moment, God promised a Rescuer to come and save us from our sin and restore back our perfect relationship with God. There is nothing we could ever do to earn God's love, approval, or salvation, Jesus has done that for all those who receive him by grace through faith, not by works, so that no one can boast. (Romans 3:23, Romans 3:10, Romans 5:12, Romans 6:23, Romans 5:8, Romans 10: 9-10, Ephesians 2:8-9)
Jesus Christ, our divine rescuer
Jesus Christ is fully God, and has existed before the creation of the world, yet he was also fully man. He lived a perfect life, died on the cross to pay the price for our sins, and rose from the dead, conquering sin and death. On the cross, Christ chose to die sacrificially, and was penalized in our place, satisfying the wrath of God so that God can justly forgive sin. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through him. He is the only way to salvation and the only way we can have a righteous standing before God. He is the image of the invisible God, the exact representation of his being, in him all things hold together, and all things were created by him and for him. Jesus is our coming King, who will return again to rescue his Bride, the Church, and we live our lives in light of his soon return. (John 1, Hebrews 1, Colossians 1, Colossians 2:9, John 5:23, John 14:16, Romans 3:23-26)
The Trinity
God is one God who exists in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. All are equal yet distinct in role and function and they are each eternal, existing before the creation of the world. (Isaiah 9:6, Isaiah 44:6, Colossians 2:9, John 1:14, Luke 1:35, 1 Corinthians 8:6, 2 Corinthians 13: 14)
God's Word
God's Holy Word, the Bible, is God's inspired words written down by human authors by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It is without error in the original manuscripts, and so it is our authority for all of life, our primary source for learning about who God is, and a tool God uses to convict us, inspire us, encourage and comfort us. God's Word directs our relationships, marriages, parenting, ministries, ideas and actions, and everything must be filtered back through His Word, above any personal experience or even church tradition. (2 Timothy 3:16, Psalm 119)
The Church
The church was Jesus' idea for His adopted sons and daughters, the new redeemed family of God. The Church, or Body of Christ, is established with Jesus as the head, and every believer is a part of the Body, gifted by the Holy Spirit with spiritual gifts to build up the body, move on mission for Jesus, and bring glory to God. As a believer in Jesus, the church is our new eternal family and the essential place to live out our new identities in Christ, context to use our spiritual gifts, and the God-designed environment to grow up into maturity in Christ. The church's mission is found in Matthew 28:18-20, to make disciples as we are going, baptizing them, and teaching them to obey everything Christ has commanded. This is our mission at Agape Moms, and then, rooting moms and their families back into the fuller expression of the church body. (Matthew 16:18, Acts 2:42-47, Ephesians 4, Hebrews 10:24-25, Colossians 3:16, Matthew 28: 19-20)
The Centrality of The Gospel
Bringing everything back to the cross and resurrection of Christ is central to the New Testament, and the foundation of all other Christian theology and principle. To make the Gospel an elementary teaching, and to think we can mature in Christ by our own spiritual muscles is to believe a false Gospel. (see the book of Galatians) At Agape Moms, we are relentless about the good news of Jesus, it's the best news we've ever heard because it frees us from the bondage of religion and the chains of our sin struggles. It's nothing we could ever earn or maintain in our own effort, and the more we internalize our new identities in Jesus, the more this propels us to live lives of joyful obedience to our King! (The book of Galatians addresses this very issue of straying from the centrality of the Gospel, and was Paul's first letter he wrote to the churches. It is foundational, yet so often strayed from! Click here for a summary of what Gospel-Centered means as described by Tim Keller)
God's glory
Everything we do is all for the glory of God! We are consumed by the desire to live our lives in light of the undeserved gift of grace and salvation of Christ, and we devote the rest of our lives to laying down our lives to follow Him. We don't do it for our own glory or recognition, but instead we seek to live like Jesus did, as a servant, who dedicated His life to pleasing and obeying God the Father. (Revelation 4:11, Colossians 3:17, Philippians 2:1-11, Mark 8:34-35)